CAREER BRIDGES GALA

 Career Bridges Grant Winners of 2022

The most gala of all galas was held last night at the Metropolitan Club to celebrate The Career Bridges Grant winners. It was particularly gala since it was the first "gathering of the tribe" since the onset of the Covid epidemic. What a grand pleasure it was to see all the luminaries of the opera world there to celebrate a new generation of young opera singers.

This was the 18th such celebration brought to us by that most glamorous and warmly welcoming couple--David Schuyler Bender and Barbara Meister Bender who co-founded the Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges. For anyone who doesn't know about this worthy foundation, their mission is to help young singers to launch their careers, a mission dear to our heart. They accomplish this goal over a period of three years during which these talented young singers are provided with grants, expert mentoring, training, and performance opportunities. So far, there have been 160 grant winners and over half of them can be considered "launched" whilst 20 are having major careers.  Pretty good results, wouldn't you agree?

Part of the evening comprised awards given to notable luminaries of Planet Opera. The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Maestro Eve Queler whose enviable conducting of the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall introduced us to many young opera singers who went on to major careers and also to rarely performed operas.  We recall climbing endlessly to reach the top balcony of Carnegie Hall, binoculars in hand, to participate in these highly anticipated events.

The Distinguished Achievement Award was given to Jane Shaulis who had a long distinguished career as a character mezzo and whom we know mainly from Opera Index, another group of opera lovers who support young singers with generous cash awards. Under her stewardship, generations of young opera singers have been brought to our notice. We were delighted by her sense of humor which brought wide and knowing smiles to those who understand the roles played by mezzo-sopranos. We do believe there is a rather funny song that describes that and if any of our dear readers can tell us the composer and title we will be forever grateful.

The entertainment part of the evening came as "courses" along with the food (dinner must be served) and we hope to hear each and every one of the award recipients in an environment where we might focus more intently on their artistry. Musical Direction and piano accompaniment was provided by Ted Taylor with impressive versatility--from Baroque  to Broadway. As a matter of fact, the evening began with Handel and ended with Broadway.

Accompanied by the sonorous trumpeting of David Glukh, mezzo-soprano Joanne Evans gave a fine account of "Or la tromba" from Handel's Rinaldo. We noticed and enjoyed the clarity of her fioritura.

Bass Matthew Soibelman delivered "In diesen heil'gen Hallen" from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with consummate authority and depth of resonance at the bottom of his register.

From Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, soprano Kayleigh Riess  performed the Presentation of the Rose with the requisite air of innocence. She floated the high notes in a manner that any tenor would do well to emulate.

Tenor Thomas Cilluffo colored his fine tenor in the gentlest fashion for Duparc's delicate melodie "Phydilé" in magnificent contrast with his later performance of Mime's aria "Zwangvolle Plage" from Wagner's Siegfried. Accompanying himself with clanging sticks to emulate the sound of the forge, he imbued his character with bitterness and frustration.  What a pleasure to witness such versatility!

Baritone Samson McCrady gave an expansive performance of Figaro's aria from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. We enjoyed his facility with the rapid patter and his leaps into falsetto for humorous effect. Later we would hear him close the program with "The Impossible Dream" from Leigh's Man of La Mancha, joined by the rest of the singers as chorus.

Countertenor Key'mon Murrah utilized a finely wrought vibrato in his performance of "Ah! quel giorno ognor rammento" from Rossini's Semiramide.  Not everyone loves this fach but we surely do!

Mezzo-soprano Lisa Rogali has a true mezzo sound that was just right for Rosina's aria "Una voce poco fa" from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. We heard some more than usually interesting embellishments of the vocal line,  all successfully negotiated.

Mezzo Mary Beth Nelson gave a heartfelt performance of "Sein wir wieder gut!" from Strauss' Ariadne auk Naxos, reminding us that opera is a "heilige Kunst".  We enjoyed the expansiveness at the top of her register.

Mezzo Mala Weissberg gave a lighthearted reading of "Nobles seigneurs, salut!" from Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. Her fine French was particularly lyrical.

From Bellini's I Puritani soprano Kungeun Lee  performed "Qui la voce sua soave...vien diletto". We enjoyed the long phrases, the skips, and a well executed portamento.

No evening is complete without the "Flower Duet" from Delibes' Lakme. Ms. Reiss and Ms. Weissberg performed it in perfect hermony, to our delight.

We don't often hear Wagner in recitals like this so it was a special treat to have 2005 Winner John Dominick III perform Wotan's aria from Das Reingold.  "Abendlich" would have us believe that things would go well for the gods, LOL.  We take it, judging by Mr. Dominick's performance that things are going well for him!

It was a completely satisfying evening and we look forward to the success of this year's award winners

© meche kroop

ELISABETH STOODETH BY HER MAN

Apotheosis Opera--cast of Tannhäuser (photo by Abel Sandman)

In spite of the death of New York City Opera and the slow decline of The Metropolitan Opera, we are not concerned about the future of opera in New York. The slack is being picked up by small adventuresome opera companies led by the next generation of impresarios producing operas with roles taken by gifted young artists. Over time, new forms will evolve that will suit the next generation of opera goers.

There is a highly promising young conductor at the helm of the newly formed Apotheosis Opera, yet a student in the Master of Music Program in Orchestral Conducting at Mannes College the New School for Music. His name is Matthew Jenkins Jaroszewicz and you will be hearing more about him without a doubt.

With a great deal of help, he managed to stage Wagner's mythic/spiritual opera Tannhäuser and to lead his orchestra through their paces with all the grandeur and sensitivity required by the composer. The overture opens with a brass chorale, joined by the lower strings and swelling to the skies with the entry of the upper strings. Such attention to dynamics and balance were well handled for the duration of the opera.

But....big but....Mr. Jaroszewicz took it upon himself to do the staging and there were some lapses that might have been avoided had he shared the duties. Perhaps choreographer Maayan Voss de Bettancourt must share the responsibility for these lapses of judgment.

 In the opening scene while Tannhäuser and Venus are sharing an intimate moment in the Venusberg, Bacchantes are performing (simulated) lewd acts. In our opinion, followers of the Goddess of Love do not need to demonstrate licentiousness. We do not consider ourself to be a prude but we do not want to watch intercourse  (anal or otherwise) onstage any more than we appreciated Scarpia appearing to be fellated onstage at the Met's current iteration of Tosca. Indeed, the chorus appeared as uncomfortable as the audience. Shocking people is a meretricious choice at the opera. 

Also, there were some silly moments when, in Act II, Elisabeth and our eponymous hero are reunited. They do a few twirly quasi-ballroom dance steps that resulted in much tittering among the audience members. A good director might have reined in these two most obvious lapses of judgment.

A greater lapse was the decision to perform Wagner's masterpiece in English. Wagner was so invested in the text that he wrote the libretto himself. Each phrase rises and falls in rhythm with the music--a perfect partnership. The German language is special in its sentence structure with the verbs occurring at the end. Even the best translator could not form a translation to work with the vocal line. 

But the English translation used here, by Natalia MacFarran, was deplorable, appearing to come out of the King James Version of the Bible. It never roseth but continually falleth. It was almost as unreadable as it was unsingable. We ask, why torture the singers with mouthfuls of unsingable syllables when you are providing titles?  How much better to have performed the work in its original German with some easy to read titles!

That being said, we credit the singers for their fine diction. Each one rose to the challenge and were almost always understandable. Tenor Nicholas Simpson was a full-throated hero who carried the role from beginning to end without strain. As the devout Elisabeth, soprano Amber Smoke made a fine vocal showing, hampered only by a most unbecoming contemporary dress and pumps. Mezzo-soprano Jodi Karem inhabited her role with seductive tone and movements. Her costume was very appropriate.

As Elisabeth's uncle Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia, bass John Dominick III held the stage with commanding authority. We could definitely see him as a fine Sarastro.

Wolfram von Eschenbach was sung by Jacob Lassetter and we were most disappointed in the last act by his "O du mein holder abendstern"; we believe the English translation was partly to blame and we would be happy to re-evaluate his performance in the future if he sings it in German.

As Walther von der Vogelweide, tenor Walker J. Jackson demonstrated a fine sweet tone and also created a character with a touch of humor that distinguished him from the other nobles. Bass Hans Tashjian sang the role of Biterolf (the combative noble who attacks the hero) while Joseph Beckwith sang the part of Reinmar von Zweter and Ethan Fran took the part of Heinrich der Schreiber.

Soprano Ginny Weant, a graduate student at Mannes, did a fine job as a young shepherd. The chorus was excellent as well. They overdid their shocked reaction to Tannhäuser's praise of Venus, but that was not as egregious as the directorial choices mentioned earlier.

Set design by Galen Kirkpatrick and Celine Schmidt was minimalist but the uncredited lighting design was most effective in demonstrating changes of mood by altering the color wash on the rear backdrop. Costume Design by Ned Christensen and Eliyana Abraham was likewise minimalist with mere hints of the medieval brought to street attire. None of this was distressing and could have worked well if the language and titles had not been so distracting.

We feel ourself to be in an awkward place because the stated goal of this company is to present operas in English. We are in strong disagreement with this goal, one that has been discredited since the advent of titles. As far as we know, only the Opera Theater of St. Louis (thank you Spencer Viator) and the English National Opera hews to this outmoded line. But the English pronounce "Beauchamp" as "beechum" and pronounce "pasta" in a way we wouldn't even recognize. So, there's that!

We wish to hear what the composer and librettist intended, not a bastardization of it. There are plenty of operas written in English one might present without trashing those written in other languages.

So...we wish Mr. Jaroszewicz the best of luck with his promising conducting career while hoping he will reconsider the mission of his company and also consider working with a skilled director.

In closing we just wanted to give some props to the uncredited harpist who accompanied all the songs and to the fine oboist (Beatriz Ramirez-Belt) whose solo we loved.

(c) meche kroop