WHO IS MARCELLA SEMBRICH AND WHY WE SHOULD CARE

 Michael J. Butler, Lucy J. Altus, Ruby Dibble, Gemma Nha, Rose Naggar-Tremblay, and Magdalena Kuzma at the Marcella Sembrich Awards Ceremony

What a fine Sunday evening we spent at The Kosciusko Foundation! We learned something new and impressive, we heard six superlative young singers, and we dined on Polish delicacies. Before we get to the pierogis, let us share with you an interesting story related to us before the concert by Ewa Zadworna, who seems to keep the Kosciuszko Foundation running. 

Marcella Sembrich, a Polish soprano and star at The Metropolitan Opera House at the turn of the 20th c. was not only a great singer with a 30 year career, but also a founder of voice programs at Juilliard and at Curtis Institute, and a great philanthropist, helping to establish the Kosciuszko Foundation in 1926. She worked tirelessly to promote the music of her homeland, which had been partitioned and virtually ceased to exist-- except in the hearts and souls of its people.

The Russian occupiers forbade the use of the Polish language and, of course, the programming of Polish songs. Having been warned several times against singing Polish songs at her recitals, Sembrich risked her life by singing a Polish song at the invitation of the court of Nicholas II. Not only was she not punished but he enjoyed it. We love when music trumps politics!

And here we are today, always yearning to hear Polish songs at recital programs and, having enjoyed works by Moniuszko and Szymanowski (Halka by the former and King Roger by the latter), wanting to hear more.

At the awards recital, we got our wish granted. Magdalena Kuzma performed Halka's tragic aria  “Ha! Dzieciatko nam umiera “ from the Moniuszko opera of the same name. We also heard two lovely Chopin songs.  Gemma Nha sang the lovely "My Darling" and Michael Butler did equal justice to his "Melodia".

There were several other outstanding moments in the recital. We were floored by the powerful contralto of Rose Naggar-Tremblay singing Fricka's “Weiche, Wotan, weiche” from Wagner's Das Rheingold. We rarely hear such power and intensity from someone so young and if Wotan was not persuaded, we certainly were!

Both Lucy Altus and Ruby Dibble sang the "Composer's Aria" from Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos and we were impressed by how each talented mezzo-soprano was able to extract  different riches from the same mine. We have never been to a competition in which the judges requested the same aria from two different singers. In a way we wished they had performed it back-to-back.

Ms. Nha was hilarious in the playful "Non monsieur ma Marie" from Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias. Mr. Butler was soulful in "Salut! Demeure chaste et pure" from Gounod's Faust.

Not only were the young singers of exemplary quality but the chosen accompanists, Katelan Tran Terrell and Michal Biel, are both well known to us. They were outstanding in terms of sensitivity to the singers and flexibility of approach to arias from different musical periods. 

The recital went from one high to the next, convincing us that these emerging artists will all go on to success in the opera world. We enjoyed every moment until the very end when the awards were given. We hate to criticize an organization that provides so well for young artists but a misstep like this needs to be remedied.

 If you have six finalists onstage and five of them are given award certificates and bouquets of roses, how do you think the sixth singer feels? Our heart was breaking for her. Obviously competitors have to have nerves of steel and we personally know several semi-finalists whose talents were equal to the five major winners. But they were not onstage putting smiles on their faces. Singers cannot afford to be sore losers but they should never be humiliated in that fashion. This is the same objection we have to the Laffont Competition at The Metropolitan Opera when half of the finalists get awards and the other half do not. This situation exceeded that one in poor taste and should have been avoided.

That bit aside, it was a splendid show of vocal excellence and we are glad not to have been doing the judging. We were happy to be introduced to an important figure in opera and to learn of her outstanding legacy.

© meche kroop