A sharp-eyed spy at tonight’s performance of Die Walküre at the Met notes that, while there were no malfunctions of the Machine per se, there was an unexpected projection toward the middle of the third act.
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.
Here’s a taste of what’s in store for the Met’s HD audience on Saturday
Here’s a bit of good news for all you Traviata fans with tickets for tomorrow night’s Met performance or Saturday afternoon’s HD.
An understudy saved the show at the Met’s La Traviata Friday night, but no star was born.
Says the Met’s press office: “Hei-Kyung Hong will sing the role of Violetta Valéry in Verdi’s La Traviata at tomorrow’s performance, replacing Natalie Dessay, who is ill.” (Photo: Marty Sohl)
Just in time for the beginning of the first cycle of the Robert Lepage Ring (pictured), Peter Gelb tries to convince Anthony Tommasini that everything is just fine, thank you…
Here La Cieca has scarcely returned home from a very pleasant concert performance of Pipe Dream (feeble show, attractive songs, fine cast) and what should she find in her inbox but an alert from the Playbill Club.
When the hard-partying heroine of Massenet’s Manon hits bottom, she literally lands in the gutter.
Another grim narrative of the Gelb years, and one I think is generally hogwash, is that the Met has (at least in theatrical terms) lost its way entirely.
A phrase no one ever thought to see in print…
When Verdi’s Macbeth returned to the Met Thursday night, miscasting doomed the revival as surely as any witch’s curse.
Apparently, opera fans got the bright side of the bargain: say “Macbeth” in the theater and you court cataclysm; utter the name in the opera house and, as often as not, you merely predict disappointment.
“Juan Diego Flórez made an untraditional Nemorino, his small but diamond-bright tenor unlike the luscious lyric voice usually heard in this part.”
L’elisir d’amore, Donizetti’s evergreen comedy about young love, returned to the Met last night with a strong cast, a high energy level from all the performers, and last but not least, a very full house.
“Pound for pound, ton for ton, it is the most witless and wasteful production in modern operatic history.”
La Cieca hears that soprano Latonia Moore will make her Metropolitan Opera debut this Saturday afternoon.
“In a season of high-profile duds like Don Giovanni and the Ring, the Met has found a winner in a dark horse, Mussorgsky’s moody Khovanshchina.”
Sondra Radvanovsky will make her Met role debut as the title character in Verdi’s Aida on February 28…
La Cieca has just heard some interesting and completely plausible gossip about 2013-14.
The Met’s top-secret hush-hush season announcement will emerge from the Holy Grail shrine later today.
“This is the highest number of performances for a conductor in a single week in Met history.”
The New Year’s Eve gala at the Met ushering out 2011 was the world premiere of the much-anticipated mash-up The Enchanted Island AKA “baroque opera for those who hate (or at least don’t know) baroque opera.
For this final evening of 2011, La Cieca invites you to a final chat. Starting at 6:30 PM, the cher public are invited to wade into The Enchanted Island, broadcast live from the Met.
At tonight’s Faust performance, two events of note: René Pape, upon his re-entrance after the Jewel Song, ad-libbed the spoken line “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” The performance, a broadcast, was the basso’s final one of this production.) After this moment of comedy, drama followed at the curtain calls.
A Baroque Valentine’s with Opera Lafayette | Feb | DC & NYC
Celebrate love in all its guises with tender ballads, amorous duets, cheeky verses, and bawdy drinking songs plus food, cocktails and wine.
STEMdiva status
Ahead of a special boozy, bawdy Valentine’s Day concert, artistic director of Opera Lafayette Patrick Quigley speaks with soprano Maya Kherani about her journey from MIT to rising American Baroque star.