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Tuesday morning: A further report from Lindoro Almaviva: Over all the night was a success d’estime. It was a Renee worship night and we got just that. I am sure you will be able to talk in better terms about the singing or lack thereof. My impression is that Renee had an “acting” night, as […]
La Cieca thanks all her cher public who participated in our first chat of the season.Â
La Cieca’s spy reports on the Met’s pre-season:Â
Keep watching parterre.com later this afternoon for a sneak preview of the Met’s Opening Night Renéessance.
The final act of Wagner’s Lohengrin, along with a preview from La Cieca of Monday’s festivities. Lohengrin, Act 3 Â
Legendary Metropolitan Opera wig mistress Nina Lawson died last week at the age of 82. Above, a sample of Ms. Lawson’s coiffure for Joan Sutherland‘s first Met Norma at the peak of the Big Diva Hair era, circa 1970. [via NYT]
Better loosen up those typing fingers, cher public, because La Cieca is bringing you another of her notorious online chats. On Monday, September 22 beginning at 6:30 PM EDT, La Cieca will present Opening Night in Exile, a chat celebrating the the broadcast of the Met’s 2008 opening night starring Renée Fleming, the diva and […]
La Cieca has just heard that Patrick Summers will conduct all performances of Richard Strauss’s Salome at the Met this season, “replacing Mikko Franck, who is ill.”
The winner of our non-traditional Regie quiz is Graciella Scusi for her clever interpretation of the scenes depicted as moments from Candide. La Cieca was particularly amused by the notion of the Old Lady’s doing a variation on “Find Me a Primitive Man.” The work was, of course, not Candide at all, but rather the […]
Artistic adminstrators at the Met and around the world are gnashing their teeth and tearing their hair this afternoon at Bryn Terfel‘s bombshell announcement that he will retire from opera “within three years.” The biggest local impact will be felt in the Met’s glossy new Ring cycle, in which (according to Brad Wilber) Terfel was slated […]
La Cieca is happy to inform her cher public (balletomanes all, surely) that aerodynamic Ãngel Corella will return to the Met this fall to enliven what otherwise will likely turn out to be some dullish performances of Ponchielli’s La gioconda. According to your doyenne’s informant, the coruscating Mr. Corella will grace the stage as premier […]
The cher public have spoken: La sonnambula is the must-see event this season at the Met, with 159 votes (a plurality of 43% of all votes cast). Runners-up are Salome and Thaïs. Complete poll results after the jump.Â
La Cieca is looking for a member of the cher public who is already planning to attend the opening night gala at the Met and is willing to write about it for parterre.com. Your doyenne will need 400 – 600 words by 11 AM on Tuesday, September 23 for publication that day with your byline. […]
Diva of the Future Renée Fleming, whose impending assignments include modeling four couture gowns on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, is shown here making a septuagenarian female impersonator look positively chic by comparison.
La Cieca has compliled a complete listing of Met Sirius/RealNetworks broadcasts for 2008-2009.
So you doyenne may better know the minds of her cher public, she asks you to participate in the following online poll. Which Metropolitan Opera performances this year do you consider the most sizzling Sternstunden, the not-to-be-missed evenings of musico-dramatic madness, or (to put it another way) those nights when you know everyone will be […]
August 30 is the anniversary of the birth of a famous Quickly: Regina Resnik! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/ipFMt7bPStg” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] And here we have Mme. Resnik in a campy mood, sending up the faux-exoticism of Kismet. Not Since Nineveh!
La Cieca about to try one of those 21st century activities all the kids are talking about, and no, it’s not chugging Nyquil. Your doyenne is going to use crowdsourcing (that is, put you cher public to work as reporters) to cover the Met’s Opening Night Gala on September 22, 2008 at 6:30 pm. Since […]
Here’s the solution to the Elfte Brautnacht! vocal ID quiz:
“Alex, age 4, clearly in love with what he’s hearing and seeing.” [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/9uyJ-hrTknA” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Several of you cher public have been kind enough to forward to me an email from Peter Gelb offering the Met’s apology for the debacle of the first day of subscriber ticket exchanges. Though La Cieca has sneered a bit at the Buoso Donati contingent, she certainly can understand why loyal subscribers might feel that […]
Here’s a very special audio quiz for La Cieca’s cher public du weekend. In the following mp3 clip, 11 sopranos sing the soaring aria “Zweite Brautnacht!” from Die Ägyptische Helena of Richard Strauss. If you think you can identify these beauties, email [email protected]. The first email received with the names of all 11 sopranos in […]
La Cieca hears that at least one of the ultracool ultraqueer world premieres scheduled for the Met is definitely off the bill.
La Cieca’s dear colleage The Counter Critic is writing a piece for a New York paper about the Met’s HD program. He is looking for “people to interview who have seen the simulcasts, and who have strong opinions about how folks behave during the screenings.” Here’s your chance for your voice to be heard loud […]
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!
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).
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