SONG STUDIO YOUNG ARTISTS RECITAL

Curtain Call with all the young artists of Renée Fleming's Song Studio

For many years we had shared our birthday with Marilyn Horne's Birthday Week at Carnegie Hall (and even before she moved it to Carnegie Hall). Now we are happy to share it with renowned and beloved soprano Renée Fleming who shares our own goal of supporting and celebrating young singers.

Last night at Zankel Hall, Ms. Fleming related her admiration for the magical art form that combines poetry and music in a highly intimate fashion. Zankel Hall, in our opinion, is way too large to achieve intimacy; but the number of people wanting to attend this concert apparently dictated the choice.

The students chosen are all gifted and have been singing around the country and also abroad; this week of study and master classes can be thought of as polishing the gems. We hope it's not out of bounds to say that the lovely costuming could be considered settings for the polished gems. If no one sang we might have thought we were attending a fashion show!

But sing they did, so we will focus on that aspect. We confess that our appreciation is often affected by the choice of the material. A familiar song by a composer of whom we are fond can produce welcome memories and feelings of recognition. Being introduced to a composer who is unknown to us can produce feelings of discovery and delight.

Such was the case hearing Xenia Puskarz Thomas singing "Kolysanka", a Polish lullaby by Stanislaw Niewiadomski, a composer unknown to us. We were unable to learn anything about him online except what we could translate from the German; he was not only a composer but a director, teacher, and critic. What was important to us was the beauty of the language as sung by this lovely mezzo-soprano; how anyone could create such a lovely legato line in this consonant-heavy language is beyond us! 

Ms. Thomas continued to give us joy in a cleverly staged "scene" created from Mahler's "Verlor'ne Müh" from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. There was plenty of humor to be uncovered in an importuning woman trying to get the attention of a newspaper-reading man who wants nothing to do with her. Baritone Dominik Belavy did a fine job as the indifferent man, growing ever more hostile as the woman kept trying harder. Richard Fu gave his customary conviction as collaborative the pianist. 

Although Stravinsky is a bit modern for our taste and the text of "A Song of the Dew" did nothing for us, we loved the way mezzo-soprano Kady Evanyshyn filled the verses with varying colors and moods and made dramatic sense of the song by shaping. Collaborative pianist Nara Avetisyan was right with her, alternating lovely arpeggi and sharp staccato passages; the duo brought the work to a dramatic climax.

Soprano Natalie Buickians, accompanied by Sandy Lin on the piano, captivated us with "De dónde venis, amore?" from Joaquin Rodrigo's Cuatro madrigales amatorios. The piece is short but pungent with the suspicious singer giving her wayward lover a hard time.

It has been a week since we heard for the first time "Hat dich die Liebe berührt" by Joseph Marx. In our review we expressed the wish to hear more of him, so imagine our glee when soprano Meghan Kasanders performed this impassioned song, accompanied by the always brilliant Cameron Richardson-Eames. We also enjoyed Alban Berg's "Nacht", given an hypnotic performance by this delightful duo.

Our dear friend, pianist Lachlan Glen, was all excited to hear songs by the unfortunately short-lived Lili Boulanger. We were excited to hear the voice of soprano Anneliese Klenetsky whose performances at Juilliard had made such an impression on us. It was only the final song of the set "Nous nous aimerons tant", sung in a register low enough to understand the words, that our expectations were met.

Ms. Klenetsky's collaborative pianist Anna Smigelskaya enhanced the performance measurably with her gentle hands emphasizing the tender aspect of the text.

We were more than pleased by tenor Eric Carey's performance, accompanied by Tomomi Sato's fine work at the piano. We are crazy about Schubert and thought the pair made fine sense of "An die Entfernte", exhibiting a great deal of nuance in this song of loss. One cannot go wrong with text by Goethe who also supplied the text for "Rastlose Liebe" in which Ms. Sato's piano evinced the perpetual motion of someone trying to escape the inevitable.

"Stay in My Arms", with music and text by Marc Blitzstein, struck us as surprising and satisfying with interesting internal rhymes. It seemed as if it should be part of an opera and was quite a departure from what we expect from Blitzstein.

We do love the Spanish language and greatly enjoyed Jaime León's "Rima"; it seems to us that Spanish composers held onto melody in the 20th c. at a time when American composers were annihilating it! Baritone Laureano Quant, whom we know from Manhattan School of Music, gave it an affecting emotional performance.

What we didn't know about Mr. Quant is that he is also a composer; he performed two selections from his cycle Sombras which he strangely separated by the insertion of "Rima". The selections were dramatic and dark and should have been performed consecutively. It is brave indeed to perform works that one has written. There is just so much riding on the performance! Toni Ming Geiger was a worthy piano collaborator; we heard a lot of low grumbling in the accompaniment.

The closing number was astonishing. The hall went dark and we thought there might have been a power failure. We were wrong. The stage was set for a dramatic performance by baritone Johnathan McCullough, whom we have often reviewed. Accompanied by Michael Sikich on the piano and projected videos of a father and his child, Mr. McCullough gave a powerful performance of David T. Little's "Two Marines" from his cycle Soldier Songs. 

We later read Mr. Little's text on the page and the words themselves, replete with anger and loss, are stinging and relevant with their anti-war message. There were interesting lighting effects and an empty pair of boots spotlighted at the end with Mr. McCullough's voice rising to near falsetto.

Baritone Dominik Belavy is one of our Juilliard favorites. He performed selections from Ravel's Histoires naturelles, employing his story-telling gift to portray three different members of the animal kingdom. He utilized ample gesture, showing sympathy for the disappointed peacock. We especially enjoyed his portrayal of the bossy guinea hen. John Robertson's accompaniment was sturdy, if perhaps a bit heavy-handed at times.

What we did not appreciate was the audience applauding after every song, interrupting the flow of the set. Actually they did that all evening, to our surprise. We would expect an audience of song lovers to know better!

Tenor Randy Ho performed three songs by Gerald Finzi, accompanied by Celeste Marie Johnson. We did not relate at all to the first two songs, although we adore Thomas Hardy as a novelist. However, the final song, "The Market Girl", rhymed and scanned and tickled us. Mr. Ho's diction was perfect so we could appreciate the sentiment as well as the rhyming.

What an event! With Ms. Fleming as our Host and Artistic Director and Gerald Martin Moore as Program Curator, one would expect no less. We only regret that we were unable to attend the master classes taught by Ms. Fleming, Elina Garança and Hartmut Holl. We love monitoring progress! However, dear reader, you can read an account of two of the classes, written by guest reviewer Ellen Godfrey, in an earlier entry.

Photos of the classes can be seen on our Facebook page Voce di Meche.

© meche kroop

TWO MASTERS

René Fleming and Elina Garança

Guest Review by Ellen Godfrey:

One of the most eagerly awaited events this year was the Song Studio program in the Weill Music Institute /Resnick Education Wing of Carnegie Hall. The renowned American soprano, Renee Fleming, is the Artistic Director. In the second year of this program, she continues to help mentor singers and collaborative pianists. The program focuses on art songs and refreshing the art of vocal concerts. The emerging young singers receive voice training through a week-long series of workshops, master classes, private coaching, and performing opportunities. 

On the last day of the program, a recital is held in the Judy and Arthur Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall (review forthcoming) to showcase the talents and progress of these gifted singers. The Song Studio program builds on the legacy of the great Marilyn Horne’s program, “The Song Continues,” which supported young artists in the repertoire of song recitals.

Renee Fleming brought several famous artists to this year’s Song Studio to help mentor the young singers;  The great Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca; the multi-talented young American vocalist, Julia Bullock;, and the renowned and most sought after German piano accompanist, Hartmut Hall.

On Thursday afternoon, Elina Garanca gave a wonderful masterclass to five of the singers. She was born into a musical family and her whole life has been spent in music. In 2013 she was given the honorary title of Kammersangerin by The Vienna State Opera. She is a major star throughout the world in both opera, symphonic concerts, and song recitals. Her life long love of opera has made her a great master teacher as well.  She works gently but seriously with each of her emerging singers. Her focus is mostly on improving their technique, but she is also attentive to their pronunciation.

The first singer on the program was mezzo-soprano Kady Evanyshyn, who was accompanied by pianist Nara Avetisyan .She sang a song by Clara Schumann. Ms. Evanyshyn has a beautiful sweet sound to her mezzo voice.  She also has a charming personality and relates well to the audience. Ms. Garanca begins her work with each singer first asking them what they are looking for in the song. Ms. Garanca told her to put all the love into the music and at certain spots slow down and let the audience take in the singing. She was given some technical hints to make the sound vibrate behind the neck. The fine pianist was Nara Avetisyan, who set up the scene at the beginning of the song.

The second singer was baritone Laureano Quant, who sang a jaunty song by Francis Poulenc. He has a big, lovely baritone sound and he acquitted himself quite well in the rapid singing at the beginning of the song and the A la la la la in parts of the song.  However, his tone was a bit raw, without a lot of high resonance. Ms. Garanca told him to sing while holding his nose so that the resonance would be higher by sounding in the back rather than pushed down on the lower front part of the body.  This made his voice sound richer and less stressed and Mr. Quant was pleased with the sound. Toni Ming Geiger was an excellent pianist who supported Mr. Quant very well.

The third singer was tenor Eric Carey, who sang a Spanish song by Joaquin Turina.  His accompanist was Tomomi Sato, who played very delicately.  Mr. Carey has a beautiful sounding big voice and good diction. Ms. Garanca told him that he should see the picture of the song in his head and take as much time as needed.  He was advised to slow down and not to push but rather bring the air up from the bottom and release the pressure from high notes.

The fourth singer was mezzo-soprano Xenia Puskarz Thomas, who sang a Gustav Mahler song.  She has a good voice which can produce beautiful sounds. Ms. Garanca's coaching was to prepare better for the high notes. She worked with the singer to get the sound she wanted to hear; finally in the middle part of the song Ms. Garanca told her that the twelve notes she had just sung were the most relaxed for her and produced a beautiful sound. Ms. Garanca said she should try to get this sound throughout the whole song. She added that every singer should find a phrase in the music that helps get through the whole song with a beautiful sound. Her pianist was Richard Fu, who supported her singing very well.

The final singer was baritone Dominik Belavy, who sang a romantic song by Maurice Ravel.  He has a nice baritone sound, however, he had some problems in the lower part of the voice. Ms. Garanca had him hold his nose, as did an earlier singer, and it helped to relax him and make the lower part of his voice sound better. She told him to let his voice out gently and not to press on the larynx too hard.  His supportive pianist was John Robertson.

Ms. Garanca congratulated all of the singers and pianists for their good work. Later this month she will be performing in Berlioz' La Damnation de Faust at the Metropolitan Opera.

The day after Ms. Garanca’s master class, the great pianist and accompanist, Hartmut Holl, gave a master class. He is known for his sensitivity to sound and his ability to think beyond the notes to create atmosphere and lyrical emotions. For ten years he was the performance partner of the great German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. They presented acclaimed lieder recitals for major festivals in Europe, Japan, and the United States. For almost 20 years he toured with Renee Fleming in Europe, Australia, Asia and the United States. He has also recorded more than 60 CDs.

Mr. Holl’s first singer of the day was baritone Dominik Belavy, accompanied by pianist John Robertson. Mr. Belavy sang a song by Franz Schubert. His voice has a nice quality and he had lots of personality. He was also quite relaxed. Mr. Holl worked with the pianist, John Robertson. He used his arms, like a conductor, at the beginning of the song, showing John how to make the music more sweeping. He worked with the baritone to get certain phrases to have the right tone and the right meaning.

The second singer, Meghan Kasanders, is a wonderful soprano. She has a shimmering sound and good resonance and is able to float a tone. She sang a song by Joseph Marx. Mr. Holl made some minor changes in the size of the tone for parts of the song and Ms. Kasanders picked up on his corrections. The pianist Cameron Richardson-Edwards accompanied her and he was also attentive to all the suggestions given by Mr. Holl.

The third singer was the tenor Randy Ho, and his accompanist was Celeste Johnson, who is a fine young pianist.  Mr. Holl, played the piano to show her how to make the music start softly and then get louder. He played the notes that he wanted her to work on and she absorbed his teaching. Mr. Ho has a sweet tenor sound but at the beginning seemed to push too much. Mr. Holl worked with him to relax and have a softer sound. He also worked with him on pronunciation of vowels .

The fourth singer was soprano Natalie Buickians, who sang a song by Edvard Grieg. She was accompanied by pianist Sandy Lin. Ms. Buickians has a nice lyric soprano voice with easy production. Mr. Holl worked with both of them to speed up the music in certain places and worked on some phrasing.

The final singer was Laureano Quant  a dark-voiced baritone with good diction who is capable of making good pianissimi. He sang a song by Schubert. Mr. Holl worked with him to get some phrases to go from from loud to soft and also went over some of his corrections several time until it was the sound he wanted. 

Both Ms. Garanca and Mr. Holl gave excellent master classes. Each of them had different ideas of what they wanted to present to the singers. Ms. Garanca concentrated more on the technique of singing whereas Mr. Holl worked more on diction and phrasing.  Both of them also gave valuable advice to the accompanists. One of the great attributes to Ms. Fleming’s Song Studio is giving the young artists the opportunity to be exposed to different styles and techniques.  

We look forward to following the progress of these young and talented singers.

© meche kroop

 

  

 

POISE AND PRESENCE

Bronwyn Schuman and Anneliese Klenetsky

Soprano Anneliese Klenetsky is about to say farewell after eight years at Juilliard, from pre-college to Master of Music; we are pleased to report that she will be staying in New York City for the immediate future--so we can avoid a tearful goodbye. A presence like hers is a joy to behold, as beautiful of spirit as she is of voice, and as well endowed. We enjoyed her gracious tribute to Juilliard almost as much as her performance.

We will never forget her starring role as the Governess in Britten's Turn of the Screw, nor her spirited performance in NYFOS at Juilliard, nor her performance with Juilliard 415, not to mention the numerous recitals.

As a matter of fact, we were delighted to revisit works that she has performed before, among which the set which contrasted views of Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet was our favorite. Brahms' Fünf Ophelia-Lieder are gorgeously melodic and portray Ophelia as a pathetic victim; Richard Strauss' Drei Lieder der Ophelia portray her as deranged. The same text set to wildly different music gave the singer an opportunity to show off her versatility.

Ms. Klenetsky has a bright and brilliantly focused soprano that is never harsh; she employs it with fine technique that never calls attention to itself but exists to serve the music. Following the two sets of Ophelia songs, she ended her program with a charming a capella folksong "Let no man steal your thyme", the melody of which had a rather Irish sound.

Another set that we have previously heard her perform comprised songs by Francis Poulenc--the anxious tale of "Le disparu" counterintuitively set to jolly piano music, the sad "C" and the surreal "Fêtes galantes". Ms. Klenetsky has a real feeling for Poulenc and his ironies. She uses gesture generously to get the songs across.

The evening opened with an assist from the harpsichord (Francis Yun) and a string quartet comprising violinists Rachel Ellen Wong and Ethan Lin, violist Sergio Muñoz Leiva, and cellist Madeline Bouïssou. Vivaldi's work In furore lustissimae irae, sung in Latin, opened with a spirited Allegro, the heavily ornamented line of which provided Ms. Klenetsky with the opportunity to display marked flexibility. There was a sorrowful recitativo, a Largo and a rapid fire conclusion with a melismatic "Alleluia".

The Händel which followed was more to our liking. "Caro! Bella!" from Giulio Cesare amounts to the swapping of endearments and we found it endearing, thanks to a delightful performance by Ms. Kelentsky and countertenor Jacob Inbar. We were completely captivated.

Even better was "Io t'abraccio" from Rodelinda in which the overtones of each singer's voice augmented those of the other's. Mr. Ingbar had some low notes here but was undaunted. Both singers excelled.

There was also a cycle of songs by Lili Boulanger, the sister of the famous Nadia Boulanger. This promising musician died tragically at the age of 25. Neither the text nor the music of the cycle Clairières dans le ciel appealed to us but the performance was highly expressive and made good use of dynamic variation. The piano writing was more interesting than the vocal line but we did like the melodic "Nous nous aimerons tant".

It was an impressive and enjoyable farewell recital; tribute was paid to all those folks who fostered Ms. Klenetsky's development as an artist, especially her teachers Edith Wiens and the late Sanford Sylvan, who would have been very proud of her.

(c) meche kroop

SHAKESPEARE IN SONG

Richard Fu, Marie Engle, Aaron Keeny, Bronwyn Schuman, and Erik van Heyningen

If a composer wanted to set English text to music, he couldn't do much better than Shakespeare. In a fine program curated by Dr. Lydia Brown for Juilliard Vocal Arts entitled "Shakespeare: The Bard in Song", we heard those marvelous young Juilliard artists interpreting a wide variety of these songs, culled from the 18th, 19th, and 20th c.

The main draw is the partnership between singer and pianist. All of the collaborative pianists were exquisitely sensitive to the singers they accompanied; all were supportive and light in touch. Nothing destroys a lieder recital more than a heavy-handed pianist. 

The highlight for us was the performance of soprano Anneliese Klenetsky with Bronwyn Schuman on the piano. Two sets were performed on the same theme--Ophelia from Hamlet--and the audience was so enraptured that they allowed both sets to proceed without interruption. It was so interesting to hear Brahms' Funf Ophelia Lieder contrasted with Richard Strauss' Drei Ophelia Lieder.

The text had been translated into German and was almost identical but the musical styles were totally different and Ms. Klenetsky's delivery was right on point. She opened with the Brahms and drew us in with the delicacy of her storytelling, as well as the way she used her gorgeous instrument. The Strauss was quite a contrast. Whereas Brahms' Ophelia came across as a pathetic victim, Strauss' Ophelia came across as deranged, intense and violent.

Much was asked of the artists and much was delivered. We came away wishing someone would write an opera from Ophelia's point of view, much as Tom Stoppard wrote a play from Rosenkranz and Guildenstern's point of view. Ophelia's distracted ramblings tell us things that went on "behind the scenes" so to speak, about her being dishonored.

Mezzo-soprano Marie Engle, just heard at Carnegie Hall Monday night, performed Erich Korngold's Four Shakespeare Songs, with Richard Fu as her superb piano partner. We liked the way Korngold used the text and loved the way the artists performed it. Desdemona's "Willow Song" from Othello emphasized the rhyme scheme without hitting us over the head with it. 

The other three songs used text from As You Like It. "Blow, blow, thou winter wind" made use of repeated downward scale passages and open fifths in the piano to emphasize the cold atmosphere. Our favorite, however, was "When birds do sing" which Ms. Engle and Mr. Fu invested with light-hearted expressivity.

The other 20th c. composers did not impress us as much. Gerald Finzi was represented by his Let us garlands bring, Op. 18, performed by baritone Erik van Heyningen and collaborative pianist Brandon Linhard. We definitely preferred the joyful and tuneful "Who is Silvia?" from Two Gentlemen of Verona and the lively "O mistress mine" from Twelfth Night which Mr. van Heyningen seemed to relish performing. Similarly for "It was a lover and his lass" from As You Like It.

Baritone Aaron Keeny was greatly appreciated for his relaxed and inviting stage manner. We cannot say we liked Michael Tippett's music. As far as 20th c. composers go, we far preferred his contemporary Korngold. His Songs for Ariel from The Tempest provided a low tessitura in "Full fathom five" but no melody to tease our ears. "Where the bee sucks" suited Mr. Keeny best and we enjoyed Jae Eun Park's pleasing piano accompaniment.

The two artists also dipped their toes into the 18th c. with Haydn's "She Never Told Her Love" from Twelfth Night, to which he and Ms. Park gave a grave and subtle delivery. We enjoyed the varied dynamics and Mr. Keeny's lovely messa di voce.

If you have never attended a liederabend at Juilliard you owe it to yourself to attend one before the semester ends. They never disappoint and you will have an opportunity to hear the stars of tomorrow just before their stars ascend.

(c) meche kroop

NYFOS AT JUILLIARD

Shakèd Bar, Jack Kay, Jaylyn Simmons, William Socolof, Anneliese Klenetsky, Chance Jonas-O'Toole, and Gregory Feldmann in Kurt Weill's Berlin

Beloved pianist, raconteur, teacher, and song-miner Steven Blier has a special relationship with students of the Juilliard Vocal Arts Department. Every year his New York Festival of Song presents a special evening at Juilliard starring a group of gifted students, both graduate students and undergraduates. We love to hear students of opera stretch their artistry in new directions; under Maestro Blier's tutelage we hear them shine in new ways. The study of cabaret involves the use of gesture and body movement that can only enhance their operatic performance.

We love Mary Birnbaum's stage direction in everything she does and are thrilled to learn that she will be directing La Bohême in Santa Fe this summer and cannot wait to see what she will bring to one of our favorite operas. For last night's exploration of German cabaret music, she made sure that every movement and gesture was on point.

Still, the success of such an undertaking rests upon the performances themselves and these seven young artists gave their all.  There was never a moment in which we did not experience total commitment to the material and total connection with the audience. The enthusiastic applause was well deserved.

There are so many parallels between our time and Germany in the 20's and 30's that it is frightening. The lyrics written during the Weimar Republic dealt with social and political instability, great gaps between social classes, sexual shifts, and anti-war sentiment. Of course, most artists lean toward the left and we heard a great deal of satire of the ruling class.

Offerings spanned musical theater, operetta, satirical songs, and racy kabarett. The original German was often sung for the opening verse with English translation brought in for subsequent verses. We far preferred listening to the crisp sound of German, so well coached by Marianne Barrett. There was nothing terrible about the English translations but the rhymes were less pungent, less striking to the ear. 

The program notes were extensive and well worth reading. The program also included the lyrics but some of the sense was lost in the translation and one never wants to be reading along instead of paying attention to the performer. We would have preferred to hear the program in German with titles projected above. 

We do acknowledge that even a fluent German speaker might have missed a number of references that an audience contemporaneous with the original performances would have grasped. Perhaps there is no perfect solution to the presentation of material from another century and in another language.

Consequently, it was up to the singers to convey the meaning of the songs and at this, they excelled.  Tenor Chance Jonas-O'Toole with his sweet sound and William Socolof with his rich bass-baritone got the evening off to a fine start with Kurt Weill's "Berlin im Licht", accompanied by Mr. Blier's piano and Jack Gulielmetti's banjo.

Frederick Hollander's "Wenn der alte Motor wieder tackt" was brought to life by Ms. Birnbaum's clever staging and the performances of mezzo-soprano Shakèd Bar and Gregory Feldmann's resonant baritone.

Although written somewhat later (1956), we could really identify with Olaf Bienert's ballad of disconnection "Augen in der Großstadt", given a heartfelt delivery by baritone Jack Kay. We suppose that even prior to cell phones, big city folk suffered from missed connection by virtue of other distractions.

Soprano Anneliese Klenetsky created a humorous portrait of a woman fighting off unwelcome suitors in Hollander's "Tritt mir bloß nicht auf die Schuh". She was joined by all four men in the ensemble who imitated her gestures to hilarious effect.

Songs of sexual politics were particularly resonant and Ms. Bar's performance of Kurt Tucholsky's "Sleepless Lady" stuck in our mind. What woman has not resented a man falling asleep while she lies in bed with insomnia! The message was "Don't sleep in company".  Well, it sounded better in German!

Ms. Bar, Ms. Klenetsky, and soprano Jaylyn Simmons formed a terrific trio for Bienert's "That", a very cute illustration of the timelessness of male focus on sex. We loved the line "It's just that we're fond of some kind of bond, along with That".

Anyone who has regretted discarding a lover could identify with Rudolf Nelson's "Peter, Peter", a ballad beautifully rendered by Mr. Socolof.

Much fun was had at the expense of the greedy financial world in "The Lottery Agent's Tango", performed with accurate irony by Mr. Jonas-O'Toole from Kurt Weill's last work in German--Der Silbersee, written before he fled Germany and banned by the Nazis. Whilst hearing Mr. Feldmann's excellent performance of "Caesar's Death", we could understand why it was banned! Of all the works we heard it seemed most typical of the collaboration between Weill and Bertold Brecht.

Their prior Happy End included a song of gentrification which also resonated with contemporary times--"Bilbao Song". We liked Mr. Blier's honky-tonk piano accompaniment and Mr. Gulielmetti's guitar.

Ms. Simmons was superb in Bienert's "Song of Indifference" which reminded us of our present tendency to "fiddle while Rome burns". "And my purse is slowly swinging" made a good equivalent.

Although Mr. Blier's customary fascinating narration was hampered by some rather poor amplification, we were able to understand a very important point he made about the song "Wie lange noch", sung by Ms. Bar.  This was commissioned during World War II by the Voice of America to be broadcast behind enemy lines. We always thought it was about a romantic betrayal but Mr. Blier pointed out that it was about Hitler betraying the German folk.

One of the best anti-war songs we've ever heard was Eisler's "Der Graben" which really sticks it to the military-industrial complex. Will times never change! Mr. Feldmann gave it a moving interpretation.

The bitter "Denn wie man sich bettet, so liegt man" (from Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) closed the program with the entire ensemble joining in. We were glad there was an encore--Eisler's "Peace Song".

There is not room to describe all the performances but we hope we have given you the flavor of the evening--a bit sour, a bit bitter, a bit salty. We were missing something sweet so we came home and had a cookie.

(c) meche kroop

ROMAN HÄNDEL

Juilliard 415 with Maestro Paul Agnew, Anneliese Klenetsky, Mer Wohlgemuth, and Siman Chung

The 22-year old Händel made quite a hit in Rome, writing weekly cantatas for the Accademia dell'Arcadia and laying the groundwork for his later operas. What a miracle that any of these cantatas survived and what a boon that we in New York were able to hear the 1707 Clori, Tirsi e Fileno, thanks to Juilliard 415, the renowned period instrument group, and some highly artistic singers, under the baton of Maestro Paul Agnew.

What a wealth of talent onstage bringing to vivid life this pastoral work about a shepherdess who strings along a pair of shepherds! The "faithless" shepherdess Clori was sung by the versatile soprano Anneliese Klenetsky whom we just enjoyed as the Governess in Britten's Turn of the Screw. With her sparkling soprano and flirtatious manner she was totally convincing and delightful to the ear.

Her suitors were portrayed by the superb Mer Wohlgemuth as the importunate Tirsi and by compelling counter-tenor Siman Chung as the more easily discouraged Fileno. Ms. Wohlgemuth has a somewhat heavier soprano than Ms. Klenetsky and the two voices harmonized perfectly. Ms. Wohlgemuth opened the cantata with a stunning "Cor fedele" in which she expresses her displeasure over Clori's faithlessness.

 Mr. Chung's fach is one which we favor and our favorite part of the performance was the final trio. The work ends with the two lovers resigned to the situation, declaring that it is impossible to live without love and to love without suffering. Tirsi and Fileno come to some kind of understanding at the end and a case has been made for a disguised homosexual resolution but such speculation is about as valid as an assumption of a ménage a trois.

We don't see that it makes any difference because what matters is the music and these three artists made music together, marvelous music.

Maestro Paul Agnew led Juilliard 415 in a well realized performance of the score. Particularly notable were the trio of recorders who, for unknown reasons remained unlisted in the program, and the archlute solo played by Adam Cockerham. Our knowledge of early instruments is somewhat limited but this instrument appears to be a smaller version of the theorbo.

Händel would go on to write countless operas; last night we got a glimpse of their birth. It seems to have been a favorable and effortless one. He just tossed it off in a few hours!

(c) meche kroop

GOTHIC HORROR AT JUILLIARD

Joan Hofmeyr, Britt Hewitt, Charles Sy, and Rebecca Pedersen 

(photo by Rosalie O'Connor)

 Chance Jonas-O’Toole, Anneliese Klenetsky, Charles Sy

(photo by Rosalie O'Connor)

Some riveting performances by students of Juilliard Vocal Arts Department (both graduates and undergraduates) brought to life a strange production of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw.  Henry James' gothic horror novella of the turn of the 20th c. was adapted by Myfanwy Piper for Britten.

The lack of vowels in her name seems to match the dearth of melody in Britten's music. What happened to melody after Richard Strauss?  What we are left with are plays with music. As such, this one worked out as well as could be expected.  The drama held our attention and kept us guessing. The music had a great deal of color and reminded us of the atmospheric music written for film. As a matter of fact, the entire production had a filmic quality.

We have learned that the longer the Director's Notes, the more obscure the production will be. As is our wont, we don't read them until after seeing the production because we believe a work of art should speak for itself. We were not always sure what was going on in John Giampietro's confusing production and reading his notes afterward succeeded in baffling us still further. There was a great deal of symbolism which we failed to grasp.  Frankly, we prefer realistic storytelling.  We are familiar with Jungian psychology but our familiarity did not help.

Chance Jonas O'Toole colored his tenor suitably for the role of the narrator, not only introducing the action but moving furniture in and out of the unit set, a large empty period room with peeling wallpaper, a broken ceiling, and several secret panels for entrances and exits.

As the innocent (or maybe not so) Governess, soprano Anneliese Klenetsky could not have been better. One could not tell if her ghostly visions were "real" or not but it was obvious that she cared for her juvenile charges. She had the closest thing to an aria in the well sung "How beautiful it is".

As the juveniles, soprano Britt Hewitt in travesti was believable as Miles who was "bad" or else "possessed". As his sister Flora,

soprano Joan Hofmeyr was similarly effective. Their playing together was always a bit unsettling.

The two "ghosts" were remarkably portrayed. Tenor Charles Sy was chilling as Peter Quint, using voice coloration and gesture to portray pure evil.  As the prior governess Miss Jessel, soprano Rebecca Pedersen, made a strong impression. She was strangely swathed in butterflies.

As the housekeeper Mrs. Grose, soprano Katerina Burton was warm and real, the only non-puzzling onstage presence.

If we have said nothing about their voices, it is because this type of work doesn't have the long lyric lines of Italian opera that enable us to appreciate phrasing, timbre, and all that other good stuff.  Suffice it to say that their diction was uniformly superb making the titles rather unnecessary.

Alexis Distler's scenic design matched the spookiness of the story and Kate Ashton's lighting design helped immeasurably to create the mood. Audrey Nauman's costumes were suited to the period.

Maestro Steven Osgood led the chamber orchestra in a finely wrought performance. The musicians were all members of the Juilliard Orchestra. A string quartet was augmented by a double bass, a flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, percussion, harp, and piano.  The winds were particularly effective, as was the harp.  Was that a celesta we heard or chimes in the Churchyard scene? It was very effective, whichever.

Given the choice of seeing this work again or reading the novella, we would probably opt for reading. There were others in the sold out house whose enthusiasm exceeded ours. The great thing about opera is that there is something for every taste. Mid 20th c. opera in English just isn't ours.

(c) meche kroop

BAD BOY!

Cast of Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges at Alice Tully Hall

What a treat!  Last night the Juilliard Orchestra was joined by members of the Vocal Arts Program for an evening of French music, the capstone of which was Ravel's short opera L'enfant et les sortilèges. Although the program notes suggest a somewhat different origin, we had always believed that this work was intended as a ballet for the Paris Opera but wound up as an opera, with ballet sequences choreographed by none other than George Balanchine.  There is no disagreement about Colette's authorship of the libretto. The work made its premiere in 1925 at the Opéra de Monte Carlo.

Until three years ago we had never seen it performed but then enjoyed two performances in close temporal proximity, one by Utopia Opera and shortly afterward as the initial work by Bare Opera. We became an instant fan of this delightful work with its charming story and eclectic score.

That the members of the Juilliard Vocal Arts Program were able to capture the spirit of the work on a very narrow strip of stage in front of the Juilliard Orchestra seemed a minor miracle; the miracle worker must have been the director Edward Berkeley. Credit for the brilliant reading of this enchanting score goes to Maestro Emmanuel Villaume whose feeling for French music is in his genes. But credit for the performances must be shared by the cast of singers whose ensemble spirit could only be realized by a lot of time spent rehearsing.

Heading the cast was mezzo-soprano Kelsey Lauritano who made a very convincing naughty boy, one of those children whose destructive energy emerges when they are given insufficient stimulation, at least that was our conjecture! Ms. Lauritano never hits a wrong note, not vocally and not dramatically. We wanted to jump up onstage and hold her down!

The role of the mother was sung by Myka Murphy who has a very different sort of mezzo and we hear a definite contralto in the making. We couldn't keep from fantasizing about the roles she will take down the road from now.

Soprano Onadek Winan was glorious in her coloratura in all three roles: Le Feu, La Princesse, and Le Rossignol.

Baritone Xiaomeng Zhang always impresses us with his fine tone and phrasing; he excelled as the wounded tree and as Le Fauteil in his duet with La Bergère (performed by soprano Anneliese Klenetsky who handled the scale passages with aplomb).

Another successful duet was that of the two cats. Mezzo-soprano Nicole Thomas and baritone Gregory Feldmann had a rather sexy catfight until they turned their attention to Maestro Villaume who played along in a most sportsmanlike manner. Mr. Feldmann was also memorable as the broken clock, holding his arm askew as the pendulum.

Mezzo-soprano Kady Evanyshyn made an adorable Chinese tea-cup with tenor Matthew Pearce as the teapot, spouting a pidgin Asian mix, accompanied by tuba.

Tenor James Ley made quite a strict arithmetic teacher, known in the script as Le Petit Veillard. Soprano Kresley Figueroa had a sweet duet with mezzo-soprano Marie Engle as a pair of country folk from the torn storybook.

It seemed that for the second part, every cast member took on another role as an animal, with soprano Vivian Yau standing out as a bat whose mate had been killed by the naughty boy. The chorus added to the overall effect.

Quite in tune with this week's theme of behavioral change and redemption (see two prior reviews below) the bad boy of the first part is confronted in the second part by critters he has injured. He is transformed and the audience is satisfied by a successful conclusion to the story. The critters forgive him and so do we.

Although we rarely review instrumental works, it would be churlish not to mention how successfully performed were the two works in the first half of the program. Ravel wrote his Menuet antique when he was but twenty years of age; it took him 34 years to orchestrate it!  And what an incredible orchestrator he was. Someday we would love to hear the original piano version followed by the orchestral arrangement.

We very much enjoyed Debussy's La mer although the programmatic nature of the piece escaped us. Without being told that it was about the sea, we would not have guessed it. What stood out for us were the orchestral colors. First cellist Matthew Chen gave a stunning performance and we also enjoyed the harp and celeste.  No doubt about it, the Juilliard Orchestra rules!

(c) meche kroop

THE BEST FREE SHOW IN TOWN

Chris Reynolds, Yoon Lee, Natalia Katyukova, Jessica Niles, Nathaniel LaNasa, Kady Evanyshyn, Jacob Scharfman, Anneliese Klenetsky, and Ji Yung Lee

We really missed the Liederabend programming at Juilliard over the summer and are happy to note that the program got off to a stellar start yesterday with a magnificent program, curated and coached by Natalia Katyukova, accompanied by Chris Reynolds, Yoon Lee, and Ji Yung Lee. Over the past few years we have watched the audience grow from a smattering of lieder lovers to a throng. This fame is well deserved. One could not have found a better recital at any price.

It was admirable that each of the four featured singers took the stage with confidence, introduced her/himself, and told enough about their chosen work so that we in the audience could appreciate their involvement. We wish more recitalists did the same. A singer of lieder is a conduit through which the poet speaks and the composer resounds. Their individual interpretations can give new life to familiar works or introduce us to material that may be new to us.

Mezzo-soprano Kady Evanyshyn opened the program with five lovely songs by Clara Schumann. This is a composer who speaks  (sings) to us with Austrian Romanticism in full flower. Readers know how much we love melody! It was obvious from the first note that Ms. Evanyshyn loves Clara's music as much as we do. We are always elated to see her somewhat overlooked oeuvre on a program.

The wise choice of text goes halfway toward making a memorable song. Heinrich Heine's text is almost always a great choice. "Ich stand in dunklen Traumen" is a mournful tale of love and loss while "Sie liebten sich beide, doch keiner" is a more ironic story of love never realized--perhaps an even greater loss.

"Die Lorelei" is one of Heine's horror stories and allowed Ms. Evanyshyn and her collaborative pianist Ji Yung Lee the opportunity to indulge in totally different coloration with the rippling in the piano suggesting the waves and both artists conveying a sense of urgency.

It was a welcome relief to hear the peaceful "Der Mond kommt still gegangen". The final selection was "Am Strande", a German translation of Robert Burns' poem "Musing on the roaring ocean".

Ms. Evanyshyn has a lovely and gracious stage presence, using only minimal gesture and allowing the text and musical phrasing to shine through. She never allows her gifts to steal attention from the music.

Next on the program was soprano Anneliese Klenetsky with Chris Reynolds as collaborative pianist. She too introduced herself with grace and enthused about her discovery that Benjamin Britten set some Russian text. This was a discovery for us too and we found the songs as unsettling as Ms. Klenetsky did. The text for this cycle, The Poet's Echo, was written by one of Russia's preeminent poets Alexander Pushkin. The cycle struck us as the cry of despair from being unheard.

The performance was superb and Ms. Klenetsky captured the inherent drama with a self-possessed maturity and conveyed the mood of these non-pretty songs. Our favorite was "Angel" in which the gentleness of an angel overcomes the sullenness of Satan. 

In "The nightingale and the rose" we loved the way Mr. Reynolds captured the song of the nightingale on the piano. In "Lines Written During a Sleepless Night" the melody wanders in a searching manner the way an insomniac searches for sleep.

We love the sound of Russian and our love grows the more we become familiar with its sound. We would have to say that we enjoy Rachmaninov more than Britten and soprano Jessica Niles began by telling the audience how she chose these songs for their imagery and, indeed we could see through her eyes and hear through her voice.

We think it made quite a difference that she translated the songs herself since she seemed to know exactly what she was singing about, giving each phrase a sense of movement toward the "goal note". These are luscious songs and each one carries a mood of its own, all well captured by Ms. Niles and Yoon Lee, her collaborative pianist.

"At Night in My Garden" tells of a willow whose tears will be wiped away by the tresses of the poet. Such a tender picture! All sadness disappeared with the joy of "The Daisies". There is unmistakeable charm in "The Pied Piper" whom we wanted to follow. "Dream" was filled with wonder and was a fine antidote to Britten's song about insomnia!

Bringing the program to a stunning close was baritone Jacob Scharfman who introduced the songs of Erich Korngold and told of Korngold's birth in Austria and his success as a composer of music for film in Hollywood. Strangely, this was news to us since we always thought of him as the composer of the opera Die Tote Stadt! The songs were written by Korngold when he was still a wunderkind in his native Austria. Mr. Scharfman shared with the audience the reason for his choice; his forebears were also Austrian Jews.

The songs have an Early 20th c. feel and some of the lavishness of Richard Strauss. Mr. Scharfman also did much of his own translation. "Reiselied" is a most cheerful and energetic song of optimism, a setting of text by Joseph von Eichendorff, one of our favorite poets for lieder. "Osterreichischer Soldatenabschied" allowed shifts of mode from the piano of the wonderful Nathaniel LaNasa which were reflected vocally by Mr. Scharfman.

Perhaps our favorite was "Nachts" which conveyed a mysterious and elusive mood, emphasized by a repetitive motif in the piano involving alternation of a whole step, much slower than a trill. The program ended with "Versuchung"--a rather puzzling text.

Mr. Scharfman's performance was marked by the expansiveness of a generous spirit and a personal involvement with the text and music. There was a lovely resonance to his instrument and fine German diction.

All in all it was a delightful treat to hear such fine artistry. One could not have heard better at any price. If you haven't attended a Liederabend at Juilliard, you owe it to yourself to enjoy such a treat. But be advised that tickets are free and can disappear rapidly.

(c) meche kroop

LAST LIEDERABEND

Chris Reynolds and Christine Oh

Yesterday was the last Liederabend of the season at Juilliard.  This is a series that showcases several students of the Vocal Arts Department and the Collaborative Piano Department and we always look forward to seeing what the students will choose to perform. It is a golden opportunity to assess the breadth and depth of talent in both departments.

Yesterday's program opened on a cheerful and seasonal note with the lovely soprano Christine Oh, florally gowned and singing of Spring. She selected four of Wolf's sunnier songs, all from his Goethe-Lieder.  Who knew the Goethe of horror could also be the Goethe of joy! 

Ms. Oh has a light lyric instrument that falls so pleasantly on the ear that one could listen for hours on end; Mr. Reynolds' light touch on the keys made for a perfect partnership. Ms. Oh has the advantage of onstage charm. Moreover, having done the translations herself, she knew exactly what she was singing about and conveyed all the meaning of these delightful songs.

On the other hand, the next two singers chose material of a darker hue. Mezzo-soprano Natalia Kutateladze, sounding much healthier than she was supposed to, sang some Schonberg songs from Op.3 that were relentlessly troubling--a rather jaundiced view of nature and a display of nasty jealousy. Only "Geubtes Herz" held a note of hope for the experienced heart that has learned from suffering.  These are challenging songs for the singer but Ms. Kutateladze performed them well with sufficient dramatic realization, and collaborative pianist HoJae Lee matched the mood.

The choice made by bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum was Vier Gesange, Op.2 by Alban Berg, another set of difficult material which Mr. Q. enjoyed performing. His deeply resonant voice and engaging stage presence served the material well but, like the Schonberg, these songs are not likely to wind up on our list of favorites. These are moody texts, with the first three connected by themes of sleep. The final song "Warm die Lufte" was a peculiar text (or perhaps we just don't appreciate Alfred Mombert's poetry) but Mr. Q's performance drew us in, especially when he stepped forward from the piano, which was so well played by Katelan Terrell.

The set by Poulenc seemed light-hearted by comparison. Soprano Anneliese Klenetsky performed some songs relating to the French Resistance and her Gallic subtlety was matched by Minjung Jung's light touch on the piano. The irony of the tragic lyrics of "Le disparu" was counterposed with the pleasant piano part. "C'e" treats the sorrow of loss with pleasing melodies. "Fetes galantes" is filled with surreal imagery.

Grace Canfield has a pleasing soprano and was accompanied by Rosa Li on the piano for some songs by Charles Ives. "Thoreau" begins with some spoken prose which Ms. Canfield recited beautifully to a spare piano accompaniment. When Ives tries to rhyme, it comes out like doggerel--even "Cradle Song", which achieves no conclusion. "At the River" involved overly elaborate piano writing for a simple folk tune. We love Ms. Canfield's voice but these songs will not join our "Hit Parade".

The program concluded with the divine Mikaela Bennett singing songs by Samuel Barber. This gal is one of those singers who, like Julia Bullock, can sing the phonebook and keep us interested. We scarcely noticed the music but focused on her performance, which made much out of the nonsense humor of "Monks and Raisins".  

Now the words of James Joyce are delicious to read on the page but his neologisms have to be seen to be appreciated. Setting a passage from Finnegan's Wake to music did not appear to us to be a good idea but Ms. Bennett performed "Nuvoletta" well with a soaring soprano. The humor occurred in the piano, so ably played by Yoon Lee. "Nocturne" seemed strange to our ears with the text speaking of calm but the piano anything but calm, rather agitated.

We would say that we were butting heads with the 20th c. for most of the recital but we are always happy to hear the superb young artists pushing themselves into challenging territory. It is only fair that we in the audience challenge our ears as well.

(c) meche kroop