[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/qvDWwm2MHlI” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Many thanks to loyal reader Oliver for pointing us to this astonishing clip of Hildegard Knef singing “Seeräuber Jenny” from Die Dreigroschenoper. True, she was hardly an opera singer; in fact, Ella Fitzgerald once called her “the world’s greatest singer without a voice.” But as this clip demonstrates, La…
Oh, it’s just a typical day in the life of Shirley Verrett: walking the dog, crooning a few show tunes, going for a sleigh ride in a fur turban, vocalizing in a variety of silk scarves, strolling in the Bois, pounding notes on the Casio, and oh yes, belting out a Gluck aria or two.…
Now, stop La Cieca if she’s wrong, but it seems to her that the concept for this production of Carmen is that Escamillo is a 1970s gay clone. Well, no, La Cieca doesn’t get it either. But see for yourself: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/6F_hltdh1KE” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Who else but “Frantic” Franco Bonisolli? [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Xzg86rNphrI” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Resilient tenor Rolando Villazón makes a guest appearance on the TV talent search show “Musical Showstar 2008.” In a serious mood, RV performs “The Impossible Dream,” but then things turn very silly indeed when host Thomas Gottschalk (the Ryan Seacrest of Germany) joins the tenor for a production number from Monty Python’s Spamalot. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Xdtfqvj-Gr8″…
A gaggle of picadors from the Royal Opera demonstrate some of the choreography that didn’t make it onto the stage in this Francesca Zambello production of Carmen. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/ilDKRCbne6M” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Miss Battle sings for the Pope. Discuss. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/M959EKqr_N8″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
La Cieca completes today’s Cleavage Trifecta with the following video discovered on YouTube: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/50nOUj64uNE” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Dear Addison DeWitt once said, “You have a point. An idiotic one, but a point.” Actually he didn’t say it to La Cieca, but that’s neither here nor there. Since your doyenne is what you might call pathologically determined to see both sides of every questions, she’s going to reopen the can of worms here…
Flash phenomenon Izzy Anderson returns with an all-new choice of repertoire, and La Cieca has the exclusive. In fact, your doyenne’s old, old, old friend Wenarto created two variant versions of Izzy’s aria, and La Cieca was hard-pressed (ahem!) to choose between them. True, the take seen below features far better singing, but in the…
The legendary diva celebrates her 75th birthday today. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-2989150895689621204″ width=”400″ height=”326″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Fabio Armiliato takes a bis of “Ch’ella mi creda” during an April 8, 2008 performance of La fancuilla del West.
Juan Diego Flòrez sings his role debut as Duca di Mantova, last night in the Teatro Alejandro Granda, Lima, Peru. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/7Wrx77vQv1w” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Say what you will about Sylvie Valayre, the lady is certainly game, as can be seen both in this Regied-out scene from Nabucco: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/fJYn-D1TDw8″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] … and this production of Macbeth where (apparently) the Konzept for the Lady was “Patti LuPone meets Patti LaBelle.” [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/xj-hWDVvG9I” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
He’s a hunkentenor, and his name is Mark Tevis!
Lots of interesting guesses, but the previous Regiequiz seems to have stumped our panel. The opera depicted is one that has become something of a favorite of revisionist directors, La Juive. You can see some of the more interesting bits of the staging in context in this video from the Staatsoper Stuttgart:Â [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/xEnPr8jbjb0″ width=”425″…
There are lots of jokes about stupid tenors, but have you heard the one about the tenor who was so dumb he couldn’t figure out how a jacket worked?
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/5B6rY8VEwUc” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Those A&R geniuses over at Sony BMG have done it again, signing 33 year old former shepherd and massage therapist/bricklayer Costel Busuioc to a recording contract after he placed first in the televised singing competiton “Hijos de Babel.” (The title of the show means “Children of Babel,” which La Cieca believes was also an episode…
 Controversial soprano Tiziana Fabbricini sings her first Adriana Lecouvreur earlier this month. For some reason, the “Bajazet” monologue is given in . . . the original French? A French translation of the Italian librettese? No matter, once the singing begins, we get a glimpse of that utterly vital but increasingly rare quality — the sacro…
parterre mascot Izzy Anderson returns with yet another bash at “La donna e mobile.” Video impresario Wenarto obviously is working his connections like mad since he has managed to film this scene on the Act 2 set from the Met’s Tristan.
La Cieca has heard that New York City Opera General Manager (Designate) Gerard Mortier is planning a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte for the 2012 season, directed by Austrian film director Michael Haneke.
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/epxQcpV8r-g” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
This has to be the strangest staging of a Puccini opera ever! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/JGa1Z2UlvMY” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Ah, La Cieca must have her little joke! But seriously, cher public, the previous Regiequiz depicted (as so many of you divined) Parsifal. But wait! If this is Parsifal. . . . . . then surely this…
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.
