On this day in 1992 soprano Deborah Polaski made her Met debut as Kundry.
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Soprano Mirella Freni is under investigation by the Bologna District Attorney’s office of Bologna for money laundering and exportation of money abroad in connection with the BER bank. The artist from Modena, 76, will be heard by the magistrates in the next few days to clarify her position, now that the DA Antonella Scandellari has…
By La Cieca
Our Own Sanford graces the stage of Amore Opera tomorrow night as Dr. Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro, and you can get $10 off ticket prices using the discount code “opening10”. He further treads the boards on the October 22, 24 and 30.
By La Cieca
Incredible, but true, I Puritani had not been performed in Great Britain since 1887 when Glyndebourne decided to stage it in 1960 with the main intention to showcase Joan Sutherland, who had been catapulted to international superstardom one year earlier in the legendary Lucia di Lammermoor at Covent Garden. Furthermore, Vittorio Gui, who had already…
And now, cher public, let’s put today’s singers, the Contemporary Divas, under the microscope. How do they stack up?
Our own JJ (not pictured) revisits A Little Night Music, and who should be inhabiting that chateau extravagantly overstaffed but Elaine Stritch? [Capital New York]
By La Cieca
In a tidbit sure to warm the cockles of Our Own Vicar of John Wakefield, beloved artist Dame Josephine Barstow will return to the ‘boards’ of the Gran Teatre de Liceu in April 2011. The legendary septuagenarian singing actress will be heard in the pivotal rôle of “Mummy Lucy” in Richard Jones‘s inscenation of Rustic Chivalry.
By La Cieca
Our Own CruzSF has devised a delightful new pastime, which consists of posing in a parterre box t-shirt “in front of the great and not-so-great opera houses of the world.” First up: the Napa Valley Opera House. That’s after the jump.
By La Cieca
In an unexpected bonus round of “This Diva Looks Like That Diva,” conspiracy theorists will surely puzzle over the eerily similar headshots of these two New York Post columnists.
By squirrel
La Cieca is happy to note that Our Own Squirrel will be on-site at Symphony Space this afternoon with live breaking coverage of the triumphs and/or scandales associated with the prima of Carmen from La Scala, as seen on HD. Coverage starts here at parterre.com at 11:45 AM.
By La Cieca
They want it. The career. They want it really bad. So we learn from Susan Froemke’s Metropolitan Opera-commissioned documentary about the participants in the final round of the 2007 MetNational Council Auditions, which is out on DVD this month. Our own doyenne reviewed the film when it was screened as an HD theatrical event, and…
By squirrel
The world needs a lot of things: health care, happiness, homo marriages, peace, prosperity and butterflies. What it doesn’t need is a mediocre “budget” recording of a contemporary opera already satisfactorily recorded with the original cast.
The Random Number Generator has spoken, and from the whopping 442 comments offered during the Turandot Chat, the randomly chosen winner of the Cecilia Bartoli Sacrificium CD is #185, as written by….. Our Own squirrel. Congratulations, to you, o little nut-hoarder, and La Cieca asks that you email her a shipping address where your CD…
By La Cieca
Four of the cher public caught yesterday’s HD presentation of Tosca and have agreed to share their impressions with La Cieca and the rest: “The death of Puccini’s Tosca was much exaggerated, in fact it did not take place.” “After about 34 years of going to the opera, I don’t think I’ve ever left a…
By La Cieca
La Cieca is looking for members of the cher public who are planning to see either the HD of Tosca on Saturday or the Rosenkavalier prima on Tuesday, and who are willing to write a reaction/critique. Write to her at lacieca@parterre.com. [UPDATE: Lots of volunteers for the HD, thanks! La Cieca still wants to hear…
By La Cieca
Our Own JJ (not pictured) nominates the can’t-miss operatic and vocal events of the autumn of 2009. [NYP]
By La Cieca
An old clip, from 2005 in fact, but oddly prescient, perhaps. Who knew that Les vêpres siciliennes could sound so much like Verismo? Not the Greatest of E’s (Don’t thank La Cieca; this stunner was sent in by Our Own Kernita Makilla.)
By La Cieca
La Cieca has to admit that what she thought would be a bang-up notion turned out to be a total damp squib: the “Letter” competition failed to rouse much interest. The sole (albeit very fine) entry follows the jump.
By La Cieca
“Il trovatore was premièred in January 1853 and Traviata a couple of months later in March. The wonderful duet at the end of La traviata Act I brings to mind clearly the ‘Miserere’ from Act IV Il trovatore, and when Alfredo sings ‘Dei miei bollenti spiriti’ there is something of ‘Di quella pira’ about it…
By La Cieca
