Freeze frame
Our Own JJ takes on an old frame (Der Rosenkavalier) and a new (Eugene Onegin) in his latest review for the New York Observer.
Metropolitan Opera
The mothership and mecca of opera in America—and home base for Parterre Box.
Two ladies in the shade…
The simple fable at the heart of Die Frau ohne Schatten shouldn’t be difficult to parse, but Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s libretto juggles its vaguely Jungian, vaguely Arabian Nights symbolitry as if with intent to mystify and bewilder.
An open letter to Sarah Billinghurst
Before you depart the Met at the end of this season, Ms. Billinghurst, you have the chance to do some good for both the Met audience and James Levine.
Desk set
“Two Boys demonstrates that Mr. Muhly is capable of very great things indeed, offering extended glimpses of the kind of masterpiece he just missed writing here, and, more happily, of the kind of masterpiece I feel confident he will write in the future.”
A hymn to heme
That 60 Minutes piece everyone’s been talking about, with Peter Gelb describing opera as “blood sport,” after the jump.
You don’t have to be Druids to love it
“The Met’s production, originally directed by John Copley, is still a hideous, confusing mess. But with Ms. Meade and Ms. Barton acting with moving subtlety, singing generously and feeling deeply, it was hard to care.”
Golden “Boys”
Who knows what to expect from an opera about the Internet?
No “Boys” allowed
A shocking message one teenager sends to another leads to scandal and death in an opera featured in this season’s “Live in HD” series from the Met.
Sediziose voci
O nube! che lieve per l’aria ti aggiri
Prominent local “billionaire scam artist” Alberto Vilar has asked for an extension on his court-imposed curfew so he may attend the Met’s Eugene Onegin and “socialize” afterward with the performers.
‘Twas ever “Thus”
While James Levine’s name might not immediately spring to mind when pondering the great Mozart conductors, he does have a long and distinguished career leading operas by the Austrian master.
Tonight or Neva
Last night, the Met opened the 2013-14 season with a handsome, fairly conservative new production of Eugene Onegin by Deborah Warner that replaces the handsome, fairly conservative one by Robert Carsen. (The trend is clear.)
A disturbance in the force
The scene outside the Met last night (above) and inside (after the jump).
There’s no business like snow business
Tonight at long last brings us to our first Met livechat of the season, cher public.
Who’s that woman?
You have voted, cher public, a total of 2,265 times, and you’ve decided!
Von Kopf bis Fuss
La Cieca is happy to present the following readymade blind item.
Pushkin comes to shove
Onegin, which opens the Met’s season on Monday, has taken an unusually precipitous tumble…
Ina moment now
La Cieca hears that soprano Pretty Yende, a standout Met debutante last season in Le Comte Ory, has signed with the company for for four roles over the next three years: Pamina and Lucia in 2014-2015, Adina in 2015-2016 and Rosina in 2016-2017.
We’ll settle that tonight!
La Cieca has been wining, dining and otherwise wooing her Met connection (pictured above) and he (or is it she?) has come across with some tidbits about upcoming seasons at Casa Gelb.
Met: We love the gays; won’t protest Putin
“The Met is proud of its history as a creative base for LGBT singers, conductors, directors, designers, and choreographers.”
A multiplicity of mezzos
Wonder no more! Says the Met press office, “Elina Garanca has withdrawn from her 2013-14 Met engagements because she is pregnant with her second child, who is due this winter.”
Waiting in the wings
The Met’s season-opening production of Eugene Onegin will be directed by Fiona Shaw,
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
