WE TOOK THE A TRAIN

Dimitri Dover, Joseph Lim, Leah Hawkins, and Mario Bahg at Jackie Robinson Park Bandshell

Lucky us!  Thor held his thunder until after the Metropolitan Opera recital and Tlaloc kept the threatened rain in abeyance. The crowd at the bandshell in Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem was sadly sparse but nonetheless wildly enthusiastic, sensing that the artists were giving their all for the occasion. If what we write is tempting to you, there will be several more opportunities to hear the same program in the other four boroughs. It would be a shame to miss it.

We know pianist Dimitri Dover since his student days at Juilliard and have always admired his artistry at the piano. Last night he moved readily from Mozart to Bernstein and everything in between. Not only did he play magnificently but he fulfilled the role of narrator, explaining to the audience what each aria was about and its place in the opera. Not everyone is an experienced opera goer and this knowledge went a long way toward enhancing audience appreciation.

We were first introduced to the astonishing talent of soprano Leah Hawkins by our dear friend, pianist/coach/conductor Lachlan Glen who knows a good voice when he hears it. We heard Ms. Hawkins sing in French and was immediately won over. Last night we heard her sing in Italian and English and continue to be impressed.

Ms. Hawkins is one of those big beautiful gals with big beautiful voices. We were immediately drawn in by "Io son l'umile ancella" from Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur. Puccini held no terrors for this gifted lady as she sailed through Liu's "Signore Ascolta" from Puccini's Turandot. We couldn't help thinking that we wanted to hear her sing the title role and we probably will some day.

From Verdi's Otello we heard Desdemona's final act prayer which was intensely moving. Even better was Clara's big aria "Summertime" from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, her encore piece in which she let out all the stops. Some of the notes were "bent" in true jazzy style and there was a delicious portamento. We had goose bumps.

We think it's important for a singer to choose her roles carefully and we didn't think that Maria from Bernstein's West Side Story was the right role for Ms. Hawkin's powerful voice; she is anything but an ingenue!

Joseph Lim is a fine baritone who was brought to our attention five years ago at one of Marilyn Horne's Spotlight Recitals during her birthday week at Carnegie Hall. We recall being quite impressed and was thrilled to catch him again at the Santa Fe Opera as a powerful Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor. We lost track of him over the past few years but his star is on the rise and we were so happy to hear him again.

We recall that we were a bit nit-picky about his German and are glad to report that it is vastly improved. One of our favorite German arias is Wolfram's "O du, mein holder Abendstern" from Wagner's Tannhäuser. Hearing this aria changed the life of the peasant-turned-linguistic professor in the film Padre, Padrone by the Taviani brothers. It moved us greatly long ago when we saw the film and it probably stimulated our interest in opera! 

We loved the way Mr. Lim sang it. Having heard a lovely tenorial quality in his upper register in Guglielmo's "Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo" from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, we didn't expect him to do so well with the low tessitura of the Wagner. Accompanist Dimitri Dover played some gorgeously modulated arpeggi that amplified the spiritual mood.

In "Ya vas lyublyu" from Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, he sang the Russian with as much legato as we would want, making beautiful phrases in spite of the harsh Russian consonants.

Every singer loves a good drinking song and he did a fine job with Hamlet's "O vin, dissipe la tristesse" from the Tomas opera. The French was excellent and we felt Hamlet's underlying distress. In "Some Enchanted Evening", from Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, the floated high note at the end added to the romantic feeling.

Tenor Mario Bahg is new to us and we grew to appreciate his artistry more and more as the evening wore on. He has a pleasing warm tone and a lovely legato technique. We enjoyed his performance of "Angelo casto e bel" from Il Duca d'Alba, attributed to Donizetti. We confided in Maestro Ken Noda that it sounded nothing like Donizetti and he confirmed that Donizetti didn't compose it!  Donizetti abandoned the opera and it was finished by his pupil Matteo Salvi after his death. Indeed that is so but it is a lovely tenor piece nonetheless.

His delivery of Faust's serenade "Salut! demeure chaste et pure" was completely convincing and splendidly romantic.  The same lovely legato was notable in everything he sang. As an encore piece, he gave a passionate rendition of "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" in gorgeous German.

Of course, we always have a quibble and we would like to see Mr. Bahg sharpen his fioritura. The ascending and descending scales in "Il mio tesoro" from Mozart's Don Giovanni were beautifully rendered but we wanted more clarity in the embellishments. He has a real feel for Mozart and we loved his rendition of Ferrando's aria "Un aura amorosa" from Cosi fan tutte.

The two gentlemen joined forces for "Au fond du temple saint" from Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles and created some fortuitous harmonies. They made much of the contrast between the yearning first and final sections and the stormy central section.

That was our favorite duet since we didn't care too much for the English version of the waltz from Lehar's The Merry Widow nor did we experience the requisite chemistry in "Tonight" from Bernstein's West Side Story which we enjoyed so thoroughly the previous night at the Brooklyn concert. Again, it all comes down to choices. It is not enough for a work to fit into the program. It has to fit the voice and personality of the singer.

(c) meche kroop

THE MOUNTAIN COMES TO MOHAMMED

Dan Saunders, Gabriella Reyes de Ramirez, Gerard Schneider, and Adrian Timpau

We have no idea whether the audience members who cheerfully sat in the drizzle last night are regulars at The Metropolitan Opera, or whether they have ever been there.  No matter. The Met brings operas to the boroughs of Manhattan and we applaud the institution for spreading the culture far and wide. We would be surprised if they didn't make some new converts, based upon the very high level of artistry we witnessed.

With the always wonderful Dan Saunders accompanying, three impressive talents joined forces for an all-too-brief (but nonetheless satisfying) recital of operatic favorites. We wanted the evening to never end!

Tenorrific Gerard Schneider opened the program with the rousing "Questa o quella" from Verdi's Rigoletto, leaving us no doubt about the Duke's fickle personality. What we love about Mr. Schneider's technique is that he knows how to float a high note and never pushes his voice. To hear a delicately floated pianissimo is a delight; to produce such a phenomenon seems out of reach to most tenors who think that their top notes must be fortissimo. 

Baritone Adrian Timpau brought Da Ponte's clueless Count Almaviva to vivid life in "Hai già vinta la causa" from Mozart's Nozze di Figaro. He nailed Almaviva's personality and did so with a unique tonal quality that made us think of corduroy, for some strange reason, perhaps because it is plush like velvet but with more texture.

Soprano Gabriella Reyes de Ramirez gazed upward when singing "Stridono lassu" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and we saw the birds through her eyes whilst her voice trilled away with its gorgeous vibrato. The illusion was fostered by Mr. Saunder's piano.

With those three fachs on hand, of course we had to hear the trio from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. Adina gets to relish the enviable position of having Nemorino and Belcore competing for her attention in "Tran, tran, tran, tran". We know how singers love to do drunk scenes and Mr. Schneider did not fail us.

No one will ever replace Hvorostovsky but we have no worries about the next great Verdi baritone. Mr. Timpau was superb as Rodrigo, expressing friendship to Mr. Schneider's Don Carlo, who engaged our ear once more with his gorgeous pianissimo.  ("Work it Gerard!", we thought.) "Dio, che nell'alma infondere" had a great rhythmic thrust with Mr. Saunders producing the thrumming chords in the piano. The vocal harmonies were delicious.

Turandot's aria "Tu che di gel sei cinta" is often screamed out. Not so in Ms. Reyes' portrayal which was as dramatically valid as it was musically effective. The high tessitura and high drama held no terrors for her.

Mr. Timpau wowed us with his well modulated performance of Yeletsky's aria "Ya vas lyublyu" from Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame. Here's the strange part--we only know about a dozen words in Russian but his performance left us feeling that we understood every word, as well as experiencing every feeling!

We do love serenades and Faust's serenade of Marguerite from Gounod's masterpiece was given a sincere and tender performance by Mr. Schneider who once again delighted us with his pianissimo. His French was given lovely pronunciation and phrasing and Mr. Saunders joined in with some lyrical and tender piano.

"La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Don Giovanni was sung by Mr. Timpau, who got into the role of the seducer, and Ms. Reyes who seemed not to have much point of view about Zerlina as to whether she was frightened of the lord of the estate or a willing participant, or ambivalent.  Vocally fine, she just needs to think about what kind of Zerlina she wants to be.

Mr. Schneider had no such deficit in his delivery of "Kuda, kuda", Lenski's aria from Eugene Onegin. The young man is filled with conflicting emotions as he faces death at the hands of his friend. The various colors Mr. Schneider employed, as well as his facial expression and gestures, took us right to the heart of Lenski's maelstrom of feelings.

We do not know Carlisle Floyd's Susannah very well but we've heard lots of sopranos sing "Ain't it a Pretty Night". It will never be among our favorite arias; at times the words feel shoehorned into the music. That didn't stop up from enjoying Ms. Reyes' performance which was filled with youthful longing. Her English diction was flawless and we understood every word, something we don't take for granted. The high note was stunning.

We have never seen Wagner's Tannhaüser but have loved the aria "O du, mein holder Abendstern" since we heard it in a film by the Taviani Brothers. (We thought it was in Padre Padrone but seeking an answer online, we read that it was used in La Notte di San Lorenzo. If any readers know the correct answer, please add it to the comment section.)

In any case, Mr. Timpau sang it in gorgeously rendered German, not to overlook the melismatic passages. We were transported!

The program ended with  "O soave fanciulla" from Puccini's La Bohème, one of the world's great romantic duets, sung by Ms. Reyes and Mr. Schneider, who walked offstage arm in arm.

But wait! There would be three encores which was like a meal with three desserts! Ernesto de Curtis' 1912 "Non ti scordar di me" was given a beautiful performance by Mr. Timpau. Mr. Schneider sang the open-hearted "Dein ist mein ganzes herz" from Franz Lehar's Das Land des Lächelns and he sang it with his finely spun pianissimo which we enjoyed all night.

Finally Ms. Reyes enchanted the entire audience with "Carceleres" from Ruperto Chapí's zarzuela Las Hijas del Zebedeo, sung with high style and lots of sabor. Readers who know how we feel about zarzuela will know why we floated out of Jackie Robinson Park with feet not touching the ground. Good singing will do that to us!

(c) meche kroop

TRIFECTA

Mario Chang, Brandon Cedel and Ying Fang

Regular readers know by now how enthusiastic we are about members of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of The Metropolitan Opera. Three of them presented a dazzling recital last night in the Jackie Robinson Park, making the trek to Harlem a mere...walk in the park.  Our rapt attention was rewarded with a flood of favorites, arias we know and love and of which we never can get enough.  Unfortunately, singing out of doors dictates amplification but the singers did well in compensating for the distortion.  But the superb accompaniment by Bradley Moore was made to sound pretty awful.

Beautiful and glamorous Ying Fang, whose development we have observed all through her years at Juilliard, brought her multiple gifts to several arias and duets.  She evinces a flexible and diamantine coloratura with a fearless upper register, making elaborate embellishments sound like child's play; scale passages, trills and fioritura are tossed off with ease and seeming spontaneity. There is no doubting her musicality and phrasing.  These gifts are accompanied by an abundance of personal charm that audiences respond to with delight and wild applause.  She used her acting skills within the context of each aria or duet to create a believable character--the flirtatious Norina of Donizetti's Don Pasquale, a not so naive Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Handel's heroines, a Gilbert and Sullivan soubrette ("Poor wand'ring one" from The Pirates of Penzance) and an impassioned Maria from Bernstein's West Side Story.  Each wonderful, each different in color.

Barihunk Brandon Cedel (isn't that designation getting over-worked?) has been winning awards left and right and tonight's performance showed us why.  He has a sturdy and sizable bass-baritone that he uses with artistry and to great advantage.  He slipped easily from the humor of Leporello's "Catalogue Aria" into the louche seductiveness of Don Giovanni in "Là ci darem la mano"; he had no problem seducing Zerlina or the audience.  We were all of us ready to "andiam"!  He had low notes to spare for "Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni" from Bellini's La Sonnambula.  His performance of Copland's "Simple Gifts" was exactly that, unaffected and simple--simply moving.

Tenor Mario Chang got better as the evening moved along.  At first he seemed to be pushing his forte in the upper register, causing him to go sharp. The amplification was not kind.  But when he got to Sorozabal's "No puede ser" from La Tabernera del Puerto he sounded like the Mario Chang that we know and love with his warm tenor in firm hand.  He finished the program singing a lovely romantic duet with Ms. Fang, "Tonight" from Bernstein's West Side Story, sending us off into the dusk with happy faces.

© meche kroop