Mama’s talkin’ loud Mama’s talkin’ loud

Sleep soundly tonight, Kasper Holten: your Vêpres Siciliennes casting problem has just been solved!

By on October 27, 2013 at 8:03 PM
203 comments
A song at twilight A song at twilight

Yes, you’ve heard it already, but you might as well have an official place to talk about it: Marina Poplavskaya goes on tonight in Les Vêpres siciliennes at the Royal Opera House.

By on October 21, 2013 at 12:28 PM
439 comments
A Faustian bargain A Faustian bargain

What we have here is the grandest opera never heard.

By on August 21, 2013 at 8:00 AM
80 comments
The burning Ghars, or Ghats, or whatever they are The burning Ghars, or Ghats, or whatever they are

Lots of chatter in the British press about the Rowley rowdydow at the Garden.

By on December 05, 2012 at 5:05 PM
74 comments
Bringing up baby Bringing up baby

La Cieca hears that Diana Damrau has withdrawn from the Royal Opera’s production of Robert le Diable (due to open December 6) because of pregnancy.

By on April 19, 2012 at 7:13 PM
186 comments

Kasper Holten, director of the hunkalicious film Juan as well as current artistic director of Royal Danish Opera, will succeed Elaine Padmore as director of opera at the Royal Opera House starting next year. [The Stage]

By on March 18, 2011 at 10:07 AM
49 comments

I saw the final dress rehearsal of Adriana Lecouvreur at the Royal Opera House on Monday this week, and I think I have never seen the place so crowded for such an event. No wonder, for here was a cast you might dream of, in a highly finished piece of work mounted by one of…

By on November 18, 2010 at 11:15 AM
65 comments

Trash television gets the “royal” treatment. [Danny Knows Best]

By on November 17, 2010 at 10:41 AM
11 comments

La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Intermezzo (not pictured) reacts to last night’s prima of Manon at the Royal Opera: Anna Netrebko “sang strongly, the voice fuller and darker than ever before, looking gorgeous” and Vittorio Grigolo‘s “technique and stamina were truly spectacular.” The pair “were, deservedly, a huge hit with the audience…. authentic and…

By on June 23, 2010 at 10:07 PM
63 comments

The Royal Opera House, which in its past season glitzed up its programming with such gimmicks as a tabloid tie-in and a mezzo-soprano strapped to a wheelchair, now looks to be getting desperate. The venerable opera company has commisioned a “Twitter Opera,” with a libretto to be gleaned from sundry tweets posted via the popular social…

By on August 10, 2009 at 10:03 AM
13 comments

The Royal Opera House (you know, that place with the naked buskecutioner) is looking for “budding” filmmakers to produce a 40 second long version of Romeo and Juliet. The company asks for the finished featurettes to be uploaded to the Royal Opera’s YouTube site, which is just so Web 2.0 La Cieca can hardly stand…

By on May 07, 2008 at 10:31 AM
9 comments