My heart belongs to Dada
Maybe this will warm your surrealistic heart, or maybe it’s not your cup of fur. But, anyway: Aida on Ice.
YouTube
Three things I learned from Werther
1. Webcast technology has been refined enormously in the barely two years since the pioneering (and frustrating) effort at streaming a performance of Il Sant’Alessio. The embeddable (!) player didn’t skip once that I could see, and the sound was consistent. Neither, obviously, was exactly HD quality, but the experience felt quite seamless.
Happy Birthday Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart
The beloved composer would have been 254 years old today had he not died such a long time ago. La Cieca invites her cher public to share publicly favorite YouTube clips, and those of you who have personal reminiscences of W.A.M. are invited to get them off your chest sooner rather than later, what with […]
“I have had to subdue everything”
“Oh God! Oh justice dear to God! Oh light of the sun!” La Divina discusses her cinematic debut.
Guardians of the flame
Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky offer an object lesson in the traditional old school performance practice of “lurch and flail” operatic acting.
Lunacy
A glimpse of Il mondo della luna, the Gotham Chamber Opera production opening tonight at NYC’s Hayden Planetarium.
Daddy vs. daddy
A new toy to play with, cher public: it’s called YouTube Doubler. (Caution: Video autoplays when you click through the jump!)
Make the check out to Wenarto
The Sultan of Seattle himself, Wenarto, thought of it first. In fact, he created the legend that is Izzy Anderson. And now, that British TV show has taken his idea and just polished it up a little. Royalties, please!
Happy Birthday Floria Tosca
Puccini’s shockeroo was first performed 110 years ago today, January 14, 1900, at the at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.
Hair raising
Katherine Jenkins, C-list Britpop has-beens… and Rolando Villazón in a ginormous jewfro. No, this does not bode well.
Happy Birthday Evelyn Lear
The American soprano was born 84 years ago today.
After five
Can you really believe it’s been only five years since YouTube was launched? And can you believe that it’s taken all five of those years for the definitive “this is why YouTube was invented” video to show up on the site?
Should old, old, old acquaintance be forgot?
Well, La Cieca certainly hopes not, and she looks forward to seeing all of you in 2010. In the meantime, do drop by parterre.com beginning around 6ish this PM for a live chat about tonight’s Carmen prima from the Met. After the jump, La Cieca and an unidentified member of the cher public (possibly Camille?) […]
Coup de Grace
A tribute to Kennedy Center honoree Grace Bumbry from fellow laureate Aretha Franklin.
That will bring us back to Do
La Cieca’s first resolution for the New Year: to get herself a high C like the one Amarilli Nizza throws around with such aplomb and insouciance and such.
Le film d’artifice
Call this Prima Donna: The Opera: The Documentary: The Trailer. Plus it includes a glimpse of tween Rufus playing Scarpia.
Happy Birthday Giacomo Puccini
The poet of “le piccole cose” was born 151 years ago today.
Bel can, too
Here’s a rare glimpse of those bad old days at the (then) New York State Theater, before tens of millions of dollars were spent installing a sound enhancement system, ripping a sound enhancement system, and finally doing an acoustic overhaul. Note how distant and “small” the voices sounded back in 1976.
Hoffnung Festival
In celebration of the 239th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven (thanks, Camille!) La Cieca invites the cher public to share their favorite versions of the “Abscheulicher!” from Fidelio — or, for that matter, other personal Beethoven faves. La Cieca’s pick after the jump.
Kill Aegisth, Vol. 2
“Rache serviert genießt man am besten kalt!”
The words “ao vivo” are thrown around a lot these days…
Long before there was Miranda, there was “La Perle Noire du Brésil,” Natalia De Andrade.
To boldly go where too many regies have gone before
Okay, La Cieca is finally ready to add another hard and fast “don’t” to her Rules for Stage Directors. To wit: Even if a scene calls for something fantastical, and even if the mezzo doesn’t actually walk out of the production when she first sees the costume… if your imagery immediately and inevitably screams “Star […]
The smooth and the rough
Snippet from yesterday’s Carmen telecast.
Lazy afternoon
Neither Maria Guleghina nor Marcello Giordani was in best form for the Met’s HD telecast of Turandot — and, truth be told, the lavish Franco Zeffirelli production is beginning to show its age.
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).
