To be a poet is a condition
Are today’s stars enough to sustain Andrea Chénier?
verismo
The flip side of filth
To the extent that singers should be considered stewards of their repertoire, equating bad singing to whatever “verismo” is will only be to the detriment of verismo.
The piccolo on the hearth
Riccardo Zandoni’s Il Grillo del Focolare is an opera after all.
Eternal, feminine
For her first CD in six years, Angela Gheorghiu has chosen Italian repertoire.
Straniero, ascolta!
A sneak preview of perhaps the most intriguing track on Anna Netrebko’s forthcoming Verismo CD.
E “La Nave” va
La Cieca has just heard that Teatro Grattacielo’s performance of Montemezzi’s La Nave has been rescheduled and confirmed for Wednesday October 31 at 8:00 PM at the Rose Theater.
To tell the truth
Four of La Cieca’s favorite people, Diana Soviero, Ira Siff, Robert Lombardo and Ken Benson, assemble on November 9 at the impressively named “Metropolitan Opera Guild Learning Center”…
The art of making art
In this new Decca DVD of Tosca we find a highly intellectual, even fascinating staging at odds with the visceral nature of the original melodrama but one that inspires its cast to great heights. Robert Carsen is a clever producer with an elegant visual palette. He employs the same directorial strategy as his famous Mefistofele […]
I’ll take the fall
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).