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

HOJOTOHO! HEIAHA!

Scene from Die Walküre--Santa Fe Opera Apprentices-Photo by Ken Howard

Ensemble from Il Viaggio a Reims--photo by Ken Howard

The second and final recital of opera scenes by the Santa Fe Opera Apprentices left nothing to be desired.  The packed house greeted these promising young artists with an avalanche of appreciative applause.  Everyone benefits since the apprentices thrive on onstage experience and profit by learning new roles.  No expense is spared in terms of production values: direction, costumes, staging and accompaniment are all first rate.  The only thing missing is the orchestra.

That was an advantage, not a deficit, in the strong opening number "Ride of the Valkyries" since the young singers were not obliged to shriek over massive orchestral forces. Clad in fabulous steampunk inspired costumes by Kelsey Vidic, the lovely ladies entered through the aisles and terraces (direction by Shawna Lucey) and joined voices for Wagner's thrilling music.  Alexandra Loutsion, Rebecca Witty, Sarah Larsen, Daryl Freedman, Bridgette Gan, Allegra De Vita, Katherine Carroll and Annie Rosen were the glamorous warrior maidens.  Manuel Jacobo and Amanda Clark were responsible for the stunning wigs and makeup design.  WOO!

That was a tough act to follow but soprano Amanda Opuszynski was a lovely Lucia in Donizetti's masterpiece Lucia di Lammermoor, effectively negotiating the scale passages and acting up a storm in the scene with her brother Enrico, beautifully portrayed by baritone Joseph Lim.  The two succeeded in showing various sides of their characters and eliciting our sympathy-- both for the panicky Lucia who does not want to marry her brother's choice and for Enrico who is desperate for this political marriage to save his own hide.

Hearing baritone Ricardo Rivera and mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen animate the characters of Robert and Kitty Oppenheimer in John Adams' Doctor Atomic was a special treat.  We didn't relate at all to the production at the Met and we were surprised and happy to change our opinion.  Sung English is often difficult to understand but their diction was perfect and we didn't miss a word.  Vocally and dramatically the scene was a hit.  Kathleen Clawson directed.

Alone among the eight scenes, the one from Mozart's La finta giardiniera was updated to the mid 20th c. and made no sense at all. What director Michael Shell seemed to be going for was the awkwardness of waking up in bed with a "one-night-stand".  The audience laughed but the libretto could not be believably bent into that situation and was not what Mozart and his librettist intended.  Nonetheless, the singers sounded lovely and did what was asked of them.  Soprano Jenna Siladie was the disdainful hussy Arminda, smoking under a lamppost.  Mezzo Emma Char portrayed the importuning Ramiro.  As the two "hookups" soprano Abigail Mitchell and tenor Rexford Tester did justice to Mozart and had the audience in stitches.

The opening scene of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, directed by Bruce Donnell, took us back to more traditional territory with Rebecca Witty's lovely soprano convincing us as Amelia who believes she is an orphan.  As her lover Gabriele, tenor Daniel Bates was soulful and ardent.  Erin Levy's costumes were appropriate as to time and place.

In the trio from the final act of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, we were impressed by Joshua Conyers' firm baritone and sympathetic portrayal of Sharpless.  Julia Dawson sang Suzuki and Christopher Trapani portrayed the remorseful B. F. Pinkerton.

William Walton's Troilus and Cressida was a strange choice.  This is not an opera we would care to hear in toto but the scene from Act I was well directed by Shawna Lucey who seems to have a knack for placing singers where they ought to be.  Tenor Jubal Joslyn sang the role of Troilus and mezzo Sarah Larsen brought some beautiful tones and fine diction to her portrayal of Cressida.  Tenor Aaron Short made impressive use of word coloring as Pandarus.

The closing scene was the spirited ensemble from Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims. The spoiled aristocrats were devastated that there were no horses for their carriages to attend the coronation of King Charles X.  As is typical of Rossini, the musical excitement grows and grows. We particularly noticed the gorgeous coloratura work of Amy Owens who handled the embellishments perfectly.  The stunning empire costumes were by Lauren Pivirotto and the direction by Kathleen Clawson was charming with one exception; we did not relate to the ensemble breaking into late 20th c. dance moves.  It was jarring and anachronistic.

We would call the evening a total success and hope to see much more of the rising stars selected by the Santa Fe Opera to participate in this fine program.  Bravissimi e Gloria Tutti!

© meche kroop

SPOTLIGHT ON JOSEPH LIM

Joseph Lim

Last night's Spotlight Recital as part of "The Song Continues" featured baritone Joseph Lim who has been making quite a name for himself at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and winning prizes from the Met National Council and the Gerda Lissner Foundation.  And he also won the hearts of the audience when his recital encore was dedicated to Ms. Horne herself--the brothers Gershwin's  1927 "Embraceable You".  This entire week has been a celebration of Ms. Horne's (unbelievable) 80th birthday.  As she herself said on Monday "I'm still here!" and we are glad of it.  After her very major opera career she has used her time, energy and talent to guide the next generation of singers and collaborative pianists at The Music Academy of the West.  A big big hurrah for this grande dame!

Mr. Lim's final set of songs was our personal favorite of the hour-long recital.  Ravel's Don Quichotte à Dulcinée offers the singer an opportunity to portray many moods--the grand and the intimate, the funny and the reverent.  Mr. Lim seized the opportunity and ran with it.  In some mighty fine French, he was undaunted by the low-lying phrases and clearly connected with the material.  We loved the delicate decrescendo on the final "amen" of "Chanson épique" and the humorous "Chanson à boire".

His opening set of songs were by Tosti and it took awhile for the unfussy Mr. Lim to open up his creamy baritone and invest the songs with the expansive Italianate style that is called for.  "Non t'amo piu" sat well on his voice and by expressing its passion he demonstrated that he has the goods.

Just this past Saturday night we reviewed Jazimina MacNeil singing Schumann's Liederkreis, op.39 and were delighted to hear it so soon afterward sung by a baritone to different effect.  Mr. Lim's delivery of "In der Fremde" was very moving and in "Zweilicht" we enjoyed some lovely word coloring that we want to hear more of from this fine young singer.  For example, in "Waldesgespräch" we yearned to hear greater differences between the voice of the seductive man and the voice of the Wood Witch.  In any event, Mr. Lim showed fine volume control and lovely phrasing.

We found his German diction somewhat inconsistent.  He was meticulous about pronouncing the final consonants with a few exceptions.  The "er" ending sounded like an "uh" which is commonly called a "schwa".  And the "ich" (the bane of many American singers as well) was on the muddy side.  These tiny quibbles sound nit-picky in the face of the overall delight of the recital but we would feel remiss in letting slide an easily correctable flaw in so fine an artist.

The esteemed pianist, coach and educator Brian Zeger was the collaborative pianist for the recital and, as usual, his playing was sensitive, authoritative and marvelously relaxed.  There is nothing like experience!

© meche kroop