German heldentenor and crossover performer Peter Hofmann died yesterday. He was 66.
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.
When handing out the goodies, the gods weren’t stingy with Shirley Verrett. Few opera singers were as prodigiously gifted as Verrett: the perfect amalgam of Kunst and Stimm housed in a frame of voluptuous allure. In addition to an instrument of stunning natural beauty and easy range, Verrett displayed superior musicianship, dramatic intelligence and searing…
La Cieca has just heard that magnificent American mezzo-soprano and, later, soprano Shirley Verrett died earlier today. She was 79.
Our Own JJ remembers Dame Joan Sutherland in the New York Post and for WQXR. We can also report that tonight’s Met performance of Les Contes d’Hoffmann will be dedicated to Dame Joan, and on Sunday, the company’s Sirius channel will feature a playlist of historical Sutherland performances, including Lucia di Lammermoor, La sonnambula, Norma,…
The Australian soprano, called “The Voice of the Century,” died yesterday. She was 83. [Sydney Morning Herald]
Maria Callas died 33 years ago, September 16, 1977.
The German filmmaker and theater and opera director died earlier today. Among his works was a controversial production of Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival beginning in 2004. [AP]
The Australian conductor and authority on the operas of Janácek and Mozart died earlier today in London. He was 84.
La Cieca has just heard that the legendary basso cantante, star of well over 400 performances at the Met, died earlier today in Atlanta.
The Canadian contralto opera artist and recitalist has died. She was 79. [The Globe and Mail]
The great Italian baritone died earlier today. He was 93. Taddei enjoyed a career spanning over half a century, making his Met debut at the age of 69 in 1985. [via ApCom]
The delightful German soprano, who enjoyed a 40 year stage career, died yesterday in Switzerland. She was 83.
Legendary mezzo-soprano Giulietta Simionato died this morning. She was 99. [Corriere della Sera]
Today, in 1848, one of the titans of Italian opera, Gaetano Donizetti, passed away in his native Bergamo at age 51. It would be perhaps more appropriate to say that his body died on this date, as his mind, ravaged by syphilis, had already abandoned him a few years earlier, so much that he had…
La Cieca has just heard that mezzo-soprano Blanche Thebom died this morning at the age of 91. Her 22 year career at the Met included over 350 performances.
The grandson of Richard Wagner, chief of the Bayreuth Festival from 1951-2008 and director of a dozen productions, died Sunday. He was 90. [Monsters and Critics]
The English tenor, specialist in the works of Benjamin Britten, died yesterday after a brief illness.
Soprano star of MGM’s golden age Kathryn Grayson died yesterday. The leading lady of Anchors Aweigh, Show Boat and Kiss Me Kate was 88.
The legendary Russian mezzo-soprano has died after a brief illness. She was 85.
The host of “The Vocal Scene” and frequent commentator on the Met broad casts has died. He was 100. [WQXR] After the jump, a sampling of George Jellinek‘s legendary interviewing and programming skills.
The great Swedish soprano died earlier today. She was 82. [AP]
UPDATE, 10:55 pm: The Associated Press confirms that Hildegard Behrens died early Tuesday, according to an email sent to opera officials by Jonathan Friend, artistic administrator of the Metropolitan Opera. La Cieca has just received an as yet unconfirmed report that Hildegard Behrens died earlier today in Japan, where she was preparing for a Lieder…
The choreographer and opera director died earlier today. She was 68.
Vivian Della Chiesa, “Toscanini’s favorite soprano,” died on Tuesday. She was 94. Della Chiesa is heard in the Trio from I Lombardi with Jan Peerce and Nicola Moscona, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, in a radio concert from January 31, 1943. “Qui posa il fianco… Qual volutta trascorrere”
