A PAIR OF NEW STARS

Pianist Kanae Matsumoto Giampietro, soprano Alexandra Razskazoff, and baritone Yeongtaek Yang

Nothing gives us greater joy than observing the growing accomplishments and concomitant fame of young singers. The recital we heard yesterday at The American Opera Center celebrated the prodigious talents of two winners of awards from Opera Index, a most worthwhile foundation that supports the same young singers whose careers we diligently follow. One could not have imagined a more thrilling afternoon.

The recital went from one high to another; by the time intermission rolled around we were breathless from excitement, hoarse from repeated "bravos", and sore of hands from applauding. We would have been completely satisfied if the recital had ended there but there was another half, leaving us giddy with enthusiasm.

We have written about soprano Alexandra Razskazoff for about nine years, admiring the way she gave consummate vocalism and dramatic artistry to such an amazing variety of roles as a student at Juilliard and as an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera.   Baritone Yeongtaek Yang did not appear on our horizon until about two years ago as a student at Manhattan School of Music when it was plain to see that he embodied the qualities necessary for operatic success. The mark of James Morris is upon him!

Leaving the past aside (although, Dear Reader,if you wish to know more about the past glories of these two young artists, you may enter their names in the search bar), let us create a snapshot of the present. The recital opened with Mr. Yang delivering the Prologue to Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci. It was the perfect introduction to the concert itself, speaking of what we had to look forward to, with Mr. Yang embodying the persona of Tonio who, in his moment of fame, gets to prepare the audience for the upcoming performance. Audience members did not fail to notice a well-trained voice, skilled at the refinements of singing, and lavish at dramatic intent and focus.

Ms. Razskazoff followed with a group of songs by Puccini, sung with delicacy and charm, saving the ample breadth of her instrument for material later in the program that requires those qualities. We suspect that "Sole e amore" was a study for the role of Mimi in La Bohême. We loved the expressivity of her voice, the delicate diminuendos, and the floated high notes which would be the envy of many a tenor. The sorrowful "Do not Sing to Me" by Rachmaninoff captured the extent of the poet's grief so successfully that we were more than close to tears.

In a set of Duparc songs, performed with excellent Gallic flair, we preferred the existential terror of "La vague et la cloche", the images limned solely by Mr. Yang's vocal coloration. Notes that reached deep into the lower register were delivered in fine pianissimo.

The second act of Verdi's La Traviata presents a challenge for both Violetta and for Germont Père. The latter must shift from an angry father to a position of respect for his "wayward" son's mistress. The former must also make a profound shift from a dignified woman angry at Germont's invasion of her home to a submissive position, willing to accept reality and sacrifice her present happiness. We have previous written our theory about why she does so. For the moment we will not repeat our psychoanalytic musings and just say that the scene worked brilliantly. Ms. Razskazoff clearly showed the exact moment in which Violetta makes the emotional adjustment, demonstrating a clear understanding of her character.

Mr. Yang gave a thrilling rendition of Gérard's aria "Nemico della patria" from Giordano's Andrea Chenier. This is a cynical moment in the opera when Gérard realizes that, in spite of The Revolution, he is still a servant, just of another master. Mr. Yang captured it all with strong singing in realismo fashion.

Ms. Razskazoff astonished us with the aforementioned breadth of tone in the cavatina "Tacea la notte placida" from Verdi's Il Trovatore in which Leonora sings of her love for Manrico. The cabaletta was exquisitely rendered.

To add some humor to the evening, Mr. Yang offered "The Green Eyed Dragon" by Wolseley, showing off some impressive skills with comedic storytelling. If you never heard this song, Dear Reader, you owe it to yourself to look up the lyrics. It is in such comic works with short phrases that the English language sings best.

Proving our point that the operatic tradition is well represented by 20th c. American musical theater, Ms. Razskazoff offered "Somewhere" from Bernstein's West Side Story and "I Could Have Danced All Night" from Loewe's My Fair Lady. While well done, we prefer a more British style but the artist made it her own by Americanizing the accent and the acting.

The evening ended with a charming duet from Mozart's Die Zauberflôte in which Pamina and Papageno get acquainted--"Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen".

As encore the pair gave us an English translation of the waltz from Lehar's Die Lustige Witwe. We cannot write a review without finding some small quibble and that was it. Although well sung, it missed the particular marriage of text and music that makes the duet so charming. Well, maybe next time they will sing it in German!

The excellent piano accompaniment was provided by Kanae Matsumoto Giampietro who has an admirably delicate touch.

To those of you who are not aware of the great and generous support given young artists by Opera Index we urge you to find out. There will be more recitals like this one with exposure to young singers on the brink of world stardom. Indeed these singers have had multiple awards showered upon them by various foundations who believe in their respective futures as much as we do. Note that Sir Bryn Terfel will be honored by Opera Index on January 19th at The Metropolitan Club, a yearly event that draws the luminaries of Planet Opera, many of whom were in attendance at yesterday's recital.

© meche kroop

MATCHMAKER MATCHMAKER MAKE ME A MATCH

 PRINCIPALS ALEXANDRA RAZSKAZOFF, MARCUS DE LOACH, AND JOHN BELLEMER

(PHOTO BY GUSTAVO MIRABILE)

Teatro Grattacielo is known for producing realismo operas that one is unlikely to see elsewhere. We have lost count of the the number of worthy works they have brought to our attention. So many of them have been heavyweight tragedies but yesterday's production of Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz was just what we needed after the prior night's tragic impact. For this we thank General Director and Artistic Director Stefanos Koroneos.

Cavalleria Rusticana is Mascagni's masterwork and we never ever turn down a chance to see it.  We recall seeing a rather odd production of his rather odd opera Iris at Bard College's Summer Festival a few years ago. But this may be our first exposure to the simple story of L'Amico Fritz.  Of course, any opera lover would have heard the "Cherry Duet" performed as a set piece.

This is a slight work but the simple story is easily relatable. A confirmed bachelor is tricked into marriage by his well meaning friend. In this case, the local rabbi David (baritone Marcus DeLoach) loves to get people married off but Fritz, a local landowner,(John Bellemer) is a confirmed bachelor. The nubile daughter (Alexandra Razskazoff) of one of his tenant farmers seems like a good match and David figures out a way to get them together. Bravi tutti!  A happy ending!

The outstanding features of the evening were the voices and the musicianship of the Queens Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Bagwell. If the other two principal roles had not been so well sung, we would have said that Ms. Razskazoff ran away with the show. What made her performance so outstanding was not just her sweet finely produced soprano voice but her acting. She completely embodied a shy young country girl trying to deal with a crush on a man of high social status.

Due to the lack of a firm directorial hand by Mr. Koroneos and Malena Dayen, the cast pretty much stood around woodenly with nothing to do. Indeed it was billed as "semi-staged" but the fact that the theater has wrap around balconies that were put to use indicates that there was an attempt at story telling. The absence of set was unfortunate; a mere stepladder for Suzel to climb to pick cherries would have been welcome; we supplied one in our mind's eye. There was a huge chandelier that was eye catching but did not contribute anything.

Mr. Bellemer came alive dramatically as the evening progressed and Mr. DeLoach did his best but they seemed to be floundering onstage with nothing to do. We understand a concert performance in which singers use music stands but this was not the case. It would have been simple to have a couple pieces of furniture or props.

An attempt to involve multi-media seemed to us to be a complete failure. We will not mention the names of those involved but the projections were nothing if not distracting. We would not have minded a still shot in the background of a farm or a living room but the kinetic falling ellipses (cherry blossoms maybe) distracted from the singing. Even worse were the closeups of the singers' faces as they sang.

Costuming by Theresa Miles was generic but serviceable. Since the story is not particular to epoch or locale, it was fine. Except for Beppe, a gypsy of indeterminate gender whose costume was just weird.  Nonetheless, Mariya Kaganskaya did a lovely job with her aria.

There was a servant (Kiena Williams) and a couple friends (David Santiago and Rick Agster) who mainly just stood around and a chorus who made a nice vocal contribution.

Mr. Bagwell drew a lovely performance from the orchestra and we just loved the melodic arias and the aforementioned duet.

In sum, it was a delightful evening of music that only needed some directorial ideas and a few props to make it work as drama.

© meche kroop

NOT JUST ANOTHER COMPETITION

Singers and Judges in Premiere Opera Foundation's International Vocal Competition Finals Concert

This was a great week for vocal competitions; we attended three of them! Truth to tell, there is nothing we enjoy more than these events. We get to hear a wide variety of material sung by some of the best vocal talent around. We get to watch the growth of young singers with whom we are familiar and we get to meet young singers from other cities that we don't usually get to hear.

Although all competitions share common features like excitement and cash prizes, each vocal competition has a different emphasis. Yesterday's competition inaugurated the union between the Premiere Opera Foundation and NYIOP, thus extending the concept of the competition beyond cash prizes by incorporating the function of auditioning. Instead of young artists traveling the world to audition, NYIOP brought casting directors to the event. If we were casting directors we would have felt like a gourmet at a banquet!

There was so much talent onstage to appreciate and such a distinguished panel of judges, including our own dear friend Ken Benson, Stefanos Koroneos and Maestro Israel Gursky from Teatro Grattacielo, Eric Margiore of Premiere Artists Management,and world famous soprano Erin Morley whose performances always thrill us.  

A field of 200 applicants was winnowed down to 91 semi-finalists; at the prior day's semi-finals, 20 young singers were chosen as finalists. It was interesting to us that in addition to the generous prizes awarded to the finalists, prizes were also given to some of the semi-finalists. No one walked away empty handed. Some prizes were cash and others were study grants abroad, vocal and career consultations, or coachings. Just imagine being able to coach with Ms. Morley!!!

We loved Nina Mutalifu's interpretation of Adriana Lecouvreur's famous aria "Io son l'umile ancella" in which her soaring soprano was used effectively to show both the character's diva stature but also her modesty. Ms. Mutalifu has sung in our Around the World in Song concerts, performing Uighur songs in her native language. What a treat to hear her sing a realismo role in Italian!

Tim Murray's pleasingly textured baritone was put in the service of limning the character of the clueless Count Almaviva. We watched and listened with glee as his ire grows. 

Mezzo-soprano Michaela Wolz performed "Parto, ma tu ben mio" from Mozart's La clemenza di Tito with variety of color in each verse, growing in ardency. There was something deeply affecting as she repeated "Guardami!"

Soprano Tatev Baroyan did justice to the "Snow Maiden's Aria" from the Rimsky-Korsakov opera. We recently saw this exquisite fairytale opera at Manhattan School of Music and Ms. Baroyan's ethereal interpretation was filled with the requisite innocence of the character.

Heldentenor Kevin Ray wisely chose the impassioned aria "Amfortas! Die Wunde!" from Wagner's Parsifal. His sizable instrument filled the sanctuary with overtones as his sincerity grew in power.

Mezzo-soprano Carolyn Sproule made a fine Adalgisa, beautifully shaping the long phrases of "Sgombra e la sacra selva" from Bellini's Norma. She has an admirable true mezzo sound and ended with a finely wrought decrescendo.

Joo Won Kang was one of several superb Verdi baritones on the program. His performance was well modulated and he brought considerable excitement to the cabaletta. We liked the resonance of his instrument as well.

Soprano Alexandra Razskazoff scored highly in that feature as well. She brought a lot of vocal excitement to "Come in quest'ora bruna" from Verdi's Simon Boccanegra. We liked the exquisite dynamic control and the fine vibrato of her instrument.

Baritone Denis Milo phrased "Onegin's Aria" beautifully and sang in fine Russian. We got more involved when he used dramatic emphasis and wished he would use his body more. We realize that Onegin is a somewhat pompous character and a bit stiff in his "Dutch Uncle advice" to Tatiana; but he is Russian after all and the performance would have been more affecting with a little more gesture.

Tenor Joseph Tancredi attracted our notice as an undergraduate at Manhattan School of Music and then as an Apprentice at Santa Fe Opera. We love witnessing his promise being fulfilled. His beautiful sweet tone was just right for the role of The Italian Tenor in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.

Baritone Bryan Murray is winning prizes all over town. "Pierrot's Tanzlied" won him prizes from Opera Index and Talents of the World; let's consider it his very own showpiece! We were happy to hear it again as he gave each phrase a lovely shape and nostalgic perfume.

Victoria Davis has a big beautiful soprano sound and succeeded in creating a character in "Do Not Utter a Word" from Barber's Vanessa, one of the few operas in English that we enjoy. The problem is that words get lost in the upper register more readily in English than in other languages.

Baritone Jianan Huang sang "O Carlo ascolta" from Verdi's Don Carlo with Italianate legato phrasing and gorgeous tone. He gave us chills and won us over by being completely immersed in the prison cell scene. 

Soprano Quan Chen, stunningly gowned, added to our earlier impression of her as a perfect Puccini soprano. Recently we heard her "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" from La Rondine, and last night she sang "Un bel di vedremo", allowing us to watch the harbor along with her. We always enjoy an aria more when the singer visualizes the scene and we can see it through her/his eyes.

Mezzo-soprano Polixeni Tziouvaras gave an hypnotic rendering of "Ô ma lyre immortelle" from Gounod's Sapho. She is a highly expressive singer and uses her entire body; she pulled us into the world of the aria so effectively that we forgot we were sitting in a church sanctuary. With gorgeous clearly enunciated French, of which every word was understood, she painted an aural picture filled with melancholy colors. Last April she sang in Greek for Around the World in Song, making a significant impression.

Soprano Amanda Palmeiro has a sizable voice with a bright sheen. She was convincing as the troubled Juliette in the Gounod opera, going through various moods with each verse of "Amour ranime mon courage". We enjoyed the very pretty trill and her fine French.

Monica Dewey used her sparkly soprano in Gilda's "Caro nome" from Verdi's Rigoletto. We admired the precision of her fioritura.

From the same opera we heard Rigoletto's aria "Cortigiani, vil razza dannata" performed perfectly by baritone Kidon Choi who seems destined to be a Verdi baritone. He didn't need a hump to convince us! His delivery grew in power and anger with superb modulation of color and dynamics. We felt his pain.

There was only one counter-tenor on the program and it was a welcome change to hear Gamaliel Reynoso Mejia convey the terror of the stowaway from Jonathan Dove's Flight. It was a moving performance and we could best appreciate the fine spin of his voice in the melismatic passages. The tessitura is so high that the words got lost. Thankfully, we had seen the opera before with titles and knew the story.

Soprano Elisabeth Rosenberg closed the program with "Einsam in trüben Tagen" from Wagner's Lohengrin, sung with power. It was a fine close to an excellent program.

Michael Fennelly did yeoman's work accompanying the entire lengthy program with the right support for each singer. He always does and we appreciate him from the bottom of our opera loving heart.

The evening concluded with a reception, enabling audience members, judges, and singers to mingle and network.  What a fine evening!

© meche kroop

FINAL DISPATCH FROM SANTA FE

Kasia Borowiec and Jarrett Ott in a scene from Eugene Onegin
(photo by Bobby Gutierrez)

Our last night in Santa Fe was happily spent watching the apprentices show their stuff.  And what stuff they showed!  We were given to understand that the nine scenes were chosen to highlight the individual talents of the apprentices. We have nothing but plaudits for the singing, but we were not always in tune with the staging and costuming.

In the final scene from Tchaikovsky's masterpiece Eugene Onegin, Kasia Borowiec sang Tatiana with a fine tone and deep emotional involvement as she attempted to resist the blandishments of the eponymous Onegin, with whom she had been so infatuated a few years earlier.

Jarrett Ott took the role of the now lovesick Onegin in both hands and made it his own with his superb baritone and impassioned acting. The scene was directed by Jordan Fein. We could imagine no rationale for Nicole Grebb's dressing of Ms. Borowiec as a 1950's prom queen and robbing her of the 19th c. dignity that the role requires.

Similarly, the third act of Puccini's La Bohème was beautifully sung by Alexandra Razskazoff as the ill-fated Mimi and Jessica Jones as the fickle Musetta. We liked Benjamin Werley as Rodolfo and significant contributions were made by Nicholas Davis' Marcello. 

Kyle Lang directed in the manner of film noir-- with costumes of the 1930's designed by Maria Nieto--a period just as remote from today's audience as the time in which the story took place, but with uglier clothes and hairstyles. To what end we could not fathom. Nothing was added to our understanding of the four bohemians.

Beautiful period costuming was provided by Krista Intravanuovo for Cendrillon in which Alyssa Martin captured all the delicacy of Massenet's deliciously Gallic tunes, with her suitor, the pants role of Le Prince Charmant, portrayed finely by mezzo-soprano Pascale Spinney. The harmony of their voices was stirring and we felt squarely in the fairy tale epoch, thanks to Matthew Ozawa's direction.

Similarly, there was an authentic feel of time and place given to his direction of the scene from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor--a confrontation between Lucia's lover Edgardo (tenor Derrek Stark) and her controlling brother Enrico (baritone Jared Bybee). The voices were well matched and the characterizations apt.  We believed every moment. Caleb Howell designed the wonderful clan costuming.

Where Mr. Ozawa lapsed was in his staging of Tannhäuser which struck us as unsuitable to piano accompaniment.  One could barely identify it as a work of Richard Wagner. The men were dressed in suits (Sharne van Ryneveld) and it felt like a corporate meeting.  That being said, we heard some fine singing, especially from tenor Tyson Miller's Walther and bass Önay Köse's Biterolf. Tenor Cooper Nolan did well in the title role with David Leigh as the Landgrave, Adrian Smith as Wolfram, Andrew Maughan as Schreiber, and Andrew Bogard as Reinmar. 

Kathleen Clawson directed a fine scene from Rossini's Guillaume Tell, another case in which the apposite costuming (Cheyenne Smith) added to the believability. Baritone Andrew  Paulson made a fine Swiss patriot, helped along by Andrew Simpson as Walther, in convincing the wayward Arnold to return to the cause.  This role was superbly sung by tenor Carlos Santelli. Everyone's French sounded just fine.

Ambroise Thomas' Mignon impressed us on all accounts.  Sarah Coit was effective and moving as the unfortunate heroine and sang with a lovely free soprano. Carlos Santelli's fine tenor was heard in the role of Wilhelm Meister with bass-baritone Alan Higgs as the kind minstrel Lothario and baritone Nicholas Davis as the gypsy who sells Mignon to Herr Meister.  The scene was directed by Kyle Lang with the perfect costumes by Tommy Cobau. It made us yearn to see the entire opera!

Bellini's Norma is one of our favorite operas and we were presented with two lovely harmonizing voices--the soprano of Tracy Cantin as the eponymous Druid priestess and the mezzo-soprano of Olivia Vote as her handmaiden Adalgisa. In this moving scene from Act II, Norma tries to persuade Adalgisa to look after her children. Why director Jordan Fein decided to set this gorgeous duet in the room of the children is a mystery and why they were in vaguely 20th c. costumes (Morgan Warner) is beyond me. It added nothing in terms of insight and detracted from the verisimilitude of the scene.  The presence of a pistol was just plain jarring.

There was also a scene from a contemporary opera--Joby Talbot's Everest which premiered last year at The Dallas Opera. In spite of fine singing by tenor Tyson Miller as the expedition leader Rob, with mezzo-soprano Corrie Stallings as his wife and Mr. Bybee as Doug--the scene left us as cold as the climate on Everest and we have no wish to see the rest of the opera. Call us a Philistine if you wish but so many contemporary operas lack memorable vocal lines.  Give us romance, give us passion, give us murder, give us suicide, give us arias!

(c) meche kroop

ALEX MOVES ON

Daniel Fung and Alexandra Razskazoff at Juilliard

Spring is a bittersweet season for us.  The singers we have been enjoying all year are graduating and giving their final recitals. Many of them take off for distant shores and we never know when we will hear them again. Fortunately, we will have more opportunities to hear the splendid soprano Alexandra Razskazoff who will be awarded her MM degree from Juilliard--first in the upcoming Zauberflöte at Juilliard and then in August in Santa Fe, where she has been invited back as a Second Year Apprentice.

On the opera stage, Ms. Razskazoff is distinguished by her warm generous soprano and excellent acting. How well we remember her performance as the Countess in Nozze di Figaro! She made a fine Eva in Die Meistersinger.  In recital, she is distinguished by a relaxed and confident stage presence and the ability to honor the text in a meaningful manner.

Last night's recital was a challenging one and a rewarding one; she opened by welcoming her audience, describing her program, and graciously thanking her teacher, Robert C. White, Jr., and her most able collaborative pianist Daniel Fung.

Predictably, our favorite part of the evening was the all-too-short set of Rossini songs. We imagined we were at a salon, chez des amis, back in the 19th c.  A glamorous diva has been invited to entertain us guests with "La Promessa" and "L'invito". We do so love to be transported and indeed we were. The songs are pure delight with typical Rossini melodies and they were charmingly sung.

We also loved the Russian songs. Those of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov are not often heard and we love the idea that his "Nimfa" is different from the German "Lorelei" immortalized in Franz Liszt's song. This one does not lure sailors to their death! His "The lark sings louder" is a paean to Spring. This joyful song was followed by Sergei Rachmaninoff's  anxious "I wait for thee!" in which Ms. Razskazoff illuminated the very particular pain of anguished waiting.

Her performance of the Liszt songs was equally fine. Daniel Fung's delicacy on the piano was perfect for "Freudvoll und leidvoll" and the delicacy, so different from the forceful piano we expect from Liszt, extended through "Lasst mich ruhen" and "Du bist wie eine Blume".  But oh, that bad girl Lorelei!

Also on the program was Benjamin Britten's On This Island, Op. 11, which we just recently heard. We grant that Britten rose to new heights in his setting of Auden's text but this will never be among our favorite song cycles. That being said, Ms. Razskazoff lent an appealing resonance to the work and sang with exquisite dynamic control. We related best to the final two songs--the solemn "Nocturne", sung with great expressivity and plenty of room in the lower register with rumbly low chords in the piano--and the ironic "As it is, Plenty" with its jazzy piano writing. The only problem was that several words of the text were lost and needed to be enunciated better.  This was not a problem with the German, Russian and Italian.  English is just so difficult to sing!

Olivier Messiaen's  Poèmes Pour Mi, Book II has never interested us but Ms. Razskazoff gave the four selections an impassioned delivery. It is a tribute to her artistry that we didn't run out of the theater screaming. We do not like his music or his text. Just give us more Rossini!

(c) meche kroop

AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES

Nicholas Davis, Jarrett Ott, and Daniel Bates (photo by Kate Russell)

We are always filled with anticipation when planning our annual summer trip to Santa Fe. The quality of the operas is always top-notch and the mountainous location of the opera house is magnificent. But the highlight of the trip is always the evenings of Apprentice Scenes on Sunday night. 

Selected from a vast pool of applicants, these 40 young artists never fail to delight with their native talent, honed by the superb training they receive. For two consecutive Sundays evenings, eager audiences are able to enjoy these stars of tomorrow with all their artistry and enthusiasm. We have heard from several of them how greatly they prize this performance opportunity.

Indeed, the two couples we introduced to opera this season have become fans. Did we mention that the cost is excessively modest?  It's a fine way for newbies to see excerpts from several operas and learn about their preferences.

Although a piano is substituted for the orchestra, production values are flawless; costuming is always appropriate, as are the simple sets. Direction is superb.

Today we will tell you about evening #1, with tales of evening #2 to follow. The program got off to a delightful start with scenes from the first act of Mozart's Cosí fan tutte. If ever an opera was more perfectly written for young performers, we could not name it. Two soldiers, Ferrando (played by the sweet-voiced tenor Daniel Bates) and Guglielmo (portrayed by the rising star baritone Jarrett Ott) boast about the fidelity of their sweethearts Fiordiligi (bright soprano Rebecca Krynski) and Dorabella (mezzo-soprano Alyssa Martin, who has a nice counterbalancing weight to her instrument).

An older man, a bartender in Director Kathleen Clawson's modern dress interpretation, scoffs at them and designs a bet to prove that all women stray. In this role, Nicholas Davis employed his fine baritone voice and comedic skills to good advantage. The horseplay among the three men was hilarious. The two women did a great job of depicting vain silly girls and their duet was divine.

A scene from Händel's Serse followed, a scene that left no comedic stone unturned, thanks to Louisa Muller's fine direction.  Mezzo-soprano Megan Marino in a giggle-worthy moustache portrayed a Russian general.  (We know it was Russia because there was a large upraised communist fist towering over the set). Her Serse was an irredeemable skirt chaser; her over-the-top portrayal provided ample opportunity for coloratura, in which her attack and execution garnered wild applause.

As rejecting Romilda, the unwilling recipient of his attention, soprano Adelaide Boedecker gave a stylish performance. We enjoyed the duet between Elviro (bass Kevin Thompson) and Amastre (mezzo Shabnam Kalbasi).

On a more serious note was the famous duet from Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles in which Nadir and Zurga express their rivalry. Tenor John Myers gave a well-modulated performance that harmonized beautifully with baritone Jorell Williams, from whom we have never heard a performance less than first-rate. The French diction was truly excellent. A real audience-pleaser that "Au fond du temple saint"! Never fails--two gorgeous male voices and the audience swoons.  As we did. 

From our favorite Wagnerian opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, we heard the glorious closing quintet from Act III, beautifully directed by Mary Birnbaum. This is the scene in which Eva (the fine soprano Alexandra Raszkazoff) comes to Hans Sachs (Adrian Smith with his burly bass-baritone) to get her shoe fixed.  It is the scene in which Sachs becomes aware of the very evident chemistry between Eva and Walther (tenor Benjamin Werley). And shoemaker apprentice David (tenor Derrek Stark) gets promoted to journeyman. Mezzo Olivia Vote portrayed his sweetheart Magdalena. Every vocal and dramatic moment was made crystal clear. German diction was great.

We never pass up a chance to hear Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann. How well we remember the 2010 production in Santa Fe!  Ms. Birnbaum staged the Venice scene with creativity. Mezzos Briana Hunter as the courtesan Giulietta and Anne Marie Stanley as Nicklausse sang a most sensuous duet. Bass Calvin Griffin as Dappertutto sang "Scintille diamant" as well as we have ever heard it--with a great deal of menace. Tenor Christopher Trapani made a fine Hoffman with tenor Tyson Miller and Mr. Williams as Pittichinaccio and Schlemil respectively. More fine French was heard.

Verdi's Otello will never be replaced by Rossini's but as an enormous fan of bel canto, we were very very happy to hear our young artists demonstrate fine flexibility in the fioritura. Tenor Jack Swanson sang Rodrigo, tenor Aaron Short sang Otello, and soprano Alyssa Martin sang Desdemona. The story unfolds rather differently but Ms. Clawson's direction made things clear.

The only scene on the program which didn't thrill us was from Moore's Enemies: A Love Story. Three women sang monologues--not very interesting dramatically or vocally. Sadly the diction was so flawed we failed to determine what they were singing about. English is notoriously difficult to sing in a manner that is comprehensible but the final piece on the program proved that it can be done.

It was the scene of the "Mechanicals" from Act III of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. This early 20th c. work is pure delight and the large cast threw themselves into the fun with great gusto. We can never figure out who's who so we will just list all those wildly costumed craftsmen as a group. They were all hilarious and sang well!  Tyson Miller, Galeano Salas, Michael Adams, Nicholas Brownlee, Calvin Griffin, and Peter Tomaszewski. We wish we had a video of their antics.

As the bored and supercilious royal audience, we heard bass Tyler Putnam as Theseus with a (feminine) Ms. Marino as his Hippolyta, Ms. Krynski as Helena, Mr. Ott as Demetrius, Mr. Stark as Lysander and Ms. Hunter as Hermia. Ms. Muller's direction was outstanding and the evening ended on a joyous note with the audience walking out grinning into the crisp night air.

(c) meche kroop

AN UNFORGETTABLE FIGARO

Virginie Verrez, Takaoki Onishi and Ying Fang (photo by Ken Howard)

Le Nozze di Figaro, if not our favorite opera, is at least in the top five. We have seen it perhaps 30 times in our opera going lifetime.  We have always enjoyed it but we have never thrilled to it as much as last night when Juilliard Opera presented it with the perfect cast, meaningful direction by Stephen Wadsworth, and spirited conducting by Gary Thor Wedow, who brought out every nuance of Mozart's glorious score.

Mr. Wadsworth elicited the humanity of the characters in all their fullness without ever stooping to cliché. As the entitled aristocrat Count Almaviva, baritone Takaoki Onishi created a character who was not a monster, just a man of his time in times that were changing. He showed the frustration and bewilderment of a man confronting servants unwilling to do his bidding and a wife who found a way to deal with his philandering--with the servants' help, of course. Mr. Onishi's singing is always topnotch, bursting with musicality and richly textured sound.

His nemesis Cherubino was so convincingly portrayed by mezzo-soprano Virginia Verrez that we forgot it was a travesti role. Her lustrous voice was unhampered by the demands of the character. This was a very hormonal youth ("Non so più cosa son") and his lust for the Countess was unmistakable. Anyone who has read the final entry of Beaumarchais' trilogy knows that the two of them conceived a child.  But this is the first time we have ever seen the two of them making out in bed! At the end, it was obvious that he did NOT want to marry Barbarina!

That the Countess finds him irresistible was made clear by the excellent soprano Alexandra Razskazoff. We recently saw this opera at the Metropolitan Opera, in which we found the Countess bland and lacking dignity.  Not so here! Ms. Razskazoff managed to show us the spunky Rosina she had been, the beaten down wife she had become, and her growth into the dignified woman in control.

As Figaro, bass-baritone Thesele Kemane gave vocal evidence of being in control of every situation.  Dramatically, he showed the wit and the cleverness the role demands and needed only a touch of additional charm and humor to make his characterization complete.

Aside from the theme of shifting power structure, there is much that Beaumarchais had to say about love and its varying manifestations. Figaro and Susanna represent faithful romantic love with its accompanying fear of loss, manifested by jealousy. Soprano Ying Fang created a completely lovable and resourceful Susanna. Her bright soprano was employed successfully to support the interpretation. Her facial expressions while being pawed by the Count were priceless.

The Count and Countess of course represent love gone sour. He is a consistent philanderer and she is repairing her damaged self-esteem (What a "Dové sono"!) with the young page Cherubino. The Count's contrition at the end ("Contessa perdono") is stretched out and held back for as long as possible, leaving us in the audience thinking "Get down on your knees already and apologize!"

More surprising is the ambivalent affection between Marcellina, superbly sung and acted by undergraduate (!) mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey and Bartolo, impressively performed by bass Önay Köse. His Bartolo was not detestable but rather likeable. He too is a victim of his epoch and his grudge against the Count is understandable ("La vendetta"). This pair of performers made it believable that they had once had an intimate relationship. Perhaps he still cares for her or perhaps he is making the best of the situation when he agrees to marry her. On her part, she is a bit seductive toward him, perhaps to gain his support or perhaps she really cares for him.

One of the most astounding surprises of the evening was witnessing tenor Miles Mykkanen's creation of the role of Don Basilio. This character is a dandy, a gossip and a panderer and yet Mr, Mykkanen made him deliciously appealing. We should not have been surprised because this versatile artist always does something original.

Tenor Aaron Mor, also an undergraduate, fulfilled the requirements of the role of Don Curzio the magistrate.  The scene of the court case was hilarious with each character jumping up to make his point.

Bass-baritone Tyler Zimmerman offered ample comic relief as Antonio the gardener. He conveyed bibulousness and righteous indignation very well.

Soprano Liv Redpath made a sweet Barbarina but was not given much to do dramatically.

The chorus did beautifully, coached by David Moody and the Juilliard Orchestra did justice to Mozart's melodic music.

The fact that we scarcely recognized these singers with whom we are well acquainted is tribute to the excellent wig and makeup design of Tom Watson. Camille Assaf's costume designs could not have been better. We will long remember the Count's opulent yellow dressing gown and the Countess' lavish gowns, as well as Susanna's wedding dress. The quiet colors for the rest of the cast were apropos.

The set design by Charlie Corcoran faithfully recreated a palacio outside of Seville. The servants' room was rather bare and being made ready for occupancy. The Countess' room was opulent with period furniture. David Lander's lighting was apt and unobtrusive.

We have run out of superlatives. We do believe we have seen a Nozze di Figaro against which all future ones will be measured. The production managed to be faithful to Mozart's music and Beaumarchais' drama, adding new insights to our perception of the work.  And that's exactly what we want from opera!

(c) meche kroop

LIEDERABEND AT JUILLIARD

Hea Youn Chung and Angela Vallone

At Juilliard's latest liederabend, with Natalia Katyukova's coaching, all 10 Juilliard artists performed exquisitely, which is not to say that we enjoyed all of them equally. It was the final set of  songs by Joseph Marx, performed by the lovely soprano Angela Vallone in collaboration with pianist Hea Youn Chung, which captured our heart. Of all the composers on the program, Marx is the one most suited to our 19th c. ears and Ms. Vallone sang the songs most expressively.

Not only do we favor the Romantic period but we prefer songs about love and nature to those about war, depression, religion and conflict. Love is something to sing about!  And Marx carried over the mood of the 19th c. right into the 20th.  We particularly enjoyed "Nocturne" with its A-B-A form and lovely writing for piano.

Benjamin Britten set Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, also about love. These belong firmly to the 20th c. and are not nearly as melodic. They were passionately sung by the wonderful tenor Miles Mykkanen with William Kelley at the piano.  Mr. Mykkanen has been extending himself in new directions, which we applaud.  That being said, we most enjoy his particular artistry in songs of humor and irony.

Soprano Razskazoff joined forces with Valeriya Polunina to perform three selections from Olivier Messiaen's Poèmes pour Mi, written for his violinist wife in 1938.  Ms. Razskazoff has a marvelously poised stage presence and a sizable voice just begging for the opera stage. Of the three selections, only "Le collier" expressed a sentiment to which we could relate.  But Ms. R's voice was thrilling, especially in the extended melismatic passages.

Bass-baritone Tyler Zimmerman utilized his voice and body in a most expressive fashion in two songs by Alexander Zemlinsky--both expressing anti-war sentiments with irony and bitterness. Mr. Zimmerman did his own translations of both. He also sang a trio of songs by Shostakovich--of later origin and lesser melodic interest. Kathryn Felt was his fine collaborative pianist.

Tenor Alexander McKissick performed six Poulenc songs with Ava Nazar as pianist. Poulenc chose to set texts by Apollinaire who survived World War I.  The poetry is surreal and said to reflect the visual arts--i.e. Cubism.  Our personal favorite was "Mutation". Notably, Mr. McKissick did his own translations.

It was greatly appreciated that each singer introduced the set of songs to be sung and told a little about their origins.

© meche kroop