[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/hen9Gyc6ovs” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] This next stuff falls under the category of “housekeeping,” and believe you me, it’s not one of La Cieca’s favorite subjects, and if you ever saw her house, you’d know what she means. Anyway, your doyenne has noticed that of late the delightfully freewheeling discussion here has from time…
“Discovering that music and fragrance have harmony and even individual notes in common has taken me on a delightful journey,” Fleming says. One port of call on this journey: “The Making of ‘The La Voce Renee Fleming Ad’ Promo” video.
Tuesday morning: A further report from Lindoro Almaviva: Over all the night was a success d’estime. It was a Renee worship night and we got just that. I am sure you will be able to talk in better terms about the singing or lack thereof. My impression is that Renee had an “acting” night, as…
Pirates three: Kevin Kline, Rex Smith and Patricia Routledge. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/qbYScGigjd4″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
At first La Cieca thought this next clip was an excerpt from the film version of La bohème lensed earlier this year in Vienna and currently in post-production. But the director of that film is Robert Dornhelm and (at least as credited) the director for this video is Vincent Paterson. Your doyenne is further not…
The heroic forces of VAI ride to the rescue once more with a cleaned up release of one of the most coveted (and pirated) live opera telecasts: the NHK Lirica Italiana production of La fanciulla del West, starring the luminescent Antonietta Stella. Â
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La Cieca cannot help losing her heart to a stage director who compares Berg’s Lulu to “early Elizabeth Taylor,” particularly when the regisseur in question is puppylicious Paul Curran. (In this video he’s introducing the opera for his new production at Lyric Opera of Chicago opening in November.) [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/4ebzoFHR8V8″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
If a Belcore must strip down to a skintight see-through undershirt, that Belcore should be Mariusz Kwiecien (or, as he is so charmingly nicknamed at Barihunks, “The Hot Pole.”) [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/egG334v-EBY” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Congratulations to proud papa Erwin Schrott, whose 7 pound, 13 ounce boy TBA Tiago Aura Arua Schrott was born today in Vienna. La Cieca extends her best wishes as well to Anna Netrebko, though she hopes the couple will not allow any cigar smoking in the presence of The Schrott Tot. (“Tiago,” La Cieca is…
Patrician Pat Munsel wows the panel. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/CUp9oXu8lRA” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] (Thanks to clever Youtuber jonedgar for the clip!)
La Cieca (not pictured) is delighted to note that the delightful and learned Nicholas Limansky (also not pictured) will grace the stage of the next Vocal Record Collectors Society meeting to explore the controversial topic of extended or “freak” sopranos. The main topic of his talk will of course be the Peruvian songbird Yma Sumac,…
August 30 is the anniversary of the birth of a famous Quickly: Regina Resnik! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/ipFMt7bPStg” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] And here we have Mme. Resnik in a campy mood, sending up the faux-exoticism of Kismet. Not Since Nineveh!
It seems our lovely Shequida was not what the judges were looking for, not that night, anyway. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/atilzaDBVcg” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Â
Here’s the solution to the Elfte Brautnacht! vocal ID quiz:
“Alex, age 4, clearly in love with what he’s hearing and seeing.” [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/9uyJ-hrTknA” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Any singer who is known as “The Croatian Yma Sumac” you know already has won a place in La Cieca’s deepest heart of hearts. So the astonishing production values of the theatrical experience that is known as Priinceza na zrnu graÅ¡ka can only add to your doyenne’s abject veneration for the one, the only… Zdenka…
Plácido Domingo will sing the role of Maurizio in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur at the Metropolitan Opera for six performances in February 2009, replacing Marcelo Ãlvarez, who, as we heard before, is jumping into the title role in the Met’s new production of Verdi’s Il Trovatore. As the press release from the Met notes, “With these…
Speaking of divas on the cusp of their second half-century of life, Madonna turned 50 this past weekend. That reminds La Cieca of a kinder if not gentler time when MTV was actually pretty cool, as this spoof promo from the era demonstrates. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/9IR_3lqBzsc” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Many of you guessed the solution already, but here’s the trailer from the most recent Regie quiz, this time with its soundtrack restored.
Some of the starry roster for the Rudolf Bing Farewell Gala accept the plaudits cher public. Ah, 1972, when opera and hair were at their respective peaks of style! Introducing the cavalcade of curtain calls is La Cieca’s role model Risë Stevens. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/2m6M9rPgAbs” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
La Cieca’s toughest Regie quiz so far baffled even the cleverest of the cher public. Admittedly it was not exactly a warhorse, but the title should be recognizable enough: Chabrier’s L’etoile. To atone for this perhaps overdone obfuscation, your doyenne offers a special treat this week. It’s a video trailer for an opera, stripped of…
Christa Ludwig is a one-woman melting pot! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://ca.youtube.com/v/c2Xty48hNaA” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
The latest Newsweek includes a tech piece on a new bit of synergy that may well have opera queen/pirate applications. The idea is that one can attend an event, point and shoot with a video-enabled cellphone, and have the resulting video streamed instantaneously to a website.Â
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.
