The sun also rises The sun also rises

If you’re the sort who prefers his diva to be an unapproachable sphinx prone to infuriating cancellations while radiating ennui, I suspect that the sunny, hard-working, grateful persona of American mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato will not appeal to you at all.

on November 19, 2012 at 8:41 PM
Our retrospection will now be all to the future Our retrospection will now be all to the future

La Cieca predicts you won’t be seeing any puritans at the Met next season, except of course for the ones who slouch around during intermission hissing, “You call that a trill?”

on October 22, 2012 at 2:18 PM
Scent of mystery Scent of mystery

La Cieca has been sniffing around her generally reliable (and fragrant) sources, and she thinks she has pieced together a list of the dozen operas to be featured in the 2013-2014 season of “The Met: Live in HD.”

on October 07, 2012 at 2:17 PM
And the Pubies go to… And the Pubies go to…

At long last, the most closely guarded secret of 2011 (besides, you know, everything about what’s going to happen to City Opera) is about to be revealed. Ladies and public, the Second Annual Parterre Cher Public Choice Awards!

on May 26, 2011 at 10:29 PM

Three of the Met’s most cunning vocalists, Juan Diego Flórez, Joyce DiDonato and Diana Damrau, wrap their tongues around the trio from Le Comte Ory.  

on March 22, 2011 at 6:23 PM

The cover of Joyce Di Donato’s third recital disc Diva, Divo immediately tells the listener that either the famed mezzo (along with the Orchestre et Choeur de L’Opera National de Lyon under Kazushi Ono) has decided to release a recording of music from Victor/Victoria, or her new CD will feature her performing arias as male…

on January 20, 2011 at 2:28 PM

Every time La Cieca says she’s through once and for all reading Norman Lebrecht, that middlebrow minstrel of the maestro myth soars to new heights of noisomeness. This time (yet again) it’s about how utterly callous those silly opera singers are for canceling (imagine!) when they’re too sick to sing.  

on August 15, 2010 at 4:45 PM

Parterre fave Joyce DiDonato headlines an all-star performance of Le nozze di Figaro broadcast this afternoon from Lyric Opera of Chicago. [WFMT] 

on February 28, 2010 at 2:12 PM

Joyce Di Donato‘s latest release is a CD entirely devoted to music Rossini composed for his first wife, Isabella Colbran, one of the most celebrated divas of the early 19th century. 

on November 06, 2009 at 1:14 PM