It would be tempting to say that the Wagner dynasty has nothing on the Menotti family, except that it’s just not true. The generational intrigues of the descendants of the Meister (as detailed in Brigitte Haman’s Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler’s Bayreuth), reflect the superhuman scale of Wagner’s musical vision. The…
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Those muckraking scamps over at Opera News are at it again, quoting a in their June issue a particularly inflammatory passage from the mad gay diaries of mad gay Cecil Beaton. Dear Cecil, you will recall, designed the Met’s celebrated 1961 production of Turandot that starred Birgit Nilsson. It seems that mere critical and popular…
In news that La Cieca is pretty sure has fallen far below Jeffrey Vanderveen‘s radar screen, a further casting rumor for next season’s Rienzi at Opera Orchestra of New York has emerged. As if Lauren Flanigan (Irene) were not superstar enough to supply name recognition for the company’s 47th production of the Wagner opus, the…
La Cieca has just noticed that Decca is about to release a 33-disc collection comprising all the standard Wagner works. (You’ll have to look elsewhere for Das Liebesverbot.) The amazing news here is that this complete traversal of the standard Wagnerian canon is on sale for only $66.99 — yes, that’s right, barely two dollars…
Obviously the snippet of Birgit Nilsson‘s singing in the Curse Quiz does not represent the great dramatic soprano at her considerable best, since it’s taken from a post-retirement gala performance. Here’s Nilsson’s Isolde at her peak in one of La Cieca’s very favorite YouTube clips, from a 1967 telecast. (It’s been posted here before, but…
La Cieca presents, in traditional YouTube format, the shocking solution to the Mystery of Isolde’s Curse. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/3StsbgcqbUE” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Congratulations to Christian Ocier who recognized all 14 voices almost immediately and so is the winner of the amazon.com gift card. And thanks to all of you, cher public, for playing!
Has it really been nearly two months since our last “serious” vocal identification quiz? (By “serious,” La Cieca means of course not only for glory but for the coveted amazon.com gift card!) So, while we still have our most recent podcast of Tristan und Isolde on the brain, you clever public can try your skill…
Cher public, you are simply getting too clever for this poor old simple-minded doyenne. With only two photos to guide you, so many of you deduced that the opera was Wagner’s Siegfried, in the new production by Sven-Eric Bechtolf for Vienna. And so, our next quiz will be limited to only one photo. Should you…
Congratulations to borkmann, Dr. Hoffmann, Micaëla, emiliadiLiverpool, rysanekfreak and Enrico who all came up with the solution to our most recent Regiequiz. The opera presented is Wagner’s Tannhäuser in a new production by Hans Neuenfels for the Aalto Musiktheater Essen.
“Three situations that inspire terror in any opera singer — going on as an understudy, making a Metropolitan Opera debut, singing that most challenging of all tenor roles, Wagner’s Tristan, for the first time. On March 14, Gary Lehman took on all these challenges in a single evening, emerging a hero.” Our Own JJ comments…
La Cieca just can’t get enough of the old Love-Death. So this week’s edition of Unnatural Acts of Opera begins a classic performance of Wagner’s music drama from the 1976 Bayreuth Festival under the magical guidance of Carlos Kleiber. Tristan und Isolde (Act 1) UPDATE: Well, you can spank La Cieca’s butt and call her…
UPDATE:Â Be sure to join Commie-Winning Doyenne La Cieca for what is sure to be an historical webchat tonight beginning at 6:45 pm. According to an announcement on the Met’s website, tonight’s performance of Tristan und Isolde featuring (together! for the first time!) Ben Heppner and Deborah Voigt will be streamed live over RealPlayer. In…
It looks like Gary Lehman will finally get a chance to use the full extent of his acting abilities when (inevitably) he takes over the final two performances of Tristan und Isolde next week. In honor of Gary’s return to the cast, the Met is splurging on an actual rehearsal for the maverick renegade heldentenor…
This season’s revival of Tristan und Isolde at the Met has led a number of you to wonder, “what the hell is Jane Eaglen up to these days?”Â
La Cieca has just heard a whisper that the Met’s new Robert LePage Ring cycle for the Met (beginning in 2010-2011) is already in the midst of a major cast change: Christine Brewer looks likely to be the new Brünnhilde instead of the previously announced Deborah Voigt. UPDATE: Now La Cieca has also heard another…
Our Own JJ was at the Met last night (and part of this morning) to review Tristan und Isolde for Gay City News. As such he witnessed the rather astonishing series of events that Atomic Wings told you about earlier. La Cieca cannot of course ask JJ to comment on the specifics of the performance…
As your doyenne predicted yesterday, tenor Gary Lehman will sing tomorrow night’s Met performance of Tristan und Isolde, making his company and role debuts! La Cieca hears from an authoritative source that Lehman will also Robert Dean Smith will be released from concerts in Milan and Luxembourg so he can sing the role opposite Deborah…
A loyal reader writes: I wanted to let you know that the Tristan prima was a disaster. Only because of the Tristan (which, I guess we can’t relegate to a minor consideration), since it was otherwise mostly okay — if you can accept zero visual dramatic sense in the whole expedition. (As an extreme illustration of this…
La Cieca just heard that Ben Heppner has canceled the first night of the Met’s revival of Tristan und Isolde. John Mac Master will sing opposite Deborah Voigt.
Those early birds among you who were counting on getting a “preview” of this season’s Met Tristan tomorrow morning at the dress rehearsal will, as it turns out, will have to settle for only “und Isolde.” La Cieca has just been informed that Ben Heppner is sitting out the Generalprobe, with cover John Mac Master…
In a collaboration that La Cieca is delighted to describe as a “tête-à -tête-de-peau,” musical director Enrique Mazzola and director Calixto Bieito rehearse Der Fliegende Holländer for Stuttgart.
Now, here’s a sentence La Cieca thought she’d never hear herself saying: “Oh, for the good old days when Jane Eaglen sang all the big Wagner parts at the Met!” Ho-jo-to-no!
La Cieca’s observant spy Joe Conda infiltrated the January 29 interview of Anja Silja and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, reporting that sadly the event was something of a non-starter. He blamed interlocutrix Nimet Habachy, who mostly lobbed “generic” softball questions. La Silja did have a few well-reasoned observations about role preparation and her distaste for the concept…
Before La Cieca departs on holiday from her podcasting duties, allow her to introduce The Podderdammerung Page. Once again, La Cieca scoops the universe: here on parterre.com you can now listen to (or download) the entire Ring cycle, as featured on this month’s Unnatural Acts of Opera. What sort of Ring will you hear there?…
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