UNE SOIRÉE DE FANTAISIE FRANÇAISE

Manhattan School of Music Junior Opera Theater

Every time we attend one of Catherine Malfitano's productions we have the same reaction. "How does one create such engaging performances from a group of undergraduates?"  Attendees see only the finished product; we can only imagine how much hard work goes into creating such an entertaining event.

This iteration used two lighthearted Paris operettas to provide raw material for singers of superior talent--we don't just mean vocally but talent in creating interesting characters by means of movement and gesture. Coordinator and Stage Director Ms. Malfitano made sure that the eye was as engaged as the ear. Her ten year collaboration with pianist Eric Sedgwick is an extraordinarily successful one.

Ms. Malfitano's years of onstage stardom are being used to advance the artistry of her students and this is something we applaud. She welcomed the audience and explained that roles would be multiply cast. There was no story line one could follow nor were we always sure who was whom, unless we knew the singer from other performances. In that case, we will credit them with apologies to the singers whom we couldn't be sure of identifying accurately.

The first operetta from which the scenes were chosen was by Reynaldo Hahn, whose early 20th c. songs hark back to earlier epochs, and are famous for their melodious nature. His operetta Ciboulette was unknown to us but, having heard the music, we would just love to see it. All we know is that it is the story of a farm girl named after a vegetable of the allium family (chive) and her romance with an aristocrat.

We loved the romantic duet sung by soprano Shan Hai and tenor Jeh Young (Michael) Woo--"Les parents, quand on est bébé". There was also a charming duet which we may have heard before but definitely wish to hear again--"Nous avons fait un beau voyage" sung by soprano Alexis Rose Seminario and baritone Sung Shin, whose artistry we know well from his Arias Under the Arch in Washington Square Park.

Other artists bringing these scenes to life included sopranos Ripley Lucas-Tagliani, Bela Albet, and Alina Eva Flatscher, tenor Nathaniel McBride, and baritone Keith Smith.

The singers provided their own costumes and all of them looked colorful and charming. In the second operetta of the evening, Emmanuel Chabrier's late 19th c. comedy L'Étoile, the singers costumed themselves with witty abandon (corsets, petticoats, striped leggings), photos of which you can see on our Facebook page (Voce di Meche).

We have a vague recollection of seeing this opéra bouffe long ago, enough to remember that Ouf was a king who put his faith in an astrologer and that Lazuli was a poor peddler in love with a princess in disguise named Laoula. Perhaps the story is silly but the melodies are gorgeous.

The one singer we could absolutely identify was mezzo-soprano Rosario Hernández Armas whom we just heard singing Manuel de Falla's Siete canciones populares españolas a couple days ago. Here, her French was as fine as her Spanish in the role of Lazuli in "Romance de l'étoile"

The role was shared with other mezzo-sopranos in the group: Kaitlin Barron, Jay E. Condon, and Emily Dubil.  The role of Laoula was sung variously by sopranos Emily Hanseul Park, Nicoletta Berry, and Elizabeth Perry--but also by Ms. Barron and Ms. Dubil!

Adding to the fun in various roles were sopranos Lilith Spivack and Lilly Eden Cadow, tenors Julien Thomas, Andrew Hoben, and Giovanni Xu; baritone Cole Marino and bass-baritone Evan Lazdowski.

Our favorite numbers were the tickling song "Couplets du chatouillement" and the final couplet "Nous voici, messieurs, à la fin" in which Ms. Perry and Ms. Condon created some gorgeous loving harmonies.

We were totally satisfied by the evening but were gifted with an enchanting encore performed by the ensemble--Gabriel Fauré's "Pleurs d'or"--a thoroughly gorgeous song that was new to us, a lagniappe for which we were grateful.

What a complete treat the evening was!

(c) meche kroop 

MALFITANO MAGIC

Catherine Malfitano's third-year voice students at Manhattan School of Music

Getting a crowd to spend their Saturday night listening to third-year music students sounds like a hard sell but then Greenfield Hall at Manhattan School of Music was filled to the last row with enthusiastic music lovers who were there to celebrate the unique achievements of this wildly talented group of young artists, talented beyond their years.  There must be a cause!  Of course there is!

The ebullient soprano Catherine Malfitano has taken this class of 26 singers and, over the course of a year, transformed them into an ensemble that can use nothing but their voices and their bodies to lead you down the path of enjoyment of works both familiar and lesser known. Sets are superfluous when the acting is so on point. Although we enjoyed the familiar works, we were most interested in the introduction we received to operas we have never seen produced.

The evening comprised French opera scenes, most of them lighthearted, and we are pleased to note that French diction was held to the highest standard.  Even when the scenes were new to us, the French was so well enunciated and the emotions so well revealed that there was no difficulty understanding what was happening.

Gounod and Bizet were represented but the most scenes were given to works by Jacques Offenbach and Jules Massenet. Casting was accomplished with a great deal of flexibility with many roles shared by two or three singers. Occasionally, roles were given to singers from a fach variant to that which the composer intended, but it was never a problem. Every singer sounded absolutely right. That in itself is a small miracle.

We love Offenbach and have seen and adored his 1868 opera bouffe, La Perichole. The heroine is a sassy piece of work and was here performed jointly by sopranos Aleksandra Durin and Tzuting Tsai with tenor Mimi Chiu as her lover Piquillo. The staging allowed for some competition between the two Pericholes. The music, performed on the piano by Eric Sedgwick, was filled with music hall joy.

The composer's 1858 parody of Gluck's Orfeo,  Orphee aux Enfers involved a Eurydice who is not losing any love over her Orphee. We were impressed by the fine tenor Ramon Gabriel Tenefrancia who had two superb Eurydices to annoy with his virtual violin--Ashely Lea and Hyejin Yoon.

The final work on the program was Offenbach's more serious 1881 work, Les contes d'Hoffmann. We got to hear three Giuliettas, all admirable--Shelen Hughes, Monica Gonzalez, and Makila Redick. Baritone Yichen Xue gave a fine performance of "Scintille, diamant" in which Dapertutto convinces Giuietta to steal Hoffman's reflection. Hoffman was portrayed by Joshua Ross with Rong Yue as Nicklaus. This is one of our favorite operas and we were delighted to get a hearing.

Massenet was represented by his often seen 1884 Manon, a tragedy, and his 1905 comedy Cherubin, which seems ripe for revival with its convoluted plot and gorgeous music. In the former, we enjoyed the first scene in which the aristocrats from Paris arrive with their three "actress" companions and, express their quality of entitlement to the beleaguered innkeeper (Clayton Matthews). The aristocrats were sung by Yiqiao Zhou and Yichen Xue. Their companions were portrayed by Blair Cagney, Melanie Hope Long, and Shelen Hughes. We have never seen singers have so much fun with their roles!

Manon herself was sung by the tiny powerhouse Lauren Lynch who captivated one and all with her "Profitons bien de la jeunesse".  In the Act IV quartet, Ms. Long exchanged roles with Ms. Lynch.

Massenet's Cherubin is yet another entry in the tale of the Count and Countess Almaviva and Cherubino, but done more as a French farce. In the scene from Act II, soprano Juliana Levinson sang the part of L"Ensoleillad with mezzo-soprano Gabriella Chea singing the eponymous hero. It was difficult to tell who was seducing whom but the audience loved the uninhibited body language and we loved the way the voices blended.

This opera goes on our wish list, as does Charles Gounod's 1864 Mireille in which the title role was shared by two lovely sopranos who harmonized to perfection--Ms. Redick and Ms. Hughes.

There were also two scenes from Carmen, Georges Bizet's 1875 masterpiece. We always love the scene in which Carmen declines to join her smuggler friends and elicits their hilarity with her protestation of being amoureuse. Mezzo-soprano Catarina Veytia mad a fine Carmen with Gabriella Will and Ms. Cagney as Frasquita and Mercedes. Mr. Matthews sang El Dancairo and El Remendado was sung by Mr. Zhou.

The Act III fortune-telling scene had Cynthia Soyeon Yu as Frasquita and Ziyi Dai as Mercedes. Mr. Sedgwick's piano was particularly wonderful in this portentous scene.

It was a most delightful evening from start to finish and left us incredulous that third-year music students could perform in such an accomplished fashion. What a pleasure to hear healthy young voices in the service of drama, entertainment, and artistry. Ms. Malfitano's magic never ceases to amaze!

(c) meche kroop

AND STILL MORE MOZART!

Manhattan School of Music Junior Opera Theater

So much youth!  So much talent!  Last night at Manhattan School of Music we got a taste of Mozart Magic, presented by Catherine Malfitano who coordinated and directed an evening of ensembles extracted from several of Mozart's operas.

We are always impressed when esteemed singers pass along their vocal and stage wisdom to the next generation and we applaud the Divine Ms. M. for being among this elite group, along with Martina Arroyo and Marilyn Horne.

She assembled 26 promising Juniors and created an ensemble that worked amazingly well together. Dressed all in black, they were still able to create believable characterizations by means of posture and gesture. Although a particular singer may be asked to sing a different role in a subsequent aria, and the same role may be given to two different singers, there was never any doubt about who was whom.

In place of sets, the artists themselves created the sets with their bodies.  The most outstanding example of this was when Count Almaviva uncovers Cherubino--not under a tablecloth, but under the bodies of the members of the ensemble. This is imaginative directing at its finest.

We saw scenes from Le Nozze di Figaro, Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, La finta giardiniera, and Il re pastore.  We enjoyed them all and look forward to witnessing the future artistic development of these promising young artists.

Music director and accompanist was the always excellent Eric Sedgwick.

In our very own operatic gluttony, we could not bear missing the other cast of La Clemenza di Tito and wrapped up our evening with another dose of Mozart.  Mozart is like champagne--you can have too much (we did) but you can never get enough (we didn't).  If you want to read about the terrific Tito, vivid Vitellia, and splendid Sesto, please return to the original review below for an addendum. Just scroll down.  You know how!

(c) meche kroop