The mothership and mecca of opera in America—and home base for Parterre Box.
Met/Kirov/Royal Opera angel Alberto Vilar was arrested last night, charged with stealing $5 million from a client. The Federal complaint states that Vilar used the investor’s money “as a personal piggy bank to pay personal expenses and make charitable contributions, without the knowledge, consent, or authorization of the victim.” According to the story on Bloomberg.com, […]
“Something happens on the opera stage when Aprile Millo and Marcello Giordani are on it together. It may not be perfect. It may even be a little awkward at times. But it’s real singing – at best, wonderful singing. And people want it.” That’s Anne Midgette in today’s New York Times, and she’s obviously as […]
You could say last night at the Met was a typical Aprile Millo performance, if that expression were not essentially an oxymoron. “Typical” and “Millo” really don’t intersect in this dimension (maybe somewhere on a spiritual plane? But I digress.) Let’s just say that, what happens at a Millo night, happened last night, which is […]
The Met’s so-called “Millo Pole” will no doubt tonight be swarming with cognoscenti, or as we like to call them around here, opera queens. Aprile Millo sings her only staged Tosca of the Met’s season, and that’s reason enough to shlep over to Lincoln Center. (Millo had a big personal success in Ballo last month, […]
Well, La Cieca thinks that Jane Eaglen must be a hell of a wonderful colleague, or is it that she has a mortgage payment due on her Seattle condo? Whatever the reason, the Brit Brunnhilde is (you should pardon the expression) jumping in for an ailing Susan Marie Pierson in tonight’s performance of Fidelio at […]
La Cieca hears (from sometimes reliable internet snitch Tony Soprano) that Matthew Epstein will make a triumpant return to the 15% biz in general and Columbia Artists Management in particular. Expect an announcement (from someone besides Tony, that is) sometime next week. Glad to see that someone knows his correct Fach! In completely unrelated news, […]
La Cieca abandons HTML today and shifts to a blog-driven site. She’s hoping that the easier interface will mean more frequent and timely updates, but I guess you’ll be the judge of that! A rave review for last night’s Ballo at the Met from the hard-to-please Charlie Handelman, in particular Miss Millo and Mr. Giordani […]
This one is just a whisper at the moment, but La Cieca has heard that Mirella Freni is not going to show up for the Met Pension Fund gala in May? Like I said, it’s just a whisper, but… Those of you listening to today’s intermission feature during the Met’s Walkuere broadcast just heard Sally […]
La Cieca hears that Thomas Hampson may not be singing his first Met Simon Boccanegra in 2006-07 as scheduled. The rumor is that Hampson has been asked to step down so that Placido Domingo can add this role to his already vast repertoire. Can Placido’s Kostelnicka be far behind?
Which diva, star of a new production that was one of the Met’s hottest tickets of recent years, has refused to repeat her role in a future season because she can’t stand the staging? We’ll hear her sing a different title role instead.
Let the dancing in the streets begin! Jonathan Miller, who has spent the last two decades multitasking between creating pretentiously dull opera productions and whingeing about the stupidity of opera and opera singers, has at long last decided to call it quits. Following a sure-to-be-listless staging of La Clemenza di Tito in April 2005, the […]
Just imagine! The legend herself, Anja Silja taking time out of a busy rehearsal schedule (and despite her concern about the orchestra, problematic in early runthroughs)—to talk to parterre box. I confess I imagined she would be at least a little bit like her character of Emilia Marty—cynical, burned out, impatient. What a surprise, then, […]
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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