RICHARD TUCKER GALA

Michael Fabiano, Ermonela Jaho, Angel Blue, Stephen Costello, Artur Rucinski, Lisette Oropesa, Maestro James Gaffigan, Ailyn Pérez, Christian Van Horn, Jamie Barton, Lucas Meachem, Brian Michael Moore, and Corrie Stallings.
(photo by Dario Acosta)

Last Sunday saw the gathering of the tribe, denizens of what Fred Plotkin so aptly dubbed "Planet Opera", for the annual celebration of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, famed for forty years of aiding the careers of worthy young singers. The list of their award recipients looks like the Who's Who of Opera.

This year's award recipient was the stupendous soprano Lisette Oropesa who bedazzled the audience twice--once with "Come dolce all'alma mia" from Rossini's Tancredi and later with "Qui la voce...Vien diletto" from Bellini's I Puritani.

What we observed about her performances were a lovely evenness throughout the register with a soaring top which lends itself perfectly to the demands of coloratura. The Rossini is replete with scales and wide skips which she negotiated effortlessly. The Bellini involved some long lines that she phrased perfectly. The legato of the aria contrasted well with the fireworks of the cabaletta. Ascending and descending scales were performed with precision.

Soprano Ailyn Pérez, an all-time favorite of ours, was called upon to tell a story in "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" from Puccini's La Rondine--and what a storyteller she is! With consummate musicality, her phrases soared with emotional content and vocal beauty. 

Later in the program, she and baritone Lucas Meachem conspired to win the hearts of the audience with "Tu souvaint-il du lumineux voyage" from Massenet's Thaïs, with a lovely prelude from The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, led by Maestro James Gaffigan. We couldn't keep from visualizing the ballet scene set to the Meditation from Thaïs, the melody of which has remained with us, here played by the Concert Master.

The French was excellent, the delivery passionate, the dynamics nuanced, and the climax passionate and devastating.

Soprano Angel Blue's creamy tone was just right for "Depuis le jour" from Charpentier's Louise. Her portamenti were particularly exquisite. She evinced the generous size of her instrument in a fraught duet she sang with baritone Artur Rucinski--"Udiste...mira d'acerbe lagrime" from Verdi's Il trovatore. She showed her dramatic chops as a desperate woman and Mr. Rucinski sang with power. The cabaletta was especially exciting.

Mr. Rucinski seems to be a consummate Verdi baritone, as seen in his delivery of "Il balen del suo sorriso" from the same opera. He sang with admirable phrasing, gorgeous tone, and a delicious decrescendo. This role is just about perfect for his fine technique.

Tenor Stephen Costello, whom we first heard as Lord Percy, gave an excellent interpretation of the bewitched Don Jose in "La fleur que tu m'avais jetée" from Bizet's Carmen. He sang with beautiful tenorrific tone and fine French, convincing us that he was a man possessed.

He was similarly persuasive as Lt. Pinkerton in the wedding night scene with Cio-Cio San from Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Unfortunately soprano Ermonela Jaho was anything but convincing as the doomed heroine. She has her petite stature working on her behalf but her exaggerated gestures suggested anything but a 15 year-old Japanese girl. 

We liked her much better in "Io son l'umile ancella" from Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur in which exaggerated gestures are more suited to the stage actress she was enacting. We liked the well executed crescendo at the end.

Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, another favorite of ours, has a most wonderful stage presence and unique vocal texture. Her voice has not only texture but a satisfying weight without any sacrifice of flexibility. She gave us two selections from Verdi's Don Carlo. In the "Song of the Veil" we noted the echoes of major thirds and some rapid turns which put her flexibility to good use.

In "O don fatale" we perceived the change of mood and color from passionate to introspective. We love a performance that is so heartfelt!  Ms. Barton makes a splendid Princess Eboli. We might add that for the second aria she exchanged her very becoming black gown for one that made a political statement--by flashing a rainbow. The crowd loved it. See the photos on our Facebook page (Voce di Meche).

Tenor Michael Fabiano put a unique spin on "Kuda, kuda" from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. He began quietly and built in power and dynamics until the aria reached a stunning conclusion. We really enjoyed the rare quality of floating his high notes. We also noted the contributions of the orchestra, especially the wind section.

Mr. Meachem injected new life into the clichéd "Largo al Factotum" from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. He entered coming down the aisle from the rear of the hall and began at audience level, only climbing onto the stage a bit later. His gestures were unique and he colored his voice differentially when describing la donnetta and il cavaliere. What fun! In the patter part he was perfect (alliteration intended).

Introduced by resonant chimes from the percussion section, bass-baritone Christian Van Horn created a chilling and authoritarian Scarpa in the "Te Deum" from Puccini's Tosca.

The evening ended with the sextet from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in which Ms. Oropesa's Lucia was joined by Mr. Costello's Edgardo, Brian Michael Moore's Arturo, Corrie Stallings' Alisa, Mr. Rucinski's Enrico, and Scott Conner's Raimondo. Of course with all that talent onstage it was memorable.

The contributions of the Metropolitan Orchestra were immeasurable and performed with their customary excellence. We want to see more of Maestro Gaffigan whose musical stature far exceeds his physical stature.

© meche kroop

OPERATIC THRILLS IN BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK

Angel Blue, Alexey Lavrov, and Ben Bliss

We have been fans of tenor Ben Bliss and baritone Alexey Lavrov for some time now and readers can find several reviews of their incomparable interpretations through the search bar on this website.  Soprano Angel Blue is new to us but is on the same impressive professional level; we hope to hear her again soon since her performance, like those of dear Alexey and dear Ben, left us tingling with pleasure.

Thanks to the City Parks Foundation Summer Stage and the Metropolitan Opera, New Yorkers in all boroughs have the opportunity to enjoy great artists singing great music. The selections chosen were all popular arias and duets with nothing dissonant or "challenging".  It was a program of pleasure.

This particular concert was first performed in Central Park but we attended the reprise in the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge Park, overlooking the skyline of lower Manhattan. The audience was held spellbound for nearly two hours with not a single cell phone to distract from the entertainment. Even the children were quiet.  Such is the power of artistry!

It must be difficult for singers to deal with the elements and with amplification, but the strain did not show. Accompanied by the versatile Dan Saunders, the sound balance was fine and one could appreciate the skillful performances almost as much as one could in an indoor theater with fine acoustics.

This week as been filled for us with Romeo and Juliet (both opera and ballet) but hearing Ms. Blue's opening number "Je veux vivre" from Gounod's opera let us know immediately that we were in the presence of a fine talent. She was a touching Micaëla in "Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante" from Bizet's Carmen.

No matter how many times one has heard "O, mio babbino caro" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi one is never bored. One might think that all the amateur singers on TV might have spoiled it, but hearing Ms. Blue's performance wiped out all those aural images.  Ms. Blue's sizable voice and warm personality are perfect for Puccini and we heard selections from La Bohème and Tosca that bowled us over.

Readers may recall how fond we are of zarzuela and we were thrilled that Ms. Blue chose Luisa's fiery aria "Carceleras" from Rupert Chapi's Las Hijas de Zebedeo. She has all the flexibility to make the Arabic-inflected flamenco passages exciting.

Readers are probably aware of how impressed we are with the appositely named Mr. Bliss. We are so pleased to be witnessing his meteoric rise through the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and his stage-worthiness at the Met and on opera stages worldwide.  What a perfect Alfredo he made last night in "De' miei bollenti spiriti" from Verdi's La Traviata!

The gentler passions of Mozart's "Un'aura amorosa" from Cosi fan Tutte and "O wie ängstlich" from Die Entführung aus dem Serail were no less stirring and gave him the chance to show off his flawless German in the latter.

There was also an aria from an opera unfamiliar to us that was striking in its loveliness--"Magische Töne" from Karl Goldmark's 1875 opera Die Königin von Saba (The Queen of Sheba). We love discoveries and, for us, this was a real winner and perfectly suited to Mr. Bliss' "magic tone".

As encore, Mr. Bliss blissed us out with  (you guessed it!)  an aria from a zarzuela. "Flor Roja" from Jacinto Guerrero's Los Gavilanes was recorded by Alfredo Kraus and Placido Domingo; we hope Mr. Bliss will record it!  The timbre of his voice, the amazing vibrato, and his skillful control of dynamics made it unforgettable.

Baritone Alexey Lavrov, another gifted artist coming out of the Lindemann program, gave us the exciting "Mab, la reine des mensonges" from R&J as well as the lovely serenade "Deh vieni alla finestra" from Mozart's Don Giovanni from which he also sang everyone's favorite duet "Là ci darem la mano" with Ms. Blue as his Zerlina. 

He also sang everyone else's favorite duet "Au fond du temple saint" with Mr. Bliss and went on to the very sad duet "O Mimi tu più non torni".  And yet another duet with Ms. Blue "Lippen schweigen" from Franz Lehar's Die Lustige Witwe which involved some charming waltzing around the stage.

But we most enjoyed Mr. Lavrov in his Russian selection from Sergei Rachmaninoff's Aleko--"Vyes' tabor spit" and in his garlic-inflected encore "Parlami d'amore Mariù" composed in 1932 by Cesare Andrea Bixio and Ennio Neri.

It was a most fulfilling evening which, we hope, won converts to opera. Judging by the prolonged standing ovation, we think so.

There will be more of these concerts and you may just find one you will love by visiting the Met website.

(c) meche kroop