Let’s talk about chest: theories, recollections, examples, caveats… All about chest, in fact. To start the conversational ball rolling, here’s what some celebrated mid 20th century divas have to say about the subject of chest voice. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/j2hd_2m1qXE” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Chest nut Charlie Handelman has so much to say on “voce di petto”…
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
or, “The Art of Can’t Canto.” [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/wk84Niba5Fo” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
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A witty YouTube ad from Dallas Opera, who seem to be doing just fine. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/uLU0M6EkuKg” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Despite rave reviews for her recent “comeback” show at the Palace, vocal problems continue to plague legendary songstress Liza Minnelli.
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/5ZNQQxFUHw0″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] “The Family Pondman sings with the well-known Dutch Opera-singer Margaret Roest on request of our father, study colleague of her, spontaniously the Terzett from I Lombardi…”
In honor of tomorrow night’s role debut at the Met.
The glamorous soprano was born 90 years ago today, February 2, 1919. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/hGeCjq3uYX0″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
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La Cieca has obtained some exclusive footage from the first camera rehearsal for the upcoming HD telecast of Lucia di Lammermoor from the Met. Extra rehearsals, she hears, have already been called! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/6Wg04e24UPc” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Cher public, a number of you have written asking how you can post links to YouTube videos in your comments. La Cieca is continuing to research the situation, but here’s a preliminary solution. When you are copying and pasting the URL of the YouTube video into your comment, omit the http:// , beginning the address…
But you might call it deconstruction avant la lettre. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/rarkvZ4Cc0A” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Since there’s nothing new on Sirius, no HD telecast, or a new Unnatural Acts of Opera tonight, La Cieca thought we might revisit the golden age of two decades ago for a classic performance of The Dentist of Seville. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Yqj8GcTPfhY” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
La Cieca’s nemesis, with the eyes of the world watching, goes on her best behavior. (Well, except for that one note at 2:16, but nobody’s perfect.) Ah, if only this were change we could believe in! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/eg_xFto88bQ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Just because the Met’s production of La rondine is on hiatus at the moment doesn’t mean we have to go without our regular ration of Angela Gheorghiu. Here is The Elusive One herself with jummy Jonas Kaufmann among others in a documentary of last summer’s recording sessions for a new EMI recording of Madama Butterfly.…
Today’s the birthday of another great lady of song: Ethel Merman‘s 100th101st! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Z7VzlCk1NoE” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
The fabulous and funny American mezzo-soprano is 75 today.
Presenting The Family Pondman. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/xh5TzgSJNvM” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] More about The Family Pondman, including the answer to the inevitable question, “Wha…?” may be found on their eponymous website.
La Cieca wants to give a quick “shout-out” (as the youngsters say, they tell me) to “critic, novelist and record-store clerk” Daniel Stephen Johnson, who on top of all that is not only one of our newest and nicest commenters, but a smart and sassy blogger in his own right. He writes somewhat in the…
So, what’s stranger than Pola Negri singing the “Hojotoho?” Well, La Cieca is sure she couldn’t say, but she is willing to venture a guess that the answer just might involve Billie Burke, Adolphe Menjou, June Havoc, and an apartment decorated in psychedelic wallpaper. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/eWOU6PmkgXA” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
UPDATE: A quick preview of tonight’s (this afternoon’s, actually) spectacular radio broadcast of I puritani from the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. First, a hint of some of the “new” musical ideas in this edition of Puritani. This is the final cabaletta of the opera, performed (as it was apparently originally intended) as a duet for…
The long-awaited return of the “Jambon d’Or,” featuring bass-baritone (?) Liudas Mikalauskas. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/TNW8wOQ6hq8″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Celebrated fact-mangler Norman Lebrecht is at it again. Did you know that the Metropolitan Opera has in its repertoire a production of Der Rosenkavalier directed by Jonathan Miller? This interview includes a statement by Dr. Miller insisting his current La boheme (inspired by “the photoÂgraphic world of Brassaï, Cartier-Bresson and Kertezsz,” dontcha know) will be the…
