“Renée Fleming‘s thrilling new album ‘Dark Hope’ (Decca) debuts at #151 today on the Billboard Top 200 chart, with the highest first-week sales of the superstar soprano’s storied career…. The debut follows a performance by Fleming of Muse’s ‘Endlessly’ last week on Good Morning America, and major print and online coverage including two arts cover…

on June 18, 2010 at 2:52 PM

Zack Woolfe, shirtless, and Seth Colter Walls take the High Line when deconstructing Dark Hope. [The Awl]

on June 17, 2010 at 11:58 AM

The music video we have all been waiting for.

on June 14, 2010 at 8:20 PM

The greatest week in the history of show business begins today in preparation for the Drop of That Album here in the USA, at this writing barely 15 hours away. In support of this release, Renée Fleming is making a whirlwind tour of personal appearances, including a command performance last night before President and Mrs.…

on June 07, 2010 at 10:30 AM

Market forces at work in a London music shop.

on June 06, 2010 at 7:38 PM

This cheerful mug is an image from the trailer for La Scoopenda‘s laff-riot CD I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell or whatever it’s called. Video (which incidentally serves as an elegant proof of Dr. Repertoire’s Seventh Rule for Stage Directors) after the jump.

on June 05, 2010 at 2:10 PM

… and the hope gets darker and darker as La Scoopenda performs Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah.”

on May 25, 2010 at 9:38 PM

Internationally acclaimed dance club pop sensation Renée Fleming returns to her roots (she often sang opera during her college days) for this afternoon’s Met broadcast of Rossini’s Armida.

on May 01, 2010 at 11:52 AM

What could be more exclusive than this? La Cieca offers you a sneak preview of Renée Fleming‘s MTV-style video for “Endlessly!”

on April 17, 2010 at 1:02 AM

“Her new cerise dress has been a failure, and makes her look tawdry and wan… She frowns a little — not in anger, but as a brave child frowns when he is trying not to cry.  In all that expanse no human eye is looking at her, and she may frown unrebuked…”

on April 14, 2010 at 12:41 PM

La Cieca will not be near a keyboard (or for that matter a theoboro) this evening, but please don’t let that stop you, cher public, from chatting during the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Rossini’s Armida, starring Renée Fleming (not pictured).

on April 12, 2010 at 7:30 PM

Armida in just three hours, and, ironically (given the dramatic weight of this bel canto role) a certain soprano just can’t stop twittering! 

on April 12, 2010 at 5:00 PM

Our Own Gualtier Maldè (right) escaped today’s Armida dress rehearsal at the Met with his wits intact. He reports:

on April 09, 2010 at 7:17 PM

See those little blue circles? Do you know what they represent? The answer is after the jump. 

on April 07, 2010 at 10:56 PM

On this beautiful spring morning, La Cieca is delighted to announce to her cher public that she has uncovered yet another exclusive scoop. For you listening enjoyment on this last day of March, we present the next single to drop from the most talked-about operatic disc since Karita Mattila‘s!

on April 01, 2010 at 8:24 AM

La Cieca breathlessly offers you a sneak preview of one of this spring’s most eagerly awaited CDs. 

on March 30, 2010 at 11:47 PM

Today’s gossip riddle: what does the Met’s upcoming Mary Zimmerman production of Rossini’s Armida have in common with the above-referenced classic of cheesy 1950s science fiction?

on March 19, 2010 at 1:46 PM

“On her new album, Dark Hope, opera star Renee Fleming takes a ‘visit to a new, parallel universe.’ … Dark Hope finds ‘The People’s Diva’ covering songs by Muse, Arcade Fire, The Mars Volta, Death Cab For Cutie, Leonard Cohen, Band Of Horses, and more.”

on February 24, 2010 at 4:16 PM

She Who Has More Sobriquets Than Changes of Facial Expression continues her second half-century.

on February 14, 2010 at 1:55 PM

“People approach me now and say things like, ‘We loved your hair last week, but the jacket the week before was even better’.” [Wicked Local Norwell]

on February 11, 2010 at 5:09 PM

Like Liza Minnelli at the Palace or Nomi Malone in Goddess, Renée Fleming‘s Thaïs is better understood as diva event than Gesamtkunstwerk. It’s an opportunity to watch a star lady do her voodoo in a work that exists largely to showcase her glamour and appeal.

on February 08, 2010 at 12:45 PM

La Cieca welcomes cher plebians and cher patricians alike to a chat during this afternoon’s Met broadcast of Simon Boccanegra. The performance begins at 1:00 PM.

on February 06, 2010 at 9:47 AM

Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky offer an object lesson in the traditional old school performance practice of “lurch and flail” operatic acting.

on January 23, 2010 at 10:59 AM

Welcome, cher public, to discussion for this afternoon’s Met broadcast of Der Rosenkavalier. The performance begins at 1:00 PM.

on January 09, 2010 at 12:00 PM