La Cieca tries to be charitable, especially to members of her own gender, but she has come to the conclusion that it is time for Susan Baker to shut the hell up. NYCO’s new General Director has been chosen and is about to take office, and the more Baker yammers, the more she makes George…
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.
Counter Critic reports today that he met George Steel last night and planted his seed.
Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb warns of a “disaster scenario” unless all staff and unions agree to pay cuts of 10% next season. [via NYT]
Here’s a brief video clip from Russian TV news on Anna Netrebko‘s return to the operatic stage in Lucia di Lammermoor last night at the Mariinsky. For Netrebko’s return, the Mariinsky imported a production of the Donizetti classic directed by John Doyle. It is unclear from early reports whether Netrebko was required to play the…
Quote the line (and the title of the Noel Coward play in which it is spoken) by that perfectly describes La rondine.
J’ai un ami, JJ, qui m’a raconté cette mise en scène de La rondine dans Gay City News.
Celebrated fact-mangler Norman Lebrecht is at it again. Did you know that the Metropolitan Opera has in its repertoire a production of Der Rosenkavalier directed by Jonathan Miller? This interview includes a statement by Dr. Miller insisting his current La boheme (inspired by “the photoÂgraphic world of Brassaï, Cartier-Bresson and Kertezsz,” dontcha know) will be the…
Something is busted on the Met’s website, but that shouldn’t stop you from applying for this week’s $25 weekend night tickets, which after all are for Fleming’s Thaïs and Angela Gheorghiu/Roberto Alagna in the new Rondine. Instructions for this week’s lottery are as follows: Please enter our Weekend Ticket drawing by calling 212-362-6000 before 8:00…
Something about the role of Maddalena in Rigoletto seems to bring out the most extreme behavior in mezzo-sopranos, whether it’s the Brainfart of Herta Glaz or the celebrated Woman on the Verge of a Wardrobe Misfunction corsetry of Isola Jones. But the award for Most Hairpieces Ever Worn at the Same Time must surely go…
La Cieca invites the cher public to supply their own captions to this photo of “Dresser strapping corset on Heldentenor Lauritz Melchior backstage at the Metropolitan Opera House as he prepares to sing his 200th Tristan.” (1944/Alfred Eisenstaedt)
Okay, La Cieca’s going to commit and say that based on what hearsay she’s heard said thus far, George Steel is going to say, “Thanks but no thanks” to the NYCO. Why? Two reasons, La Cieca would say. 1. Whoever takes on the NYCO job, no matter how adventurous and no matter how well-connected, is…
Diva Angela Gheorghiu, due onstage at the Met next week for a new production of La rondine, is seen heard here as a remarkably complete package at the age of only 20. The video is dated 1986, four years before the soprano’s professional opera debut. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/8aBVrSgwp9o” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
As commenter paddypig points out, something fishy seems to be going on with the Puccini 150th Anniversary Gala presented by Dicapo Opera Theatre, scheduled for this Monday night. As of this evening, the company’s website still advertises “Daniela Dessi, Fabio Armiliato, Francisco Casanova, Aprile Millo, Francesca Patané and others” even though certainly Millo is not…
La Cieca hears whispers that Will Crutchfield‘s “Bel Canto at Caramoor” may be the next victim of the economic crisis. No reflection on Will (he can’t be expected to predict the future, after all), but the year the nation enters a recession is hardly the best time to try to put on Semiramide. Update: La Cieca just…
La Cieca just received the official notice from the Metropolitan Opera that Linda Watson will sing Saturday night’s Isolde. Your doyenne has received further inside information that the Met has secretly hired an Irish white witch to break the curse on the company’s current staging of the Wagner music drama by setting ablaze the sets and costumes…
Waltraud Meier‘s one (and probably only) Met Isolde is immortalized visually on the Met Archives site in photos by Marty Sohl.
CORRECTION: It seems that nasty curse has landed on La Cieca, too. Can you believe that your doyenne misheard the bit of gossip she relayed you a couple of hours ago? Yes, it does indeed appear Katarina Dalayman and Susan Foster are both too ill to sing the last Tristan of the season at the…
“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…
La Cieca’s indefatigable network of operatives has managed to track down the identity of that scrummy young cellist seen in virtually every shot of Monday night’s telecast of the 2007 Tucker Gala. The gentleman’s name is Joel Noyes and he has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2002. Readers of parterre.com will…
The Met’s lastest semi-Isolde made her debut last night, as Susan Foster jumped into the third act of Wagner’s music drama. A spy at the performance reported that the supposedly recovering Katarina Dalayman sounded “SCHRECKLICH and was announced as unable to continue at the beginning of the third act … Susan Foster and proceeded to…
 La Cieca realizes that some of her younger readers (and aren’t you all?) may not remember Dr. Repertoire, La Cieca’s serious and near-pedantic colleague of the zine era. Dr. Repertoire used to answer questions about operatic roles, vocal technique and (mostly) Manuela Hoelterhoff, and so La Cieca feels he is the appropriate one to…
Watching the Richard Tucker Gala just now, La Cieca is reminded to something she said to a companion after an early Diana Damrau Met performance (Ariadne, she thinks it was.) What La Cieca said was, “Well, you can send all the others home, because we’ve found our Neely O’Hara!”
Texted from the Met a few minutes ago: During act 2 (still going on) a stage hand walked out in the middle of Tristan and Isolde’s first duet to move her yellow gown away from the torch and ensure it didn’t light! Meier and Seiffert just kept singing…
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…
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.
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.