SPANNING SIX CENTURIES

Neil Beckmann, Amber Evans, and Francesca Ferrara

Most vocal recitals we've reviewed include works of the 19th c.--our favorite. Last night we attended a very special recital that jumped from the Baroque period to what we would call Post-Modern, skipping over the 19th c. What made the recital special was not only the unique aspect of the choices but the excellence and commitment of the performers. These were works that the artists enjoyed performing; one could tell by their enthusiasm.

Soprano Amber Evans has an engaging stage presence and an impressive instrument, the texture of which worked extremely well with the acoustics of the beautiful sanctuary of St. John's in the Village, the Rector of which, Graeme Napier, is a real music lover. One would be hard-pressed to find a night there without a recital!

Ms. Evans' musical partner was Neil Beckmann who seemed as comfortable with the exotic theorbo as he was with guitars (both acoustic and electric), and the lute. The pair was joined by flutist Francesca Ferrara for the final selection on the program which we will get to later.

Of the Baroque portion of the program, we were captivated by Barbara Strozzi's "L'Eraclito Amorosa", a rather typical lament of someone with an unfaithful lover. It was expressed in Strozzi's unique and heart-rending style which was well matched by Ms. Evans' passionate delivery in the manner favored by singer/scholar Jessica Gould of Salon/Sanctuary Concerts. The Italian was perfumed with garlic, as it should be. We loved the melodic line which was enhanced by dynamic variety. The extended melismatic passages served as a vocalise, showcasing Ms. Evans' gifts. Mr. Beckmann's theorbo provided worthy accompaniment.

Also from the 17th c. was Michel Lambert's "Vos Méspris" which delighted our ears. The text is another cri de coeur from a scorned lover. Apparently that was a favorite topic in that epoch, one which inspired so much gorgeous music. Again we loved the way the theorbo sounded with the voice.

From the 16th c. we heard several songs by John Dowland, our favorite of which was "In Darkness Let Me Dwell" because of the way Dowland married music to the text. The texture of Ms. Evans' voice and Mr. Beckmann's lute produced overtones which bounced around the room, creating an arresting effect.

From an even earlier period (15th c.) was Guillaume Dufay's "Mon chier amy". On the page, the consoling words are spelled differently from the more familiar spelling of the 17th c. French but we had no trouble understanding Ms. Evans' excellent diction, which impressed our native born Francophone friend.

We confess we have struggled with words to describe the Post-Modern works on the program. We always feel a bit lost when there is no melody but we can't say we were bored or alienated. Let's just say we found them curious and interesting. There was a haunting flavor to Marcos Balter's "Pos que nada que dure ou que durando". The Portuguese offered no challenge to our linguistically gifted soprano, nor did the scoring for cowbells and triangle. There were keening sounds and a very delicate decrescendo at the end. Mr. Beckmann accompanied with acoustic guitar and whistles (!). Yes, whistles.

Madeleine Isaksson's "Därimellian" requires the singer to make up syllables. The two artists created some unique overtones as Mr. Beckmann did some strange moves on an electric guitar--portamenti and vibrato (to use vocal terms with which we are familiar). There was nothing to hold onto except for a 3-note motif.

Anna Korsun's "Tollers Zelle" showed off Ms. Evans' facility with some strange bird cries and with the spoken German text at the end of the piece. Mr. Beckmann played electric guitar with more strange techniques and both took turns with what appeared to be a child's toy, a kind of music box played with a rotating handle. We certainly didn't know what to make of it or how it related to the text.

Kaija Saariaho's "Adjö" was visually interesting with some vigorous beating of chimes and tambourine. Flutist Francesca Ferrara produced some strange overtones juxtaposed with acoustic guitar. The vocal line was nothing if not spiky. The text was Swedish.

On more familiar territory we heard Benjamin Britten's Six Folk Songs for Soprano and Guitar. We particularly enjoyed "I Will Give My Love an Apple" and "Sailor Boy". Folk songs endure because they have melody!

As encore we heard an old German Christmas carol "Maria durch ein Dornwald ging" which dates arguably from the 16th c. and is undeniably lovely even in the modern arrangement we heard on the theorbo.

We thought long and hard about the music we heard last night. The oldest endured for six centuries.  How long will the music composed in the 21st c. endure?  Just sayin'!

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SACRED PASSION

Jessica Gould, Elena Biscuolo, Paula Chateauneuf, and Catherine Liddell at
The Church of St. Francis Xavier

Guest review by Danielle Baty:

Sacred Passions from a Woman Ahead of Her Time

Barbara Stozzi, I Sacri Musicali Affetti

Friday, May 10 2019

The Church of St. Francis Xavier, New York City

Jessica Gould, soprano & Elena Biscuola, mezzo-soprano

Paula Chateauneuf and Catherine Liddell, theorbo

Christa Patton, baroque harp

Katie Rietman, baroque cello

Caitlyn Koester, chamber organ

Presented by Salon/Sanctuary Concerts in collaboration with NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò.

Four hundred years after the birth in Venice of Barbara Strozzi, a virtuoso singer and composer – she was one of a handful of women to publish her own musical works – an all-female ensemble gathered at the Church of St. Francis Xavier in Greenwich Village to perform selection’s from Strozzi’s only known volume of sacred repertoire. The “Sacri Musicali Affeti,” published in 1655 and dedicated to the pious Anna de Medici, archduchess of Innsbruck, stands apart from Strozzi’s other compositions, which are concerned with more earthly passions.

It is possible that at this stage in her life, Strozzi, who would have been in her mid-thirties and later gave her two daughters to the Church (a son also became a monk), was becoming more devout. Because she never married and therefore always needed to be mindful of finding financial support, despite the aristocratic origins of her Florentine ancestors, she may also have wanted to draw the attention of potential patrons to her newfound religious devotion.

But as different as this work is from her other compositions in its subject, in other ways it is perfectly aligned with Strozzi’s secular works: the sacred motets showcase her characteristic fire and virtuosity, summoning feelings of ancient, earthly origin that then ascend to magnificent heights. And in addition to Strozzi’s compositional inventiveness we are treated to a particular Venetian quirkiness and exoticism that incorporates the local byzantine elements characteristic of La Serenissima into settings of traditional Catholic texts.

Soprano Jessica Gould and mezzo-soprano Elena Biscuola filled the echoing, cavernous church of St. Francis Xavier with ease. Gould relayed Strozzi’s soaring passions with luminous elegance, and handled the many virtuosic passages and ornamental lines with an agility and clarity one could imagine Strozzi herself might have displayed. Her transcendent instrument was complemented by the sumptuous dark velvet tone of mezzo-soprano Elena Biscuola, who managed her own numerous virtuosic moments with aplomb and whose performance conveyed the profundity and gravitas of Strozzi’s choice of texts.

The two singers were ably accompanied by an ensemble of early music specialists who played with sensitivity and nuance: Paula Chateauneuf and Catherine Liddell on theorbo, Christa Patton on baroque harp, Katie Rietman on baroque cello and Caitlyn Koester on chamber organ.

Visually, the group, with the female performers elevated just slightly above the audience, and Koester raised a little higher in the back and playing standing up, like a priestess come to lead her small flock, created the appearance of calm and strength in the vast sanctuary of St. Francis Xavier. The powerful music of a single mother, composed so long ago, gave a palpable contemporary resonance to a set of obscure religious texts, as Ms. Gould and Ms. Biscuola and the ensemble performed her hauntingly beautiful music so affectingly.

This concert was the tenth season finale of Salon/Sanctuary Concerts, an intrepid early music series helmed by Gould herself. Kudos to this organization for its vision in bringing this lesser known repertoire to modern audiences, and hats off to their partners at NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò for broadening awareness of the great Barbara Strozzi, a female composer whose genius dwarfed so many of her male contemporaries, and whose life was so much more than the “courtesan” label with which she has been stamped by male historians. 

– Danielle Baty

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VIRA AND FRIENDS

David Sytkowski, Kirsten Chambers, Vira Slywotzky, and Bray Wilkins at National Opera Center

No one would deny the value of friends; so what do you do when your friends are all artists?  You put on a show!  That's what you do; you put on a show. The theme of Vira Slywotsky's show on Sunday was "Songs by Women Composers". We were all set for Clara Schumann and Alma Mahler but that wasn't on the menu.

The program was varied, touching many points along the musical spectrum. The opening duet by Barbara Strozzi was introduced by the two sopranos; Ms. Slywotzky and Kirsten Chambers gave an engaging dramatic reading of a translation of the words in English before singing in Italian. The work was the preface to the Baroque opera Mercè di vol. 

The two sopranos harmonized with lovely subtlety, Ms. Chambers' brighter voice taking the upper line and Ms. Slywotsky's darker instrument taking the lower line. There was nothing subtle, however about the highly expressive interpretation, leaving us only one thing to complain about--the music stand. We will not go into details about our objection, having done so many times in the past.

Tenor Bray Wilkins is best known to us for his work in operetta, especially with Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live. But we have also heard his "Kuda, kuda" and even attended his memorable coaching of it with Jane Marsh.  Sunday we got to hear him in more contemporary works. 

Pleasing us greatly was his performance as a super-picky fellow in "The Bachelor Song" from Adventures in Love, composed by Zina Goldrich with lyrics by Marcy Heisler. These two women make quite a team with music and text joining hand-in-hand--something we almost take for granted in 19th c. song and in American Musical Theater. Mr. Wilkins' delivery did not miss a trick in pulling laughter from the packed house. 

The quality of his instrument was best appreciated in the romantic ballad "Taking flight" from Allison Under the Stars. It is such a romantic and sad story that we had to fight back tears. Mr. Wilkins was also princely in "Right before my eyes" from Ever After.

His Shrek was given a thick Scottish brogue and a wonderful personality in "When words fail" from the Disney film Shrek. Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire also made a fine writing team.

We are grateful to Vira and Friends for introducing us to the songs of Poldowski, a Belgian-born British composer and pianist born Régine Wieniawski, daughter of the Polish violinist and composer Henryk Wieniawski. She set poetry by Paul Verlaine in the early years of the 20th c. 

Should we compare her settings of Verlaine poetry to those of Fauré? We decline and can only say that we enjoyed hearing something new to us and that Ms. Slywotsky, best known to us from Mirror Visions Ensemble and Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live, demonstrated her facility with a long and even French line. In "Dansons la gigue" she let out all the dramatic stops and had us giggling again. We particularly enjoyed the piano writing in "Mandoline" which was perfectly rendered by collaborative pianist David Sytkowski.

It is always a problem for us when a singer we like choses material that speaks to them but not to us. We don't know quite what to say, other than crediting them with a good performance. But we cannot pretend to be thrilled when we are not.

Ms. Slywotzky put her all into Three Browning Songs set by Amy Beach, a turn-of-the-19th c. composer whom we have enjoyed. We just had the feeling that Robert Browning's text did not need to be set.

The same could be said for Edna St. Vincent Millay, whose sonnets were set by Sheila Silver. Ms. Chambers gave an intense and dramatic performance but we could not wrap our ears around those songs.  Similarly, she was having a great time with Love in the Early Morning: Two Songs About Making Love to the Milkman. We found Joelle Wallach's music to be strange and the text to be uninteresting. Still, the audience seemed to enjoy the performance and Ms. Wallach, who was in attendance, seemed thrilled. Ms. Scott and Ms. Wallach seem to have a close personal connection and the latter's music has inspired Ms. Scott, which is all to the good. We just wanted to recuse ourself.

Of course we are in support of female composers but we think we would prefer to find them in musical theater these days. Marsha Norman's soul-searching "A bit of earth" from The Secret Garden did touch us and Mr. Wilkin's fine diction made every word count.

There will be more Vira & Friends performances so let's keep an open mind.

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NOT SO CHIARO

Sarah Chalfy in Artemesia: Light and Shadow (photo by Dongsok Shin)

By Guest Reviewer Chris Petitt

Last night in Tribeca dodging hailstones, cascades tossed from rooftop swimming pools and various urban debris rattling around the canyons of downtown Manhattan, this reviewer approached Artek’s premier of Artemisia: Light and Shadow with the same anticipation and receptiveness to surprise that we do all opening nights at the theater. The room was intimate, the house was not quite full, and the audience signaled pleasure at intermittent points throughout the performance. Unfortunately, the evening fell short of expectations.

Artemisia: Light and Shadow is a one-woman interdisciplinary performance that depicts moments from the life and career of Artemisia Gentileschi, the brilliant seventeenth-century painter who gained renown as an artist among contemporary patrons and peers throughout Europe. Once regarded as something of a curiosity as almost a minority of one as a female professional painter, recent art historians have rehabilitated her position as a leading artist of her time, a member of the “Caravaggisti,” followers of the great inventor of chiaroscuro, or the enhancement of drama through light and shadow.

  

Set designer Paul Peers, lighting designer Chenault Spence, and costume designer Carol Sherry created an effective and visually pleasing scenic space for the story to unfold. The stage props were used expressively by soprano Sarah Chalfy, a capable actress who ably inhabited the space and character. The selection and presentation of projections of Gentileschi’s artwork were engaging, as were the lighting effects. Projected translations, while not always complete or accurate, aided in the comprehension of a narrative that often lacked the dramatic import of its protagonist’s artwork and actual experience.

Disappointingly, the well managed aspects of the production contrasted with the poorly conceived dramatic premise, resulting, for this reviewer at least, in an icing-without-a-cake effect. Artek’s well-executed projections and lighting effects were impressive, welcome, and came as a relief, particularly given some spotty production values in the past. However, these elements served a dramatic conception that undermined, rather than elevated, both the subject and the music of her time.

The configurations of the Flea Theater render it a less than ideal venue for this program. As appreciated as the acting and overall presence of Ms. Chalfy was, one’s ability to evaluate the quality of her singing was limited by a stifling acoustic. The small black box theater is no place for a classically trained voice, rendering Ms. Chalfy’s fortes shrill and her pianos breathy because there was no space for her instrument to bloom so that we could hear it properly. In a period where music embraced the same dramatic chiaroscuro as the painting, the pleasant but un-daring accompaniment of Gwendolyn Toth (lute-harpsichord) and Hideki Yamaya (theorbo) did not do much to help things along, as charming as the instruments looked in the corner of the stage.

Perhaps most unsatisfying was the absence of any kind of list of musical selections in the program booklet. While a few pieces were familiar to us (the fragmented Strozzi masterpiece "Lagrime Mie," for example), the inability to identify individual works as they were being sung did no service to the brilliant composers of the era and the cause of early music itself. The idea of including works by one of the greatest female composers who ever lived in a show about one of the greatest female artists who ever lived is an inspired one. Why then undercut that idea by handicapping a singer’s ability to be heard properly and erasing any credit to the composer whatsoever? If there was an assumption that every audience member would automatically be able to identify the musical selections without a program list, then that premise deserves another look. One needs to ask why a production that set out to celebrate a woman artist and the music of her time ended up shortchanging both.

Artemisia Gentileschi was raped by a colleague of her father’s, and, unusual for her time (or even ours), saw him brought to trial. Nahma Sandrow’s script combined original speech that incorporated portions of Artemisia’s letters and sections from the transcript of the rape trial. There was a sense that the volume and ideas and themes could not be accommodated and developed within the compact structure and time constraint, giving the impression of someone with a checklist of milestones from Artemisia’s life, struggling to include all of them in a one-hour format. The effect was one of melodramatic biographic telling of fragments of a life, the connections between them not always well-articulated, interspersed with random anachronisms, (Were there really “court reporters” in the 17th century?) and lacking a strong dramatic arc.

Gentileschi’s life story includes gaps as well as contradictions, and like most life stories, does not fit neatly into anyone else’s idea of a political narrative. One sensed the attempt here to flatten her varied and complicated biography into a #MeToo episode. This approach undoubtedly offered an easy sales angle to modern audiences, but ultimately betrayed this fascinating historical figure by reducing her complex story to a political meme. We are more interested in her as an artist who happens to be a woman, rather than as a member of the special category of women artists. While recognizing the influence of her experience as a woman on her artistic expression, it is a more dynamic position to assert the rightful presence of women in the community of artists. Also, such an approach would encourage reflection of the status of the artist in the seventeenth century and our own era.

Artek’s current series of performances at the Flea Theater are dedicated to Matt Marks, the young composer who died last week just a day after announcing recognition for his collaborative work with tonight’s set designer Mr. Peers on the opera Mata Hari by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He was a colleague of this production’s star Ms. Chalfy as a member of the musical group Alarm Will Sound.

Artemisia: Light and Shadow will be performed again Thursday May 17, Saturday May 19, both at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday May 20 at 4 p.m. The Flea Theater is located at 20 Thomas Street in the Tribeca section of Manhattan. Consult artekearlymusic.org for descriptions of the other programs of Artek’s spring series at the Flea Theater, which concludes May 20.

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Attachments area

FROM GHETTO TO CAPPELLA

Pedro d'Aquino, Jessica Gould, Noa Frenkel, James Waldo, and Diego Cantalupi
(photo credit--Stephen de las Heras)

A full house proved the magnificent Fabbri Library of the House of the Redeemer was the place to be on Sunday for Salon/Sanctuary Concert’s seventh season opener featuring music of baroque Italy. A reprise of last season’s compelling program of Jewish and Catholic cross-pollination through music, From Ghetto to Cappella was completely sold out. While we felt badly for the many concertgoers who were turned away for lack of space, we welcomed the chance to enjoy for the second time this eye-opening array of musical treasures and fascinating  concert, which showed more dialogue than segregation during one of the most oppressive periods in history. 

During the time of the Counter-Reformation, the world’s first ghetto was built in Venice, physically separating Jews from Christians and putting even further limits on their mobility in Christian society. The music from the time reveals more of an exchange than isolation, however, and in true Salon/Sanctuary fashion, the concert explored a theme overlooked by other presenters – in this case, the effect each religious musical culture had on the other.

Fans of Jessica Gould’s roving concert series have come to expect visual splendor with intellectual stimulation from Salon/Sanctuary events, and Sunday’s program served an ample helping of both in the exquisite 1608 Library. Ms. Gould, not only a fervent scholar but a fine soprano, participated in a performance replete with both passion and precision. Five musicians – Ms. Gould, contralto Noa Frenkel, James Waldo on viola da gamba, lutenist Diego Cantalupi and Pedro d’Aquino on organ and harpsichord – did exquisite justice to a delectible variety of baroque treasures sung in Latin, Italian, and Hebrew.

Israeli contralto Noa Frenkel opened the program with a haunting ancient Hebrew chant from Yemen, D’ror Yikra, which segued into Durante’s Vergin tutto Amor, known as a pedagogical piece, here passionately sung by Ms. Gould with striking ornamentation that recalled the phrygian modes heard just moments ago in the preceding selection. The rich timbre and full-bodied sound of both soprano and contralto was a welcome contrast to a the vocal androgyny that has become commonplace and even (mystifyingly) celebrated in some early music circles.

We love duets, and it was lovely to hear the two women’s rich voices blending effortlessly in O immaculata, a sacred piece from Benedetto Marcello’s large volumeL’Estro Poetico Armonico, which integrated the melodies of chants he heard in the synagogue into cantatas and duets with Italian texts.

The Jewish-Italian composer Salomone Rossi has figured prominently in Salon/Sanctuary programming, with four previous seasons including a concert dedicated solely to his work. Rossi got into trouble with members of his own community for integrating the polyphony of the church into Hebrew sacred music that he wrote for synagogue services, because polyphony was considered too sensuous a form for people who considered themselves to be in exile. The two Rossi songs on the concert, Cor mio, sung by Ms Gould, and Ohime che tanto amate, sung by Ms. Frenkel, were performed with tasteful ornamentation and stylistic flair, accompanied with panache by the winning continuo team of gambist James Waldo and lutenist Diego Cantalupi.

Mr. Cantalupi, a visiting guest artist from Italy, shined in two works by Girolamo Kapsberger, a Venetian composer of noble German birth who wrote extravagant works for lute. With his impressive instrument, the long-necked theorbo, Mr. Cantalupi’s turn as a soloist in a Kapsberger Sarabanda and Toccata was marked by technical finesse and stylistic aplomb.

The innovative and trailblazing female composer Barbara Strozzi received a level of recognition in her lifetime that was simply unheard of for women composers of the 17^th century, and she received her due on Sunday in two selections, one sacred and one secular. Ranging from soprano heights to contralto depths, Ms. Gould performed a wildly inventive Salve Regina that was equal parts spiritual and earthly passion. Handling the byzantine melismatic passages and striking chromatic descents with ease, Ms. Gould’s dramatic commitment and vocal sheen kept the audience on the edge of their seats. Ms. Frenkel’s chocolate contralto showed an equally expansive range in the gorgeous cantata Lagrime Mie, in which cantorial hebraic chant-like fragments can be heard in the laments of an abandoned lover.

Two Handel selections capped off the program. In the chamber duet Langue, geme, the two dark-hued voices intertwined in langorous legato stretches and matched impressively in lines of virtuosic coloratura. Immediately after, a short but powerful dramtic duet from the oratorio Esther, sung here in Hebrew from the 1759 version commissioned by the Jewish community of Amsterdam brought the concert to an inspiring conclusion. The rollicking allegro from the Langue, gemeduet served as a playful encore.

While our tastes run to polyphony over chant, From Ghetto to Cappella is a beautifully performed, thought-provoking and musically splendid program that we hope to see reprised again on future seasons so that more people can hear it. Special thanks go out to NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò for their role as co-producers of the event.

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FROM GHETTO TO CAPELLA

St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University

In the impressive St. Paul's Chapel, with it's mosaic marble floor, intricate brickwork and stained glass windows, it would be easy to pretend that you were in Venice during the seicento.  And if you had ever attended a Salon/Sanctuary Concert you would have known that you would be leaving at the end of the recital "From Ghetto to Capella" with an uplifted spirit and an expanded knowledge of the chosen theme--the musical exchanges between the Catholic Church and the Jewish ghetto.  We like our entertainment with edification!

Founder and Artistic Director Jessica Gould is as impeccable in her scholarship as she is generous with her artistry.  Last night's program explored the theme and illustrated it with over an hour of carefully curated selections, sung by Ms. Gould, a soprano, and contralto Noa Frenkel.  The fine musicians comprised Grant Herreid who alternated between lute and theorbo, Pedro d'Aquino, equally skilled at the organ and the harpsichord, and James Waldo who played the viola da gamba.

We happily recall a program previously seen entitled "From Ghetto to Palazzo" which focused on the music of Salamone Rossi, a groundbreaking Jewish composer of the period who dared to set sacred Hebrew texts to polyphony.  Like most geniuses,  he was criticized for this advance; perhaps the rabbis found the music to sensual.  

But last night we heard some of Rossi's secular music created for the Gonzaga court in Mantua--a madrigal entitled "Cor mio" passionately sung by Ms. Gould and involving some gorgeous melismatic singing--and a second entitled "Ohime, che tanto amate", sung by Ms. Frenkel and ending on the third note of the scale. Both were accompanied by Mr. Herreid's theorbo.

The influence of the ghetto on music by Venetian composers was even more notable.  In 17th c. Venice, there existed a melting pot of cultures with Jewish, Turkish and Armenian ghettos coexisting in a relatively liberal environment.  Just listen to the Middle-Eastern melodies in the music of Francesco Durante, particularly "Vergin tutto amor"--the phrygian mode seemingly snatched right out of a Hebrew prayer. Ms. Gould sang this with great depth of feeling and a wonderful trill at the end.

We are big fans of Barbara Strozzi, a singularly successful female composer of the time.  She was represented in yesterday's program by the sacred "Salve Regina" and the secular "Lagrime mie", a lover's lament.  Ms. Gould mastered the heavily decorated vocal line in the motet and brought out the Byzantine melody of the opening.  In the lengthy lament of a lover for his immured ladylove, Ms. Frenkel used a variety of dynamics and pacing to provide variety.

This seems to be our week to enjoy duets and we loved hearing Ms. Gould's and Ms. Frenkel's voices joined in harmony in Benedetto Marcello's "O immaculata" accompanied by all three instrumentalists. They also joined forces for the beautiful "Langue, geme" by Handel in which the sad opening stanza yields to a lively and joyful second one--a highlight of the recital.

The instrumentalists also had a chance to shine on their own with a Sonata di Basso by Grigorio Strozzi. We can find no evidence that he and Barbara were related by blood or marriage although their birthdates are rather close.

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ERA LA NOTTE

Anna Caterina Antonacci (photo by Magalie Bouchet)

At least one thousand tapers burned brightly in the background while soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci burned as brightly onstage at the Rose Theater, as part of the White Light Festival of Lincoln Center. Accompanied by soloists of the orchestra Les Siècles who offered several works by Marini before the vocal pieces, in between and afterward, Ms. Antonacci gave a performance that was visually stunning, dramatically riveting and vocally perfect.  The artistry of the staging lifted the evening way beyond the concept of a vocal recital.

The music dates back nearly four centuries but sounded fresh and original. The opening piece  Giramo's "Lamento della pazza" (the lament of a crazy woman) offered Ms. Antonacci the opportunity to express  a variety of moods suffered by a woman made mad by love. A tribute to the artistry of Ms. A. is the depth of feeling evoked by her intensity.  She appeared disheveled and barefoot, but attired in an ivory gown suggestive of the baroque period; toward the end, she upturned a series of buckets of water downstage; the water reflected the myriad lights upstage.

Following an instrumental Sinfonia, Ms. A. sang the sorrowful "Lamento d'Ariannna" by Monteverdi in which the abandoned Ariadne laments her lost love Theseus.  This is the only surviving element of Monteverdi's opera  L'Arianna and contains "Lasciatemi Morire" which would be familiar to any singer versed in the baroque repertory.  It was shattering.

Another instrumental Sinfonia was interposed before Ms. A. sang the cantata "Lagrime mie, a che vi trattenete".  What captured our interest about this work is that it was composed (and probably sung) by Barbara Strozzi; how rare it was for a woman to have her compositions published in that epoch!  Not only that but Strozzi was presenting the point of view of a man spurned by his lover.

The final work on the program involved a change of costume.  Gone was the gorgeous gown and Ms. A. appeared in a black tunic and pants, vaguely suggestive of a knight's attire.  She performed Monteverdi's "Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda" which was written for the 1624 carnival in Venice.  In this major work, with text taken from Tasso's epic poem about the First Crusade, a Christian knight unknowingly kills Clorinda, the Saracen woman he loves, who has disguised herself as a warrior.  Ms. A.  conveyed the voice of the narrator as well as the individual combatants.  Sword in hand, she enacted the pitched battle between the two.  We were spellbound.

The program notes went into quite a bit of detail about various aspects of the compositions of that period; composers created a revolutionary musical vocabulary to intensify the dramatic situation which was considered quite an innovation.  The emotionality of the works stands in stark contrast to our post-modern coolness and irony. These works are downright raw!  One could not escape feeling involved.

Era la Notte premiered in 2006 and has been performed by Ms. A. all over Europe.  This was the American premiere and we were grateful to have the opportunity to experience Ms. A.'s deeply committed artistry and intense expressivity.  The work was conceived for her by Director Juliette Deschamps with lighting by Dominique Bruguière and set design by Cécile Degos.  The evocative costuming was by Christian Lacroix.  Johannes Keller conducted from the harpsichord while Manuel de Grange played the theorbo.  Violins were bowed by Sébastien Richaud and Rachel Rowntree; viola da gamba by François Joubert-Caillet, cello by Julien Barre and contrabass by Christian Staude.

This work ran barely over an hour but left us with a feeling of having been transported to another time and place.  The rain fell onstage at the end, extinguishing most of the candles, but the feelings evoked in us could not be extinguished.  It was a memorable event.

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