THE TRIUMPH OF MUSIC

Fanyong Du, Anna Viemeister, Ricardo Rivera, Richard Owen, Megan Nielsen, Riad Ymeri, and Andrew Cummings in Camerata New York Gala

How well we remember last year's star-studded Camerata New York Gala! This year's version was equally thrilling. The theme was "The Triumph of Music" and the same successful formula that packed St. Jean Baptiste Church last year was again put into play. Favorite arias and duets from well known operas were performed by a cast of international opera stars; each piece was introduced by Maestro Richard Owen who gave the audience just a brief synopsis.

Once again, we had the notion that the audience was partly opera devotés and partly newcomers attracted by the stellar cast, the popularity of the pieces, and a modest ticket price--less than one would pay for a balcony seat at the Met. There were no titles and we didn't see many people reading the translations.  We got the impression that people were truly listening and feeling entertained.  And that's what opera is all about, isn't it?

Readers will recall how much we love duets and the program opened with a solo performed by two tenors!  After the wonderful Camerata New York Orchestra treated us to the Easter Morning Prelude to Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, not neglecting the underlying menace in this familiar melody, the "Siciliana" was sung by Fanyong Du and Riad Ymeri, both sounding tenorrific. Pardon our neologism!

Mr. Du appeared again with baritone Ricardo Rivera in the Act IV duet from Puccini's La Bohème in which the two Bohemians chat about their lost loves with seeming carefree nonchalance. Puccini's music gives the lie to their jolly chatter. Mr. Du's sweet tenor balanced beautifully with Mr. Rivera's substantial baritonal colors.

These two singers make a fine pair, as manifested in their "Au fond du temple saint" from Bizet's Pêcheur de Perles, in which their love/lust for the temple priestess Leïla threatens their friendship. By the end of the duet, they are affirming their amity.  But we know better that one of them is going to break that vow of friendship!

Yet another sensational duet was the final scene from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in which Tatiana, still in love with Onegin, dismisses him partly out of duty to her husband Prince Gremin, and partly out of suspicion that Onegin is only interested in her because she has a high position in society. The lovely soprano Megan Nielson made a fine ambivalent Tatiana and baritone Andrew Cummings excelled as the importuning Onegin who just won't take "nyet" for an answer.

The final duet on the program was the Act I finale of Puccini's Madama Butterfly in which Butterfly was performed by Ms.  Nielson with Mr. Ymeri as Pinkerton. Mr. Ymeri's voice is so sweet we could scarcely believe that he is such a heel who will abandon this Butterfly with whom he is so taken. Their two voices soared as they invoked nature and he distracted her from the rejection she suffered at the hands of her family. It was a lovely way to end this very special evening.

But we are not ending our review here because we have yet to mention the marvelous arias we heard. Mr. Ymeri got a huge round of bravos for his portrayal of the troubled Riccardo, Governor of Boston, in Verdi's Ballo in Maschera. He must send away his aide Renato because of his love for Amelia, Renato's wife. Mr. Ymeri gave this aria "Forse la solia" an emotional reading without any hint of tightness.

Renato's rage, as he believes Amelia to have been unfaithful, permeated Mr. Cummings' affecting performance of "Eri tu".

Mezzo-soprano Anna Viemeister did her best with Ulrica's aria "Re dell'abisso" but did not always penetrate the dense orchestration with the very low-lying tessitura. 

We enjoyed her much more in "Senta's Ballade" from Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, which is a soprano role.  Go figure! But she had the power and the top notes and the touch of madness needed to show us that Senta was a bit off-kilter. It was a splendid performance with the intervals of descending fourths particularly affecting.

We heard two popular arias from Gounod's Faust. Mr. Rivera's performance of Valentin's "Avant de quitter ces lieux" was particularly well handled with the prayerful part colored with tenderness and the patriotic part with resolve. Mr. Du did equally well with Faust's serenade of Marguerite "Salut! Demeure chaste et pure" which was filled with romantic longing, fine French phrasing, and a lovely messa di voce. 

Although opera was the major focus of the evening, the Camerata New York Orchestra was given their opportunity to shine, not only in the Easter morning prelude to Cavalleria Rusticana, but also in the "Polonaise" from Eugene Onegin. The lively ballet from Faust had a lovely lyrical central section. Similarly, the Prelude to the Madama Butterfly duet was filled with tenderness. Maestro Owen has wonderful command of his orchestral forces.

We found the harp accompaniment (Hannah Murphy) to the Mascagni particularly lovely and also heard a lovely flute solo in the Verdi.

The only downside to the evening was the overly resonant acoustics of the gorgeous St. Jean Baptiste church. This tended to smear the sound, but what can we do? Placing the orchestra at audience level with the singers behind is not a great solution but there seems to be no alternative. There are no suitable midsize theaters with an orchestra pit in Manhattan, although there are dozens of small opera companies that need one. To coin a phrase..."If you build it, they will come".

Let us call the evening "The Triumph of Music Over Acoustics"!

(c) meche kroop

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

Richard Owen and the Adelphi Orchestra

It was a chance encounter with an oboist that led to our fortuitous awareness of the Adelphi Orchestra from across the Hudson. Learning of their program Bohemian Rhapsody we decided to attend and wallow in music of our favorite period, the second half of the 19th c. Happily, there were no nerve-wracking modern pieces to disturb our Romantic indulgence.

Not only did we get to hear some soulful solos from oboist Jacob Slattery, but we got a private inspection of all three oboes--the regular oboe, the mellow English horn, and the oboe d'amore that we've mostly heard in Early Music. We also heard a sensational young violinist tackle Saint Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso which was written for, and made famous by Pablo de Sarasate.

At the tender age of seventeen, an age when a budding opera singer would best be overlooked, Nathan Meltzer is already playing all over the world, studying with Itzhak Perlman, and worthy of the loan from Juilliard of an 1844 Joannes Pressenda violin! And oh, what he did with that instrument! The virtuoso sections of the work were performed with style and the lyrical segments were performed with substance--and gorgeous legato. This is an artist to watch, dear readers, even if you, like me, are mostly addicted to opera.

Under the firm baton of conductor Richard Owen, the remainder of the program was similarly outstanding. We do not ever have to worry about music lovers in New Jersey being deprived! We love that Maestro Owen actually talks to the audience and tells them interesting things about what is on the program.

The program opener was Dvorák's Carnival Overture. It began with a maelstrom of lively sound, almost frenetic. The central section was lovely and lyrical.

Baritone Andrew Cummings was on hand for Mahler's Rückert Lieder which was composed initially for voice and piano and later orchestrated, adding a great deal of rich detail. We know and love these songs which are filled with deep feelings. 

Since Mr. Cummings was "on the book", we did not feel the connection that we value in vocal music so we concentrated on the orchestration, especially the marvelous oboe solos. We did admire Mr. Cummings' use of dynamic variety and his word coloration but would have to hear him another time without the score to have an appreciation of his value as a singer of lieder.

Of the five songs, our favorite was "Blicke mir nicht in die lieder" in which the string section created the sound of busy bees, hard at work making honey, Rückert's metaphor for creation.

The major work on the program was Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony in the stirring key of E-minor. So many symphonies strike us as a collection of varied movements; what distinguishes this symphony is a sense of dramatic unity. The theme heard in the opening movement reappears in minimal disguises in the subsequent movements and by the end of the symphony we are hearing it transmogrified by being in a major key.

We were particularly taken with the Waltz movement that occupied our imagination with scenes of a ballroom with glamorous dancers swirling around, much as one sees at the ballet.  As a matter of fact, our love of classical music came out of that very art form, which is how we can say that Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov are responsible for our being here today!

(c) meche kroop

CAMERATA NEW YORK ORCHESTRA OPERA GALA

Andrew Cummings, Antonina Chehovska, Maestro Richard Owen, Tammy Moore, and Riad Ymeri

The lavishly decorated St.Jean Baptiste Church has a resident orchestra called Camerata New York Orchestra and a fine orchestra they are indeed. Last night they presented an Opera Gala that packed the church from the first pew to the last. We have no way of knowing whether the huge crowd comprised opera fans or newbies.

Maestro Richard Owen not only conducted but explained each aria before it was performed, leading us to think that perhaps the majority of the crowd was not made up of experienced opera goers. What better choices could one have made than Mozart, Bizet, Puccini, Leoncavallo, and Tchaikovsky! The choices were tempting to newbies but equally satisfying for regular opera goers. We had the pleasure of hearing two singers of whom we are most fond, and two which we would like to hear again.

A major highlight was soprano Antonina Chehovska performing the "Letter Scene" from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, a work which Utopia Opera is presenting this weekend and which we will review. Ms. Chehovska has won awards from just about every foundation around and we have always been there to witness her artistry.  As the innocent and confused Tatiana, Ms. Chehovska was completely believable. She sang with a beautiful clear tone, coloring her voice to match the many variations of mood undergone by the character. Anyone able to recall their first infatuation would have been able to identify. It was a flawless performance.

It hasn't even been two weeks since we heard tenor Riad Ymeri perform the role of Don Jose in Amore Opera's production of Bizet's Carmen. So we were not at all astonished by the excellence of his intense performance of "La fleur que tu m'avais jetee".  Still, we found plenty of subtle variations as he accompanied mezzo-soprano Tammy Moore in the "Seguidilla". Ms. Moore gave quite a steamy performance as the manipulative and seductive Carmen with Mr. Ymeri's subtle shift from feigned indifference to total abandonment particularly noteworthy.

Ms. Moore put her fine instrument through its paces in the fiendishly difficult "Smanie implacabile" from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. Her Dorabella was joined by Ms. Chehovska's Fiordiligi for the lovely trio "Soave sia il vento" from the same opera. The role of Don Alfonso was sung by baritone Andrew Cummings and we were swooning over the delicious harmonies.

Mr. Cummings had a fine solo as Escamillo, singing the "Toreador Song" with fine voice and minimal arrogance. He had another fine solo singing the "Prologo" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. He seemed more comfortable in the latter role.

We always love duets and his duet with Ms. Moore was particularly well done--"La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Don Giovanni. This seemed a comfortable role for him both vocally and dramatically and Ms. Moore made a willing Zerlina, a bit reluctant and quite a bit tempted.

The audience favorite, and perhaps ours as well, was the final scene from Act I of Puccini's La Boheme.  Who doesn't know and love the scene in which Mimi comes to Rodolfo's door and they pour out their hearts to one another! Not only was the singing lovely but the acting was very convincing--so convincing that the absent scenery appeared in our mind's eye. Each artist showed the gradual shifts of mood one experiences when romance is on the horizon.

Ms. Chehovska's Mimi began shyly but grew in confidence as the scene progressed.  Mr. Ymeri's Rodolfo began with the excitement of having a woman come to his door; you could almost read his innermost thoughts of how he might get her interest with a bit of humble-bragging. These are the kinds of performances guaranteed to get people interested in opera!

There were instrumental pieces as well and the orchestra performed in fine fashion for Maestro Owen. We heard Verdi's overture to Nabucco with its forceful trombone and tuba introduction and loved hearing the melody of "Va pensiero". 

The music from Bizet's Carmen was portentous and featured some exciting kettle drumming. There was also a piece by Puccini written when he was a student--"Preludio Sinfonico". One could readily appreciate his skill with melody and orchestration.

When listening to instrumental music, we often focus on an instrument that stands out for us--frequently the harp or percussion.  Last night we fixated on the oboe. It just seemed to be playing a most important part in many of the works. The oboist who so impressed us was Roy Beason.

We believe that those who entered the church as operatic non-believers left as converts!

(c) meche kroop