FROM OP TO POP

Michael Fennelly, Maya Yahav Gour, Alexa Jarvis, Sean Michael Plumb, Jane Shaulis, Galeano Salas, and Sol Jin

Last night Opera Index held its annual membership party and recital. President Jane Shaulis served as M.C., speaking briefly about the 33 year history of the organization and how successful it has been at helping young singers climb the professional ladder by holding competitions and awarding grants. A perusal of the Opera Index competition winners from prior years yields dozens of famous names, singers who were first recognized in the early stages of their careers.

Members were treated to a highly entertaining recital by five of this year's award winners. Tenor Galeano Salas, whom we heard as an Apprentice Singer at the Santa Fe Opera last summer, opened the program with "Che gelida manina" from Puccini's La Bohème. Mr. Salas has a lovely romantic Italianate sound with a fullness in the upper register.

But the most compelling aspect of his performance was the way he created the entire scene--with no set and no scene partner. It was most convincing and we were happy to learn that he has been invited to return to Santa Fe Opera next summer.

He also sang Maria Grever's "Jurame" which wowed the audience.

Mezzo-soprano Maya Yahav Gour produced a nice even French line in "La romance de l'étoile" from Chabrier's L'étoile. Her background is as a jazz singer and she is presently a promising Master's Degree student at Mannes College.

Her voice has a most interesting texture and we enjoyed her bluesy delivery of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes".

Baritone Sol Jin, recently recognized in Opera News, sang "Avant de quitter ces lieux" from Gounod's Faust. He has a substantial sound and a lovely legato , creating that long lean line that we want to hear in French opera. In the martial central section, his voice became more forceful and the phrasing more clipped--a good use of variety.

He also sang a delightful Korean song in which metaphors from nature were used to describe romantic love.

Soprano Alexa Jarvis has a big sound that she employed well in "Stridono lassù" from Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci; she invested the song with ringing tone and substantial drama.

She also sang "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me". It delighted the audience to hear singers mix it up from "op" to "pop".

Baritone Sean Michael Plumb delivered "Pierrot's Tanzlied" from Erich Korngold's Die Tote Stadt. He has a wonderful instrument and stage presence, but what we really noticed was his superb German diction and a vibrato that reminded us of a cello.

As if this expanded program were not enough, we also heard a couple of duets--Ms. Jarvis took the role of Mimi to Mr. Salas' Rodolfo in the first act duet "O soave fanciulla" and then Mr. Salas sang the fourth act duet "O Mimi, tu più non torni" with Mr. Plumb as his Marcello. These duets were beautifully sung and dramatically convincing.

The hard working Mr. Salas had just arrived from Europe and had two auditions earlier in the day, which did not stop him from just one more song--"Because You're Mine". Some singers just love to sing! And we love to listen!

The accompaniment for the recital was perfectly handled by Michael Fennelly.

(c) meche kroop

CLASSIC LYRIC ARTS GALA

Briana Hunter, Elizabeth Chang, Stella Papatheodorou (photo by Leslie M. Ritch)

 Classic Lyric Arts is an organization that shares our goal of advancing the careers of young singers.  President and Artistic Director Glenn Morton hosted a Spring Benefit Gala last night at the Kosciuszko Foundation which was supported by the Gerda Lissner Foundation.  This was a wonderful opportunity for guests to hear some promising young singers and an equally wonderful opportunity for the young singers to show off what they have learned at the two European training programs.  Most of the singers have attended both La Lingua della Lirica in Emilia-Romagna and L'Art du Chant Français in the Périgord region.

We not only heard the singers but had plenty of time to speak with them about their experiences in the programs.  On both accounts one can consider the programs of CLA a huge success. Students are trained in diction, style, repertoire, stagecraft and career development.  They learn this from native speakers who teach in their own language.  It sounds like a total immersion experience.

The recital portion of the evening was led by Briana Hunter whose portrayal of Carmen in Bizet's "Gypsy Song" was as spirited as it was richly sung.  She will be performing the role at the Music Academy of the West.  She was joined by Stella Papatheodorou and Elizabeth Chang.

Madison Marie McIntosh and Terence Stone (photo by Leslie M. Ritch) 

"C'est le dieu de la jeunesse", a thrilling duet from Leo Delibes' Lakme was performed by sparkling soprano Madison Marie McIntosh and Terence Stone, whose voices harmonized so beautifully.


 A fun Rossini trio from Il Barbiere di Siviglia "Ah! Qual colpo/Zitti zitti" was sung by Maya Yahav Gour (who has a fine rich mezzo) along with tenor Vincent Festa and Xiaomeng Zhang.  Embellishments were handled in admirable bel canto style.

Sean Christensen and John Viscardi (Leslie M. Ritch)

Tenor Sean Christensen and baritone (yes, he is now a baritone and a fine one) John Viscardi did a fine duet from Puccini's La Bohème--"O Mimi tu più non torni".

Xiaoming Tian and Tamara Rusque (Leslie M. Ritch)

 Tamara Rusque gave Nedda a great big sound and some intense drama in her duet with Silvio from Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci.  Her Silvio was guest artist Xiaoming Tian.

Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi and Leonardo Caimi (Leslie M. Ritch)

Guest artists from Italy Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi and Leonardo Caimi thrilled the audience with their star-quality delivery of the duet "Parigi, o cara" from Verdi's La Traviata.  Ms. Lombardi also gave a moving account of "Un bel di" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly in which she floated the high notes and sustained the tone beautifully from pp to ff.  Mr. Caimi gave an equally moving performance of "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini's Tosca.  This heartbreaking aria was sung with gorgeous phrasing and dynamic control.  What a pleasure to hear familiar arias sung so well by native-born Italian artists.  The air fairly oozed garlic.

The trio from the finale of Gounod's Faust --"Anges purs, anges radieux" was sung by Adriana Velinova with a full and resonant soprano that filled the room.  Her Faust was Michael Papincak with Fan Jia as the Devil--both guest artists.

Mr. Morton accompanied Ms. Lombardi and Mr. Caimi.  Other accompanists were Eri Nakamura, Laetitia Ruccolo, Michael Sheetz and David Mamedov.

Closing the program was "Make our garden grow" from Leonard Bernstein's Candide, conducted by Michael Sheetz.  May CLA grow like Candide's garden!

© meche kroop