“I’m analytical, not wild,” Ms. Garanca told an interviewer in 2009.
“…the stage is crowded with grumbling members of the old guard who aren’t renewing subscriptions, disenchanted reviewers, vendors of vitriol on blogs like Parterre Box…”
George Steel announces that New York City Opera is destroying, giving away or selling off most of its stock of repertory productions.
“In the space of a few words, the leading role in a major new production had been reassigned. But why?”
“The article also referred imprecisely to offerings in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2012-13 season.”
Zachary Woolfe (not pictured) makes his way to Bayreuth to try to unravel the Evgeny Nikitin mystery.
I have a confession to make about Britten’s opera Billy Budd: I don’t like it very much.”
For decades New York City Opera was a model of an organization with a clear mission.
The New York Times sends cub reporter (Get it? Cub reporter! Oh, La Cieca is killing herself with the puns!) Zachary Woolfe to the movie palaces of the heartland.
“The Met’s new Ring is the most frustrating opera production I have ever had to grapple with.”
It turns out we were wrong all along, cher public: the Robert Lepage production of the Ring at the Met is in fact a triumph.
Zachary Woolfe went to Las Vegas and all we got was a thoughtful analysis of why Robert Lepage was never a good fit for the Ring.
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…
“Though Mr. Herheim’s work is rigorous, it is also fun, and this Rusalka is serious but the opposite of dour.”
In honor of Martin Luther King day (belated), the New York Times hosts a discussion about the current Broadway production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. As a bold gesture toward diversity and inclusion, the keynote speakers range from Anthony Tommasini to Ben Brantley.
George Steel has called for a mediator (pictured) to attempt to summon the departed spirit of the New York City Opera. [New York Times]
Is Peter Gelb wearing too many hats? Anthony Tommasini seems to think so, adding that one of those headpieces in particular is ill-fitting and might perhaps more flatteringly perch upon some other head. Call La Cieca suspicious, but she thinks the timing of this piece is hardly an accident.
NYCO’s George Steel has “…a vision of gradually increasing productions, arriving at 10, with 40 performances…. the company would reach the 10-production benchmark by 2025…. Only about 10 percent of revenue this season is predicted to come from the box office, with the rest mainly provided by donors. The ratio does not change much over the…
La Cieca is always happy (if a little envious) when another critic expresses exactly how she feels about a musical event (such as Jonas Kaufmann‘s recital last Sunday at the Met) because that means she doesn’t have to blather on and on about it. Instead she can simply reply, “Check out what Zachary Woolfe has…
Not only has physical therapy healed Mariusz Kwiecien‘s shapely back, it’s apparently added a third to the top of his range. [New York Times]
O brother, wired art thou?
Shocker of the century! The New York Times reveals that Met singers are miked!