Poor wan Rusalka Poor wan Rusalka

The winter 2014 final run of the Met’s first/only Rusalka production (a new one is scheduled in a few seasons) seemed both a nod to the theater’s past and a hint of its future.

21st century blues 21st century blues

Your doyenne peers into the future, or, to be more accurate, into the Future Met Wiki, to reveal the latest rumors on casting and repertoire.

Sometimes just pretzels and beer Sometimes just pretzels and beer

Our Own JJ crunches the numbers at the Met and LoftOpera in the New York Observer.

Be my guest! Be my guest!

James Levine turns 72 this year. Even though his health has improved considerably in the past year and he may continue to conduct for a decade or more, it seems inevitable that he will step down as the Met’s Music Director sometime in the next few years to assume the role of Conductor Laureate.

We’ll settle that tonight! We’ll settle that tonight!

La Cieca has been wining, dining and otherwise wooing her Met connection (pictured above) and he (or is it she?) has come across with some tidbits about upcoming seasons at Casa Gelb.

Nie sollst du mich befragen Nie sollst du mich befragen

You can imagine what the next few days were like.

Season of no witch Season of no witch

Deborah Voigt, “unfortunately ill,” will not sing her first Ortrud this Sunday at the Festival de Lanaudière. According to the festival’s press office, a replacement will be named later today.

And the 2013 Pubies go to… And the 2013 Pubies go to…

One startling upset catches the eye among the many winners (if that is the word) of the 2013 Parterre Box Awards.

Teen spirit Teen spirit

La Cieca thought it would be amusing to do a bit of speculation about what’s to come as we approach the middle of the decade.

Couldn’t you just eat him up? Couldn’t you just eat him up?

ust when you thought it was impossible to adore Yannick Nézet-Séguin any more than you already did…

Successor

Now that the retirement of James Levine is basically just a matter of patiently waiting out 18 months of inaction, it’s about time you, the cher public, were heard on the subject of the appointment of a new music director for the Met. A couple of polls for you after the jump.  

Jimmydämmerung?

La Cieca (pictured) is going to go out on a limb here, cher public, based on bits and pieces of gossip, a hard fact or two, and her own occasionally flawed powers of ratiocination. Her prediction: James Levine will retire as Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera, effective at the end of the 2011-2012 season.…

Another one bites the dust

Next music director at the Metropolitan Opera? Well, it’s sure not going to be Yannick Nézet-Séguin. [NYT]