Hunkentenor Giuseppe Filianoti performs a little “risqué business” in this trailer for a new production of L’elisir d’amore that opened last night at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

on December 01, 2009 at 11:13 PM

Or is La Cieca mistaken: could this rather be Alfred Deller‘s “after hours” show? 

on November 29, 2009 at 8:33 PM

La Cieca’s saturation coverage of the Met’s new Contes d’Hoffmann begins officially on Monday, when one of her most reliable and most devious spies promises a report from the dress rehearsal. You, the cher public, will be expected to sound off loud and clear during the opening night chat on Thursday at 8:00 pm.  

on November 28, 2009 at 12:56 PM

Remember Dragana Jugovic del Monaco? Oh, come on, who could ever

on November 27, 2009 at 2:53 PM

La Cieca has a new favorite thing. It’s called Tubedubber, and what it does is it allows you to mix the video from one YouTube clip with the audio (soundtrack) from another.

on November 25, 2009 at 9:26 AM

A snippet of the Berlin Lohengrin directed by Stefan Herheim, who is rapidly becoming one of La Cieca’s favorite Regisseurs! 

on November 24, 2009 at 5:09 PM

Poet of the podium Carlos Kleiber leads the final minutes of Tristan und Isolde from the mystic abyss of Bayreuth, circa 1975.

on November 21, 2009 at 1:34 PM

The great Swedish soprano died earlier today. She was 82. [AP]

on November 20, 2009 at 5:18 PM

You know how you have this old friend you’ve known for 20 years now, who’s always been a little nuts, or gets a little high, or just is, you know, eccentric, but in a way that is so clueless that it’s kind of endearing? Someone you can count on for a laugh, because you always…

on November 19, 2009 at 8:15 AM

What happens, La Cieca imagines, when Project Runway meets Carl Maria von Weber.

on November 18, 2009 at 9:34 PM

Hui He will sing the title role of Verdi’s Aida at the Metropolitan Opera on March 26, 31, and April 3 matinee, replacing Hasmik Papian, who has withdrawn. 

on November 17, 2009 at 12:30 PM

“For the premiere in 1918, the Metropolitan Opera marshaled … Florence Easton, whose repertory ranged from Carmen to Brünnhilde, as Loretta, the doting Gianni Schicchi’s ingénue daughter who winds him around her little finger with the Top 10 aria ‘O mio babbino caro’.” [NYT]

on November 15, 2009 at 7:04 PM

An elegantly beturbaned Miss Leontyne Price offers an object lesson in The Art of the Diva Interview.

on November 14, 2009 at 10:08 PM

For no particular reason, La Cieca has been thinking of the duet “E un anatema” from La Gioconda, and for a very particular reason, she’s been thinking of Aprile Millo. Anyway, to get the discussion started for the weekend, cher public, how’d you like to share your favorite performances of this duet, YouTube style, down…

on November 13, 2009 at 7:41 PM

Squirrel is using his Parterre Pulpit to make a pitch. If the Met wants to produce a work that has never been seen in New York, they could do worse than a new production of Carl Nielsen‘s excellent comic opera Maskarade. It’s easy listening for sure, melodically akin to La boheme or Lehar, but marked…

on November 13, 2009 at 7:34 PM

The premiere of Hugo Weisgall’s 1993 Esther at New York City Opera occupied my mind for several days – though maybe not for the best reasons.  As I wrote earlier, it is a work that emanates, belatedly, from what might be called The Twelve-Tone Industrial Complex, that uptown conservatory lobby of the 1950s and 60s, which was…

on November 12, 2009 at 5:16 PM

¡Mira! Mean, moody magnificent Manuela Trasobares! 

on November 11, 2009 at 7:56 PM

Raina Kabaivanska sings in a film by Patrice Chéreau.

on November 10, 2009 at 3:58 PM

parterre fave Peter Konwitschny has returned to his métier, directing a new production of Salome — with a happy ending! Following the jump are excerpts from an interview with the director in Volksrant, translated by Our Own Freniac.

on November 09, 2009 at 12:30 PM

What? Springtime? Adam Lambert? An Ungaro Spring frock (pictured)? Or that old standby, “gayer than eight guys fucking nine guys?” (Not pictured, alas) Yes, all those things are gay, and some are even gay gay gay gay gay. But nothing is or ever was as gay as this:

on November 09, 2009 at 8:15 AM

The legendary dramatic soprano was born November 7, 1936.

on November 07, 2009 at 11:51 AM

Among the “auditions” that have come flooding in from the cher public are reviews of three very different productions of Don Giovanni. Your doyenne has taken the liberty of combining the three critiques into a single posting, but she urges you to remember, remember well the names of the authors of this troika of treatises. 

on November 05, 2009 at 8:17 PM

This production of Der Rosenkavalier (directed by Stefan Herheim for Staatstheater Stuttgart) looks fascinating:

on November 03, 2009 at 11:29 PM

Mean, moody, magnificent Mariusz Kwiecien gets the Regie treatment (including a buzzcut!) for a new Don Giovanni in Munich.

on November 02, 2009 at 2:24 PM