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La Cieca’s spy tells her that Maestro Levine returned to the Met today for a coaching session with the cast of Das Rheingold.

“I just saw a woman upstairs,” said poet/translator Richard Howard, “wearing a very large pair of sunglasses that made her look for all the world like a great dragonfly.” “Upstairs” was the balcony at the Met; at the time, I was taking Howard’s lecture on the subject of frivolity in literature, and so when I spotted [...]

La Cieca is proud to unveil what she hopes will become your second-favorite calendar: The New York Opera Calendar at Parterre. This handy resource includes an exhaustive list of opera and opera-related performances for the 2010-2011 season, the better to plan your busy social life. Opera companies and members of the cher public who have [...]

Igor Stravinsky was a bit of a musical shapeshifter in his day, especially when compared to his contemporaries in early 20th century Europe. Given, the time in which Stravinsky was living in Europe was one of the most dynamic periods in recent history, but few were able to consistently generate music of such varying [...]

La Cieca has managed to obtain a few minutes of video, pirated at great personal risk, from a dress rehearsal of the Met’s new production of Das Rheingold.

Everybody loves an orgy. But, in the words of Betsy Ann Bobolink (pictured), “a really good orgy takes preparation, and I don’t mean Preparation H.” Our Betsy continues (discussing, I mean) after the jump. Betsy continues: Length is important. And it should include something no one has ever done before. Timing is critical. But at least we have a [...]

La Cieca hears that Susan Neves has joined the cast of Washington National Opera’s Un ballo in maschera to sing Amelia in two performances, and Tamara Wilson will sing two additional performances. The American sopranos take over dates held by Irène Theorin.

It’s easy to see why the Met has chosen to include this 1982 performance of Der Rosenkavalier in their DVD set commemorating James Levine’s 40th anniversary: the marathon evening is a triumph for Levine from the frenzied blend of waltz melodies in the overture to the final, birdsong-like notes of hope at the end of [...]

A quintessential theater man as well as a brilliant conductor, James Levine rightfully chose not only the five-act version of Don Carlo for this 1980 performance but begins the opera as Verdi had originally conceived it. The Woodcutters chorus and the episode in which Elisabetta gives her necklace to a destitute woman are pages essential to [...]

In a week that includes the news of the release of nearly 100 “lost” Judy Garland performances and the announcement that Bernadette Peters will star as Sally in a lavish revival of Follies, even Betsy Ann Bobolink is hard-pressed to thrill with choices for Saturday afternoon listening. As she so often says, “Maybe something really [...]

Congratulations to tenor Stephen Costello, who today was officially awarded the ceremonial title of Villazóneinspringer at the Vienna State Opera. No, actually, he’s jumping into two performances of La boheme, replacing Rolando Villazón, on September 6 and 9. According to the information La Cieca has received, By mutual agreement between the Vienna State Opera and Rolando Villazón, [...]

La Cieca hears that Renée Fleming will yet again grace the stage of the Metropolitan with a new role in 2015. The production will be staged by Susan Stroman.

“Parade” is defined simply by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “a pompous show.” Fitting enough, then, that the triple bill titled Parade: An Evening of French Music Theatre recorded at the Met on March 16, 2002 consists of Erik Satie’s ballet Parade, Francis Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias, and Maurice Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. [...]

The James Levine 40th Anniversary set includes not only unreleased video performances on DVD but also live radio broadcasts on CD. This performance is one of the latter, originally heard April 19, 2003. The Rake’s Progress has one of the greatest operatic pedigrees of all time. It was inspired by a series of William Hogarth engravings [...]

La Cieca is told that at least three productions at the Met this year will be shorn of an accustomed intermission: Simon Boccanegra, The Queen of Spades and La traviata will all be done in “two-act” versions, each with but a single interval.

Of course opera fans all owe Agnes Varis a lot, what with the Met rush tickets and all that, plus La Cieca, being a lady of a certain age herself, should be the last one to talk. But she can’t help hearing this quote from Varis in the foghorn rasp of Miss Blankenship: “The opera’s [...]

Three-time Met régisseuse Mary Zimmerman is taking it to the Windy City, helming a “newly adapted” Candide for Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. “Danny Pelzig choreographs the cataclysmic events that ensue.” [broadwayworld.com]

The first opera to be performed in the 21st century at the Metropolitan Opera, thankfully after the lack of total destruction from the Y2K bug, was the recently premiered The Great Gatsby by John Harbison. Commissioned to mark James Levine’s 25th anniversary with the company, the recording of this New Year’s Day broadcast is [...]

These days, when James Levine is mostly in the news due to his back ailments, it is somewhat shocking to see this performance of Le nozze di Figaro begin with the Maestro fairly dancing around on the podium as he conducts a sparkling rendition of the overture. It starts off a classic performance of Mozart’s [...]

Congratuations to David H. Koch for a lavish profile in The New Yorker celebrating his social success with Kennedys and Trumps and especially his munificence with artistic and cultural organizations including the New York City Opera! And further kudos to The New Yorker for noting high up in the article that the publicity-shy philanthropist is [...]

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