Private dancer
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.
YouTube
Mara Zampieri: the Cabaret Years!
Or is La Cieca mistaken: could this rather be Alfred Deller‘s “after hours” show?
Wagging the Tale
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.
Dat woice which calls to me
Remember Dragana Jugovic del Monaco? Oh, come on, who could ever forget? Well, she’s back (or was back, anyway, as of 1999) for the following crossover effort with a pop singer who La Cieca supposes must be billed as something like “The Ozzy Osbourne of the Republic of Serbia.”
No, no, no, no way!
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.
Wunder Bär
A snippet of the Berlin Lohengrin directed by Stefan Herheim, who is rapidly becoming one of La Cieca’s favorite Regisseurs!
The view from Kareol
Poet of the podium Carlos Kleiber leads the final minutes of Tristan und Isolde from the mystic abyss of Bayreuth, circa 1975.
Elisabeth Söderström 1927 – 2009
The great Swedish soprano died earlier today. She was 82. [AP]
You’re going to scoop just what you sow
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 […]
A whole lot of look
What happens, La Cieca imagines, when Project Runway meets Carl Maria von Weber.
O Hasmik addio!
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role of Verdi’s Aida at the Metropolitan Opera on March 26, 31, and April 3 matinee, replacing Hasmik Papian, who has withdrawn.
Forever Young
“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]
Talking the talk
An elegantly beturbaned Miss Leontyne Price offers an object lesson in The Art of the Diva Interview.
Furia orrenda!
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 […]
A Masked Ball
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 […]
Anticipation
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 […]
Chest nut
¡Mira! Mean, moody magnificent Manuela Trasobares!
Worlds collide
Raina Kabaivanska sings in a film by Patrice Chéreau.
What lies underneath
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.
Gayer than…?
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:
Happy Birthday Dame Gwyneth Jones
The legendary dramatic soprano was born November 7, 1936.
The beast with three backs
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.
The mirror in the man
This production of Der Rosenkavalier (directed by Stefan Herheim for Staatstheater Stuttgart) looks fascinating:
Buzzworthy
Mean, moody, magnificent Mariusz Kwiecien gets the Regie treatment (including a buzzcut!) for a new Don Giovanni in Munich.
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
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).
