AND THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST

 "Daphne" by Alexandra Dikeakos (from the collection of meche kroop)

Richard Strauss composed an epilogue to his opera Daphne in 1943, over 6 years after he composed the opera. Last night at Carnegie Hall, the choral work was performed before the opera. Under the effective direction of James Bagwell, The Bard Festival Chorus delivered the a cappella work entitled An den Baum Daphne in the best possible fashion; lush melodies were woven together into a dense texture with luminous harmonies that delighted the ear as Joseph Gregor's text paid tribute to the transfigured Daphne, now a tree. 

We wish we had enjoyed the opera as much. It was a poor decision to present the opera in Carnegie Hall with the singers onstage in front of the orchestra. With some exceptions which we will get to, the singers struggled to be heard above the massive forces of Strauss' orchestra. Most of them failed to be heard. Maestro Leon Botstein, a formidable scholar and lecturer, did not manage to achieve balance between orchestra and singers.

The most important exception was soprano Jana McIntyre in the title role; her highly focused instrument sailed right over the orchestra  and managed to impress us with its clarion tone and meaningful colors. We have been a fan of Ms. McIntyre since we first heard her as a student at Manhattan School of Music in 2015, dazzling us with her Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. We heard her twice as a George London finalist, showing off her long lines in Bellini's  I Puritani and then as Amina in his La Sonnambula. We heard her as an apprentice of the Santa Fe Opera as Lucia. The first time we heard her sing Strauss was as Zdenka in Arabella. Most recently we heard her as Ännchen in Heartbeat Opera's Der Freischutz.

Our greatest joy is in watching young opera singers grow and achieve their promise. Tenor Aaron Blake has a similarly lengthy history with us.  The George London Foundation honored him a few years after his competition win with a recital of his own. We heard him sing Edgardo's final lament with New Amsterdam Opera. We heard him at Metropolitan Opera concerts as Lensky, Don Ottavio, and Nemorino. We were there when he introduced us to Gregory 

Spears' Fellow Traveler, and Donizetti's Parisini d'Este. But what we remember best was the most impactful delivery of Schubert's "Erlkönig" that we ever heard. Last night he was mostly audible as the shepherd Leukippos and we were sorry when Apollo killed him off.

Mezzo-soprano Ronnita Miller sang the role of Gaea, Daphne's mother, and impressed us with her low notes. We thought of her as a contralto and imagined her singing Erda in Wagner's Ring Cycle.

Beyond that, we didn't hear much vocally, certainly not enough to assess the gifts of the other singers. The usually fine heldentenor Kyle van Schoonhoven pushed to be heard over the orchestra and sounded "woofy". The shepherds could not be heard at all. The two maidens, performed by Marlen Nahhas and Ashley Dixon harmonized beautifully when they could be heard. Mostly we just felt sorry for the singers to have been put in such a position.

What we did enjoy was Strauss' colorful and dense orchestration. There was actually an alphorn played by the Assistant Chair of the Horn Division. As a matter of fact, the winds were so compelling that we wound up looking for information on the difference between a bass clarinet and a basset horn, two members of the clarinet family with deep mellow sounds. 

The orchestra got most of our attention when Ms. McIntrye wasn't floating her gorgeous tones over the dense sounds. Strauss' writing leans toward the programmatic and, although we couldn't hear the words and did not want to read along with the libretto, we found that the orchestration did a fine job of telling the story of a pure nature-loving young woman who rejects the call of romantic love and gets transformed into a tree by a guilty Apollo who has slain her friend and would-be lover Leukippos. Indeed, we heard a brass chorale as the father Peneios (Stefan Egerstrom) spoke of the gods on Olympus. The color of the orchestra exceeded those of the rainbow creating images of nature and moods of reverence. 

We suppose we should be grateful for the opportunity to hear a rarely performed work, even in concert version. However, we might just as well have stayed at home and listened to a CD.

© meche kroop

EVERYONE WINS AT THE GEORGE LONDON FINALS

George London Foundation Awards Competition Finals

Yesterday the George London Foundation Awards Competition Finals were held at the Morgan Library. What we like best about this competition is that the members of the audience get to mingle with the finalists whilst the judges are conferring; we get to share their excitement and to find out what is happening in their burgeoning careers. We also love the idea that every one of the finalists gets recognition and a cash award. These young artists are all winners! We are glad not to be one of the judges; we could never pick some over the others.

If you, dear reader, must know who got the big money, we refer you to the Foundation website. As is our wont, we would like to share our experience of this exciting event without dwelling upon who got the major money. The fact is that every one of the sixteen finalists impressed us with an outstanding performance.

One aspect delighted us no end--the profusion of tenors--all of them different from one another and all superb. Beginning with the "lightest" of the voices, we loved Matthew Swenson's sweet serenade "Ecco ridente in cielo" from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He was ardent and had all the flexibility we would wish for in the fioritura.

Charles Sy gave a dramatically valid interpretation of "Ich baue ganz", Belmonte's third act aria from Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, which we rarely get to hear outside of an operatic performance. He spun out his tone like a fine silk thread and was outstanding in the embellishments.

L'Africaine, Meyerbeer's grand opera of 1865--his last--is unknown to us; after hearing Matthew White's persuasive performance of Vasco da Gama's aria "O paradis", we decided we would love to see/hear this opera in toto. Mr. White used his entire body to convey the wonders of the island. His pleasing tone was marked by a soaring upper register and his French was quite lovely.

Totally different was Joseph Tancredi's warm sound in German. "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" from Franz Lehár's Das Land des Lächelns which he performed with great depth of feeling and no strain whatsoever. We admired his superb German diction.

The last tenor we heard was Kyle van Schoonhoven whom we have heard many times; we remember him best for his performance of Peter Grimes' mad scene. We were happy to hear him flex his Wagnerian muscles in "Mein lieber Schwan" from Lohengrin. His powerful instrument is that of a heldentenor and we could understand every word of his German. A fine performance it was!

Speaking of Wagner, it is time to heap accolades on the sopranos. Rebecca Pedersen bowled us over with her "Dich teure Halle" from Tannhäuser. Her large and generous sound accommodated all the vowels with crisp consonants making every word clear.

Sarah Joyce Cooper used her coloratura effectively to limn Violetta's crisis of ambivalence in "E strano...Sempre libera" from Verdi's La Traviata, perhaps our very favorite opera.

Shannon Jennings revealed a facility for verismo in "Stridono Lassù" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. Elizabeth Reiter's satisfactory performance of "No word from Tom", from Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, would have been improved by crisper English diction and some better piano accompaniment.

Olivia Smith's performance of "Deh vieni non tardar" from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro showed a lot of promise and maturity beyond her tender years. At 18, she was the youngest competitor. We'd love to see her develop this aria in the direction of teasing the eavesdropping Figaro with a bit of exaggeration.

Moving on to those marvelous mezzos, Samantha Gossard's rich sound was just right for "Connais-tu le pays" from Jules Massenet's rarely heard opera Mignon. We are familiar with the Goethe bildungsroman and with the many settings of the Mignon songs but would still love to hear the entire opera. Ms. Gossard's French was lovely and she exhibited plenty of punch in the lower register.

Amanda Lynn Bottoms' instrument is marked by an appealing vibrato and she uses this instrument with artistry, particularly with regard to dynamic variety. Her acting was likewise impressive in the heartbreaking "Charlotte's Letter Scene" from Massenet's Werther. Ms. Bottoms is no slouch when it comes to acting! It was a most convincing performance.

Polixeni Tsiouvaras gave a lovely performance of "Se Romeo t'uccise un figlio" from Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, another opera which is rarely performed, the plot of which is quite a departure from that of Shakespeare's play. In this aria Romeo offers himself to the Capulets as a substitute son for the one he killed! Ms. Tsiouvaras has a true mezzo texture and has her instrument under perfect control.

Carolyn Sproule also evinced a unique sound and sang Bellini's "Deh! Proteggimi o Dio", Adalgisa's Act I prayer; she sang it with fine technique and great depth of feeling.

Strangely, there were no baritones this year but we heard two low male voices. Bass-baritone Vartan Gabrielian, whom we best remember as Sparafucile at Santa Fe Opera, showed new expansion in his lower register in another aria unknown to us. 

The best part of hearing an aria for the first time is anticipating the pleasure you might find in the entire opera; in this case, having read the libretto, we are not so sure! Perhaps it has been shelved for good reason. In any event,  Mr. Gabrielian gave a measured but forceful performance of the intense "Quand la flamme de l'amour" from Bizet's La jolie fille de Perth.

Finally, we heard Mefistofele's "Vous qui faites l'endormie", known as the "laughing song" from Charles Gounod's Faust, sung by bass Ron Dukes who has a dark covered sound and needs a bit more Gallic line.

The one disappointment of the afternoon was the piano accompaniment. We decline to name the guilty party but his playing was ham-handed and often threatened to drown out the singers. There seemed to be a lack of sensitivity to the score and, worse, a lack of sensitivity to the singers who deserved better.

Fortunately, that did not spoil the pleasure of hearing 16 fine young artists.

(c) meche kroop

RETURN OF TWO WINNERS

Craig Rutenberg, Kyle van Schoonhoven, and Heidi Melton

Among many other reasons, we love the George London Foundation because we get to hear competition winners a few years after they win; we love witnessing artistic growth. We first became aware of tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven in 2014 when Daniel Cardona put him onstage as Lt. Pinkerton in a recital of Puccini arias by the Martha Cardona Opera Theater. His sizable instrument made a sizable impression on us.  We were thinking "Wagner". He has proven us right.

Several times we heard him sing the mad scene from Britten's Peter Grimes and grew to enjoy that disturbing aria more and more. It was that performance that led to a breakout 2017 with awards not only from the George London Foundation but also the Metropolitan Opera National Council. We were overjoyed to learn that he would be singing Wagner at the recital yesterday at the Morgan Library.

Dramatic soprano Heidi Melton won her London award in 2009, before we began writing. But we did review her superb performance 3 years ago at the Schimmel Center when she dazzled us with her huge resonant sound, highly dramatic interpretations, and crisp English diction. Apparently Planet Opera has recognized her Wagnerian gifts and is keeping her busy.

That 2015 recital included Debussy's Trois Chansons de Bilitis which Ms. Melton reprised yesterday. She employed a fine vibrato that added shimmer to the sound and gave us some fine French, every word of which was comprehensible. This work requires the singer to provide three different colorations to the three songs. Ms. Melton nailed them all--the adolescent innocence and sexual awakening in "La flûte de Pan", the ripe sensuality of "La Chevelure", and the sad disillusionment of love grown cold in "Le tombeau des Naïades". She even captured the negativity and indifference of the male voice.  The contributions of collaborative pianist Craig Rutenberg added to the classical imagery.

"Isolde's Narrative and Curse" from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde was so exceptional that we reached a new level of understanding of this opera, an understanding that we did not achieve in the latest iteration at the Metropolitan Opera. First of all, there was an acoustic and linguistic clarity that was abetted by completely convincing dramatic intent and liberal employment of gesture and facial expression.

This lengthy scene requires Isolde to go through a wide range of emotions from the tender memories of nursing Tristan to rage at the injustice she is suffering, compounded by the shame of falling prey to her enemy. The performance was nothing short of riveting.

Mr. van Schoonhoven's performance was no less satisfying. He opened the afternoon with some 20th c. songs in English; that we actually enjoyed them says a lot since that is not our favorite language nor our favorite period. Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Silent Noon" was delivered with ringing tones, excellent diction, and a centered stage presence. We liked the delicacy of Mr. Rutenberg's accompaniment and Mr. Schoonhoven's equally delicate messa di voce.

That Britten set the folk song "O Waly Waly" with the same reverence he applied to W.B. Yeat's text "The Salley Gardens" reminded us of Brahms. The melodies are simple but the piano score interesting. The brief "Love Went a-Riding" by Frank Bridges benefitted from Mary Coleridge's verse which rhymed and scanned.

We never much cared for the text Wagner wrote for "Rienzi's Prayer" but the music is gorgeous and Mr. Schoonhoven applied his huge sound and a variety of dynamics to lend interest to the work. We far preferred "Mein lieber Schwan!" from Lohengrin, as the knight makes his farewell.  There we have a fortunate marriage of text and music; Mr. Schoonhoven made the most of it.

By the time these three outsized artists completed the "Bridal Chamber Scene" from Lohengrin, we had decided that this opera goes on our wish list. We have never seen it but we believe we have heard the best of it in this performance! The scene begins with warm and tender feelings on both sides until Elsa tries to get Lohengrin to identify himself.  Her suspicions have been aroused by the evil and manipulative Ortrud. The knight tries to evade her importuning but fails. We believed every dramatic moment.

After such a recital, an encore would not have been necessary but the audience demanded one and the artists generously complied with a romantic duet from Franz Lehar's operetta Der Zarewitsch in which the voices rose in sweet harmony.

It was quite an afternoon and we believe the air in the theater is still vibrating from those astonishing overtones. Mr. Rutenberg paid a well deserved tribute to our dear Nora London whose foundation has launched so many operatic careers. How happy we are that the recipients of awards return to perform. That is also a tribute!

(c) meche kroop

MET NATIONAL COUNCIL FINALS

2017 Finalists in Met National Council Competition (photo by Fay Fox)

In our eyes and to our ears, these are all winners. Several of them have been followed by us for some time and garnered our appreciation for their growth as artists. Others were new to us at the Semi-Finals.  Of course readers can readily learn which six of the nine semi-finalists the judges chose, but you won't learn that here. Our aim is to share our experience of the actual performances and that is exactly what we will do. Frankly, it felt quite uncomfortable to call six out of nine "winners". The other three are anything but "losers". Some of the nine artists are fully stage-ready.

We have heard tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven perform Peter Grimes' "Mad Scene" from the Britten opera at least twice before we heard it today but this was the first time we heard it with full orchestra. It was disturbing in a very good way; we felt such sympathy for the character's distress; this was a man pushed to the limits.  It was a shattering performance. Mr. van Schoonhoven also performed Rienzi's prayer from the Wagner opera and we could see some Siegfried in his future.

Another artist who is complete in his stage-worthiness is countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, whom we have heard on a couple occasions. His penetrating sound falls nicely on the ear and his dramatic interpretation of the lost refugee from Jonathan Dove's Flight  was chilling and also disturbing. It is significant that these two young singers made such an impression on us, since we have never had much interest in English language opera. It reminds us of a great chef who can cook a dish you usually won't eat and you wind up loving it!  Mr. Cohen's other selection was from Handel's Rodelinda and his plangent quality was enhanced by an affecting messa di voce and some stunning embellishments in the ritornello.

Mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey has a very centered stage presence that allows her beautiful voice to reach out unencumbered by flashy theatrics. She controlled the dynamics and the dramatics equally well in "Parto, parto" from Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito. She built the aria from a quiet place and let loose with a stunning crescendo on "Guardami, guardami".  Her perfect technique carried through in her performance of "Da chas nastal" from Tchaikovsky's Maid of Orleans, making us put this opera on our wish list. She brought this aria to a fiery climax.

Ms. Hankey will be singing this Thursday at the Juilliard Vocal Arts recital along with bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum who impressed us yesterday with his ability to create compelling characters. He was a fine Figaro, ready to match wits with the Count Almaviva in "Se vuol ballare" from the Mozart opera Nozze di Figaro; he exhibited devilish glee in "Vous qui faites l'endormie" from Gounod's Faust. Along with his superb vocal gift, Mr. Quattlebaum's command of the stage and dramatic ability have always impressed us, and we are looking forward to Thursday's recital which you will surely read about here.

Soprano Vanessa Vasquez always turns in a meaningful performance and lets us see the world through her character's eyes. With beautiful tone, she disappeared into Cio-Cio San, wishfully seeing Pinkerton's ship pulling into the harbor in "Un bel di" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Her scene from Act I of Verdi's La Traviata was so intense that the audience erupted into applause prematurely. She was unperturbed and shone in the cabaletta.

Soprano Kirsten MacKinnon gave an emotional performance of "Otchego eto prezhde ne znala" ("Why haven't I known this before") from Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, an aria which we have only heard once--onstage at the Met. She sang with lovely tone and a keen control of dynamics. Her second aria was "Ah, je ris de me voir" from Faust and generated considerable excitement, both vocally and dramatically.

Gabriella Reyes de Ramirez performed "Il est doux, il est bon" from Massenet's Herodiade. Her splendid soprano instrument has a fine vibrato and we heard some gorgeous notes at the top of the register. The second aria she chose is not well known but we were fortunate enough to have heard New York City Opera's production of Daniel Catan's compelling opera Florencia en el Amazonas. We thought she did justice (and then some) to "Cristobal, Es esta luz la muerte?"

Soprano Natalie Image has a voice much larger than her petite frame would suggest. She exhibited a nicely focused sound and a winning flirtatious personality in the Snow Maiden's Aria from the Rimsky-Korsakov opera--another opera that is unknown to us but which is also going on our wish list. Ms. Image has the talent for getting a song across, as she also did in her other selection "O luce di quest'anima" from Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix with its dazzling coloratura. We always enjoy a good trill!

Tenor Richard Smagur performed two selections in French with a solid technique. We heard "La fleur que tu m'avais jetee" from Bizet's Carmen and "Pourquoi me reveiller" from Massenet's Werther, which we just heard at the Met with Isabel Leonard and Vittorio Grigolo. Mr. Smagur is like a finely cut gem that needs some polishing to reveal its beauty. The polishing we hope he receives consists of loosening up physically so that his body goes along with the wonderful feeling in his voice.  We want convincing characterizations on the opera stage.

The nine gifted singers we heard were culled from 1200 applicants in 42 cities around the USA, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Gracious and gorgeous superstar Renee Fleming was hostess for the evening and paid tribute to all the volunteers who donate time and funding to make the Met National Council Auditions happen. They surely deserve the credit and the nine finalists who climbed the ladder of selection are destined for fine careers. We wish them all well. The average audience member never realizes just how hard these young artists work to achieve these dizzying heights.

While waiting for the judges to make their decision, we were treated to performances by three winners from ten years ago. Tenor Michael Fabiano sang "Oh! fede negar potesssi...Quando le sere al placido", Rodolfo's lament from Verdi's Luisa Miller.

Soprano Amber Wagner, who will perform a recital at the Morgan Library next Sunday under the auspices of the George London Foundation, sang "Es gibt ein Reich". Her generous instrument seems made for Strauss and we hope we will get more of it next week.

Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is simply a force of nature and her unique and powerful instrument always astonishes us. She sounds like no one else; we hope it is not sacrilege to say that we think of a chocolate stout filling our mouth and dizzying our head. She performed an intoxicating version of "Acerba volutta, dolce tortura", sung in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur by the jealous Princess de Bouillon. WOW!

What an incredible afternoon, thanks to the Metropolitan National Council! Let us also credit Nicola Luisotti for his superb conducting.

(c)

2017 GEORGE LONDON FOUNDATION AWARDS COMPETITION FINALS

Nora London and 2017 Award Recipients

Award recitals are such fun.  We get to see and hear the young singers we know and love; we get to witness the fruits of their long years of study; we get to participate in honoring them.  All award recitals are fun but the George London Foundation Awards Recital offers something special. The judging takes place at the end of the competition whilst we wait outside the hall at the Morgan Library and Museum. The finalists are there with us so we have the opportunity to speak with them about their selections, their preparations, their anxiety (or lack of), their training, even their gowns.

What a generous history has the George London Foundation!  And an even greater present since the ante was upped this year. $75,000 in prizes was awarded to the 18 singers. Every single finalist received an award. In our eyes as well, they were all winners. About half of them are known to us from prior recitals and competitions and the other half will, we hope, perform in New York City so that we can hear them again.

We have written every year about the foundation and the role of Nora London in perpetuating the memory of her husband, the famous George London. What better way to honor someone than to pass the torch.

As is our wont, we will not tell you the size of anyone's award, information you can find on the Foundation's website. We are more interested in the quality of the performance. Often, we agreed with the decisions of the judges; when we did not, we are prepared to admit that they recognized a quality or a promise that we missed. 

We surely agreed with them about soprano Michelle Bradley who gave an electrifying performance of "D'amor sull ali rosee" from Verdi's Il Trovatore. Here is a true Verdian voice with an expansive top and plenty of strength in the lower register. We loved the variety of color and dynamics and the lavish expressiveness.

Bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum impressed us with the devilish demeanor with which he invested Mefistofele in "Vous qui faites l'endormie" from Gounod's Faust.  The lovely French lines were punctuated with mocking laughter. Sympathy for the Devil indeed!

Aaron Blake's sweet tenor drew us into Edgardo's suffering in "Tombe degli avi miei" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. The resonance was just right for the character and the portrayal was more than usually affecting. We felt his pain.

Some of the choices of arias seemed a bit strange to us but, as we learned, the judges selected from the artists' lists the one they wanted to hear. We observed an emphasis on 20th c. works, some of which we had never heard, some of which we had heard and disliked, and one which we actually had enjoyed at Juilliard. In any case, one can love the singer and not love the song!

For example, baritone Shea Owens did a beautiful job with "Batter my Heart" from John Adams' Doctor Atomic. We truly loathed the opera BUT Mr. Owens made the aria meaningful and intense. Happily he made every word count.

Another example--we don't think we could sit through hours of Alban Berg, but Lara Secord-Haid gave a stunning and expressive performance of "Lied der Lulu" with its jagged vocal lines. Her German was enviable and crisp.

A couple works by Benjamin Britten put in an appearance. A most convincing performance of the "Mad Scene" from Peter Grimes was given by tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven. There aren't too many mad scenes for men in the operatic canon; this one is a doozy. We believed every word of it. Although it is more difficult to evaluate someone's voice in a piece like this, the artist was totally immersed in the dramatic intent. 

"I know a bank" from Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream was performed by countertenor Daniel Moody, who made the aria live with some superb acting, word coloration, and apt dynamic variation. He succeeded in creating an otherworldly character.

We do love countertenors and there were two of them. Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen performed "Dawn, still darkness" from Jonathan Dove's Flight. Having seen the opera recently at Juilliard (and enjoyed it) we were able to put the work in context and understand why the character was feeling such pain--pain that Mr. Cohen conveyed successfully.

Baritone Brian Vu sang Onegin's response to Tatiana's letter and he sang it in excellent Russian, an opinion we got from our Russian speaking companion. His voice has a lovely quality and he employed gentler colors than customary to create a kinder more avuncular Onegin, an interpretation with which we are comfortable. We never think of Onegin as a heel, but rather as a Dutch Uncle. Tchaikovsky surely gave him some wonderful music to sing.

More Russian was on hand from Rimsky-Korsakov. Baritone Will Liverman has a substantial sound that seemed just right for "Grigory's Aria" from The Tsar's Bride.

We were even treated to some Wagner as tenor Errin Duane Brooks sang "Siegmund heiss ich" from our favorite part of The Ring Cycle when Siegmund pulls his father's sword out of the ash tree in Hunding's hut. This always gives us goosebumps.

A tenor of a different type, Jonas Hacker sang "Salut demeure chaste et pure" from Faust--and he sang it in excellent French with a nice easy delivery. It was great to hear someone sing it without any straining.

We witnessed a high quality of singing in several women. Andrea Nunez generated a lot of coloratura excitement in "No, no, I'll take no less" from Handel's Semele. Her upper range was so scintillating we kept thinking "Queen of the Night".

Soprano Danielle Beckvermit sang "Depuis le jour" from Charpentier's Louise. We liked her French and the attractive resonance of her voice which has a nice bloom in the upper register.

Mezzo-soprano Megan Marino sang "Connais-tu le pays" from Ambroise Thomas' Mignon, another iteration of Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. I liked the pronounced vibrato which lent additional sympathy to a sympathetic character.

Soprano Lauren Margison sang one of our favorite Mozart arias--"Porgi amor" from Le nozze di Figaro. This one is a real heartbreaker!

Mezzo-soprano Carolyn Sproule invested Charlotte's "Air des lettres" from Massenet's Werther with a great deal of emotional power.  Her French was quite good.

Good English is even more difficult to find but mezzo-soprano Evanna Lai made every word understandable in "Things change Jo" from Mark Adamo's Little Women. It was a persuasive and lovely performance.

We heard 18 singers in two hours and enjoyed them all. We hope that the awards will further their careers so we can hear more of them.

(c) meche kroop

WALL STREET GREED! POLITICAL CORRUPTION! RACISM!

Cast of Bonfire of the Vanities....(Photo credit- Lucas Syed)

Let us begin by saying that we had a helluva good time at Bonfire of the Vanities, a contemporary opera based on Tom Wolfe's 1987 page-turner about Wall Street dishonesty and greed, political opportunism and corruption, and the prevalent racism. Has anything changed in 3 decades? The fact that very little about the story needed to be changed seems to answer the question.

Readers may be astonished that we found so much to like in a contemporary opera sung in English. We don't even need all the fingers of one hand to enumerate the contemporary operas that we enjoyed.  Mostly, we are sitting there gritting our teeth and wishing to escape. So let's take a closer look at the grounds for success. 

First and foremost is Stefania De Kenessey's eclectic music. There is not a whiff of academia about it; it is clearly written to appeal to contemporary musical tastes of the public, not to critics; it is totally accessible and melodic.  One can't help recalling that the titans of the golden age of opera wrote for the PEOPLE and addressed contemporary concerns, whether they were obliged to disguise the theme or not.

The 18-piece chamber orchestra played well under the baton of the excellent Daniela Candillari who successfully captured the mood of the scene, whether serious or funny. There is nothing inherently funny about the themes of the opera but there is usefulness in humor. Art holds a mirror up to society and it is easier to accept what we see when we are able to laugh at ourselves.

So, leavened with some funny lines and absurd situations we are able to laugh at greedy hucksters designing bond issues in which people borrow from themselves (we can't claim to have understood the finance logic), mothers singing lullabies to their children on their iPad's while shopping for luxury goods, rich white folk fawning over and throwing money at black hucksters pleading the cause of philanthropy, furious landlords recording tenants who are abusing rent control, frustrated lawyers looking for guilty white folks to skewer, and alcoholic reporters ready to distort the truth to succeed in tabloid journalism.

Indeed, in the entire story, there is only one honorable character--the one who cannot be found in Mr. Wolfe's book--Tamara Kilmore, an Afro-American attorney who defends the hero Sherman McCoy because SHE BELIEVES HE IS INNOCENT. As sung by the terrific Adrienne Danrich, she is the one character who steps out of our preconceived notions and acts like a fully realized human being.

Randal Turner does an excellent job of portraying the (anti)hero and even evokes sympathy for a man who must lose everything to find his soul. Like so many wealthy people he is unable to really see those outside of his race and class. He has never developed empathy. He just wants to be Master of the Universe. How ironic that he lives on credit and has no money! People who work and save are, in his eyes, objects of contempt.

As his wife Judy, Ann-Carolyn Bird is believable. Will she or won't she stand by her douchebag of a cheating husband??

We particularly enjoyed the characterization of Arthur Ruskin. Benjamin Bloomfield did a superlative job and we were sorry that he was killed off in the first act. In the book he lasted longer, but that was just one of a few alterations of the plot made when the book was adapted as an opera.

As his floozy wife Maria who had sex with anyone and everyone who could serve her interest, we heard Ying Jie Zhou, who was pretty and sexy but whose voice was a bit on the weak side and whose acting was riddled with cliché. The role might have been better cast.

As the cynical Assistant District Attorney who wants to advance his career by nailing a guilty white male, Glenn Seven Allen turned in a superlative performance. We loved his duet with Ms. Danrich. Another excellent characterization was that of Kyle Van Schoonhoven as the alcoholic tabloid journalist Peter Fallow. 

As the hospitalized youth Henry Lamb (sacrificial lamb?) whose injury sparked the racial conflagration, Aaron J. Casey gave a fine performance.  We liked him best in his soliloquy which became a moving ensemble piece.

Kevin Maynor's Reverend Bacon, a characterization that was probably meant to represent Al Sharpton., had no problem bilking the Rich White Folk or the two pastors (Matthew Tuell and Brett Mutter) who gave him money to establish a day care center for Poor Black Kids. He was masterful at pushing the racial guilt buttons. 

Matthew Tuell reappeared heavily disguised as the landlord Kovitzky who garnered a lot of laughs.

What about the libretto? Michael Bergmann, who also directed, wrote short punchy lines that did well in terms of colloquiality and in terms of working with the music. We have observed that ponderous texts in the English language yield incomprehensible music but in this case the short rhyming lines, bordering on doggerel (NOT meant as criticism!) worked extraordinarily well.

Video projections by Doug Underdahl succeeded in creating a New York City atmosphere. Costumes by Christina Hribar were perfect for Reverend Bacon and for the ghetto kids. For the "social X-rays" at the cocktail party and the Wall Street hustlers, they seemed only approximate. Hair and makeup by Ron Wolek were particularly effective for Mr. Bloomfield and Mr.Tuell.

Having updated the work by 30 years, iPads and cell phones could be introduced without detriment and nothing was lost. 

The 3 1/2 hours (including two intermissions) flew by without a single longueur. This is what contemporary opera should be--and that's entertainment! It doesn't matter whether you call it opera or American musical theater. The voices were almost all good and they were unamplified.  And that's more than enough for our satisfaction.

Finally, let us add that the theater at El Museo del Barrio is the perfect size for this type of work, and that the acoustics were fine. In addition to clearly enunciated English (much easier because of the way the language was employed) the excellent titles were useful in case one missed a word here and there.

(c) meche kroop

BIG, BIGGER AND BIGGEST VOICES

Samantha Guevrekian, Zhanna Alkhazova, Kelly Griffin and Kristen Choi

Daniel Cardona, Founder and Artistic Director of The Martha Cardona Theater has a knack for finding gifted young singers who can handle the heavier repertoire.  Last night we enjoyed hearing a group of talented artists with big voices which literally begged for a large hall.  Although accompanied by "only" a piano we could imagine their voices soaring above or tearing right through a large orchestra.  Musical Director Keith Chambers brought out things in his piano reduction that sometimes pass us by when played by a full orchestra.

Only one of the singers was known to us.  Russian-American soprano Zhanna Alkhazova is a veritable force of nature, like a hurricane; never losing her firm grasp on solid technique, she invests each aria with the passion we want to hear at the opera.  We have heard her as Donna Elvira (review can be found by entering her name in the search bar) and was happy to learn that her French in Jules Massenet's "Il est doux, il est bon" from Hérodiade was just as fine as her Italian in "D'Oreste, d'Ajace" from Mozart's Idomeneo.  With arias of two different moods, she used her skills at word coloring to fine advantage, tender in one and fierce in the other.

Soprano Kelly Griffin has a substantial instrument as well, singing "Pace, pace mio Dio!" from Verdi's La Forza del Destino with deep involvement, building to a powerful anguished climax.  In "Ritorna vincitor!" from Verdi's Aida, she created a most believable character, tortured by ambivalence.  Would it be love or familial loyalty that wins out? 

The second half of the program was devoted to scenes from Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Soprano Samantha Guevrekian made a sensational Cio-Cio San, a role she will perform this summer at The Glimmerglass Festival.  We predict a huge success, judging by how well she sang  "Un bel di" which she performed without a score, letting the audience into her deluded feelings of hopefulness. 

Fortunately, Kristen Choi, the mezzo who sang Suzuki in the Flower duet, will be in the cast with her.  Ms. Choi has a rich mezzo sound, especially in the lower range and the two of them not only harmonized beautifully but faced each other and created a real relationship.

In the love duet from Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Kyle Van Schoonhoven sang the role of Lt. Pinkerton.  He has a sweet tenor with a lovely resonance and gave a well-modulated performance, hampered only by being "on the book".  Having created a considerable amount of engagement in spite of this impediment, we can imagine how superb he will be without it.

In "Io so che sue dolore" Pinkerton is admonished by Sharpless (John Boehr) and in "Addio fiorito assil" he effectively expresses remorse.  Mr. Van Schoonhoven handled the mood changes nicely injecting his voice with different colors.

By the end "Tu, tu piccolo" (Ms. Guevrekian, off the book) we were close to tears, always a good sign for this opera!

We heard more from baritone John Boehr earlier in the evening when he sang "Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen"; although we understood the words, we thought his pronunciation could be polished up a bit.  In the role of Silvio in Leocavallo's "E allor perchè", he was persuasive as he pressured Nedda (Ms. Guevrekian) to run away with him.  They harmonized beautifully in a very sweet ending, hampered only by the presence of music stands.  Readers know how strongly we feel about this; singers are prevented from making contact with each other and with the audience to the fullest extent.  We are sure there are reasons, perhaps lack of time for preparation.  But we stand our ground!

Tenor Thomas Dehorney sang "De' miei bollenti spiriti" from Verdi's La Traviata which we had just heard the night before.  Mr. Dehorney has a lovely quality in his voice and some fine phrasing.  All he needs to do to really shine is to loosen up his body.  He was more expressive in Ernesto De Curtis' "Non ti scordar di me" with an impressive crescendo at the climax.

© meche kroop