“Il trovatore was premièred in January 1853 and Traviata a couple of months later in March. The wonderful duet at the end of La traviata Act I brings to mind clearly the ‘Miserere’ from Act IV Il trovatore, and when Alfredo sings ‘Dei miei bollenti spiriti’ there is something of ‘Di quella pira’ about it…
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
“In a constellation of the world’s opera stars, one shines brighter than all the rest. But it’s not merely her ravishingly beautiful voice and physical glamour that make Renée Fleming special. In person, she makes an extraordinarily intelligent and articulate interviewee. And it comes as no surprise, since as a probing interpreter of the works…
“Renee Fleming, 50, allegedly snatched a MasterCard from the victim’s pocketbook in the Green Café on West 57th Street near Sixth Avenue at 2 p.m. on April 15.” [via NY Post; thanks to williams!] UPDATE: According to an email from Mary Lou Falcone (RF’s publicist), it’s a different, non-operatic Renee Fleming the Post was talking…
La Cieca just returned from the HD of The Audition, a documentary about the 2007 Met National Council Auditions. The film puts her in an optimistic mood about the future of opera performance, or at any rate opera performers. Focus is on three young tenors who (spoiler) all end up winning the competition.
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/26lm82M7L2Q” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] From The Great Waltz (1938), one of Renée Fleming‘s favorite films!
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/2bY1unOjt7w” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] “I just think she always sounds like she’s drunk, especially when she tries to be serious.” – YouTube Commenter
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/A3Sr9bN6DBA” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
A member of the cher public reports that a note in the program for tonight’s concert performance of the Der Rosenkavalier in Paris reads: “Renee Fleming wears a dress by John Galliano created specially for the Gala Opening of the Metropolitan Opera on September 22, 2008.”
La Cieca’s nemesis, with the eyes of the world watching, goes on her best behavior. (Well, except for that one note at 2:16, but nobody’s perfect.) Ah, if only this were change we could believe in! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/eg_xFto88bQ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Musical guests scheduled to appear at “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial” include Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder. [via Gawker]
A snippet from “The View” documents the immaculate jawline and unfortunate Keely Smith diction of The Diva of the Future. In keeping with the season, she sings the classic “Awl be whom faw Krismuss.”
“The campy diva lover in me should exult at the credit in the program ‘Renée Fleming‘s Costumes by Christian Lacroix,’ but in fact the couturier’s frocks were something of a mishmash. Best was a shimmering gold sheath that set off Fleming’s first entrance and trim waistline to perfection; worst was a rumpled ivory silk ballgown…
First opera queen: “So, you’re seeing Renée in Thaïs tonight?” Second opera queen: “Yeah, I’m leaving home early so I can stop at Thom McAn on the way.”
Our Own Gualtier Maldè reports: Not every opera has to be a masterpiece. I couldn’t subsist on a steady diet of Tristan und Isolde, Die Zauberfloete, Fidelio, plus Otello, Falstaff et al. Frankly the occasional light comic bonbon or trashy but fun melodramatic tunefest makes a nice palate cleanser. I am talking Adriana Lecouvreur, La…
[The headline above replaces “Here am I, your special island! Come to me, come to me!” Congratulations Chacowhacko!]Â Photo: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times.
It turns out that La Cieca’s fanciful prediction (of what Renée Fleming would wear from the Christian Lacroix collection) was not so far off after all! More images from the Met’s Thaïs after the jump.Â
La Cieca thanks her cher public for joining her last night for yet another of your doyenne’s notorious online live chats. Starting at 7:45 PM, La Cieca and approximately 50 members of the parterre posse indulged in a little catty camaraderie during the Sirius and RealNetworks broadcast of Massenet’s fin-de-siècle fantasia. UPDATE (Friday): La Cieca’s…
ORGIA
A jump-in a due in tonight’s Met Butterfly, as Maria Gavrilova and Marcello Giordani substitute for Patricia Racette and Roberto Aronica . Earlier today at the production presentation and first rehearsal for Thaïs, Olga Makarina played the titular hooker — while Renée Fleming played hooky.
A new spy debuts in La Cieca’s service, reporting from the first night of WNO’s Lucrezia Borgia: Overall, I thought the opera was worth the price of attendance. The costumes of the main characters looked like something from Star Trek. Renée Fleming‘s hair looked like Tina Turner circa 1984. Fleming was impressive, especially in many…
Washington National Opera has posted a preview clip of their Lucrezia Borgia (opening on Saturday), and La Cieca predicts they have a hit on their hands. Renée Fleming, though she looks far too young to have a grown son, seems to be singing in a more straighforward and honest way. Hunkentenor Vittorio Grigolo charms even…
“Each year seems to bring a fresh height for Fleming. Not since the sunny days of Beverly Sills has an American opera singer enjoyed so much popularity. And not since the brief, heady reign of Maria Callas has a soprano provided so much glamour to go with all the vocal appeal.” Tim Smith, in the…
What the Met’s opening night was like for those who (unlike your plebian doyenne) enjoy celebrity status.
As usual when it’s a Fleming Flapper doing the writing, everything is everyone else‘s fault: poor Renée just sort of wanders in off the street and all this stuff keeps happening to her:
