AN EVENING OF OPERA SCENES BY IVAI

Students of International Vocal Arts Institute

Last night we attended a delightful evening of duets, trios, and ensembles performed by participants in the International Vocal Arts Institute at Mannes College of Music. We were both pleased and astonished to witness the growth of these young singers in the space of only one week.

It was interesting to note the difference in performance quality as each singer worked with one or more scene partners, in contrast with their performances in solo arias. We imagine it is far easier to slip into a role under such conditions as opposed to singing an aria whilst imagining the presence of the other singers. Singers who hadn't captured our interest on prior nights made a significant impression; those we admired before made an even better impression last night.

The scenes that were performed were well chosen (heavy on the Mozart) for these young voices, effectively coached by Artistic Director Joan Dornemann, Jane Steele, Pei-Wen Chen, and Dura Jun. Directing the scenes were Brittany Goodwin (whose work we have always admired) and Marc Verzatt (whom we do not know). What we have to say about the direction is that every scene worked with only a few black boxes onstage and a curtain covering the windows, which made a fine hiding place for Cherubino. More about that later. Maestro Brent Chancellor was conductor for the evening.

The program opened with a charming scene from Mascagni's L'amico Fritz--the "Cherry Duet". Soprano Jennifer Jaroslavsky made a perfect shy Suzel and we loved the part where she climbed the tree (a black box) to pick the cherries. We could see the tree in our mind's eye! Tenor Alonzo Jordan Lopez made a fine Fritz and there was wonderful romantic tension between the two of them as they moved closer and closer. In our mind we were urging them on! And that's an effective performance!

There were two scenes from Mozart's Nozze di Figaro. Soprano Miriam Chaudoir had the role of the terrified Countess with baritone Robbie Raso as the jealous Count. Helping Cherubino (mezzo-soprano Megan Mateosky) escape was the clever Susanna portrayed by the excellent soprano Elizaveta Kozlova who, we were informed, stepped in at the last minute. We have enjoyed her performances all week and are presently even more impressed with her versatility. Watching her racing around the stage and hiding behind pillars made us chuckle. We have her tagged as one of those "stage animals".

This scene was followed by the Act III sextet in which Susanna (the lovely soprano Eugenia Forteza) convincingly showed her character's fury at discovering her fiancé Figaro in the arms of Marcelina (mezzo Nicole Karrs). There is so much warmth and humor in the reconciliation that we were grinning from ear to ear. 

Although we had to get accustomed to a different Susanna, the Count was again portrayed by Mr. Raso. Figaro (baritone Luka Jozic) was delighted to reunite with his mother and father Dr. Bartolo (baritone Gabriel Garcia) and we got "the feels", which is exactly what this scene should achieve. Tenor Nicolas Gerst took the role of Don Curzio, sharing the Count's dismay.

To thrill an audience, Léo Delibes' Lakmé requires two beautiful female voices. In this performance of the "Flower Duet" soprano Jessica Bayne in the title role and mezzo Xiaohan Chen as Malika could charm the birds from the trees with their gorgeous voices, their exquisite harmonic blending, and sympathetic friendship. We particularly enjoyed the change of vocal color in the repeat.

We returned to Mozart with a scene from Così fan tutte in which the wily Despina (Ms. Kozlova again) tries to convince the two sisters to accept the two prospective lovers. Ms. Kozlova accurately made the social class distinction between herself and her employers-the resistant Fiordiligi (soprano Hrun Osk) and the less resistant Dorabella (mezzo Emma Guo) who has the task of winning her sister over to the romantic adventure to follow.  It was all well done and dramatically convincing.

The prelude to Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea is not always included in performance but it makes a charming "stand alone" scene as three sopranos, symbols of three qualities, make a case for their own importance. Megan Mateosky exuded confidence as Fortuna. Kaylene Dahl presented Virtù with appropriate smugness, but we all know who wins out in the end. It is Isabel Springer as Amor! Of course, if it were a singing contest we could never have chosen the winner. They were all excellent.

Another return to Mozart brought us to Don Giovanni-- to a crucial scene in which each character reveals his/her own true character. Soprano Jinni Shen reveals her mistrust of Don Giovanni, soprano Angela Canela was particularly fine as the conflicted Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni (Luka Jozic) shows his deceitful nature and the supportive Don Ottavio (tenor Zachary Sebek) is there for his betrothed. We were glad to see Mozart's genius composition honored so well.

The opening scene of Mozart's Die Zauberflôte is a masterpiece of vocal writing in which Papageno (baritone Gabriel Garcia) can only hum his vocal line because he has a padlock on his mouth--a punishment for lying. The three ladies (sopranos Mithuna Sivaraman and Wenjia Wei with mezzo Heather Jones) offer forgiveness if he will go with Tamino (Yunxuan Zhu) to rescue Pamino. They present Tamino with a magic flute and Papageno with some magic bells. The complex vocal writing was beautifully realized by all five of them and the direction and props added to the fun.

The program closed with the oft-performed scene from Donizetti's Don Pasquale in which Dr. Malatesta (the versatile Mr. Raso) explains his plot to Norina (soprano Emilia Poma) in which she will portray his convent-bred sister and marry the elderly Don Pasquale. This offers a grand opportunity for acting and the two singers rose to the occasion. We particularly enjoyed the directorial move of having her gestures timed to the beat of the music. We could hardly keep a straight face.

Photos of these scenes can be seen on our FB page-- Voce di Meche.

There will be another similar evening tonight and we wouldn't miss it for the world. And you shouldn't either!

(c) meche kroop

A WORLD TOUR IN SONG

International Vocal Artists at IVAI Concert

Last night the International Vocal Arts Institute lived up to the "international" part of its name, presenting a most enjoyable concert of songs from all over the world. This concert had a different format than the one we presented last month at St. John's in the Village. We had six singers, each one given fifteen minutes to sing in his/her own language. Last night we heard 26 singers, each one of them singing just one song. 

We heard songs from Russia and the Ukraine; South Korea, Japan and China; France, Germany, and Italy; England and the USA; Spain, Mexico, and Argentina; Sweden and Iceland. That's quite a world tour!

It is a given that everyone sang well and achieved a higher degree of ease in their own languages. So let us focus on the art of the art song. There is no plot. There are no other characters to deal with. No wigs. No makeup. No sets. It's just the singer and the song, the text and the music.

There are those who prefer a singer who employs only the colors of the voice. We are not of that ilk. We prefer a singer who tells a story using not just the voice but facial expression, gesture, and body movement. That is what draws the listener in to the text. Although hearing a language with which one is familiar gives the listener an advantage in understanding, a good storyteller can enrapture us in any case, even when we don't know the language.

The performance that most enraptured us was that of soprano Elizaveta Kozlova who gave us Mikhail Glinka's "Bird-cherry Tree Will Blossom." The song is about a bride preparing for her wedding and her groom's admiration. We admit we were helped along by the summary in the program and by Ms. Kozlova's costume which was colorful and indicative of a celebration. (Photos can be seen on our FB page--Voce di Meche). But the important thing is that she used the entire stage, dancing with joyful steps, and sharing the excitement of the event. We were reminded of a recital at Juilliard in which the Hungarian singer performed a Czardas.

Although all the South Korean singers were excellent, soprano Hanna Lee impressed us by conveying the several moods of "Miryang-Arirang" with a lot of personality. The embellishment of the vocal line with turns and trills and the rhythmic accompaniment gave her plenty of room for self expression.  Yes, dear reader, the choice of song does make a difference.

The gestures of mezzo-soprano Megan Mateosky brought significance to the Argentinian tango by Carlos Gardel--"El Día Que Me Quieras".

Soprano Isabel Springer used her body well in capturing the excitement of Claude Debussy's "Cheveux de bois". It seemed as if she were actually seeing the carousel and we could see through her eyes.

Baritone Luka Jozic appears to be a natural storyteller using face, gesture, and body to tell the story of Schubert's "Der Tod und das Mädchen". We hope he will work on differentiating the voices of the young woman and that of the death figure. That would take his performance to another level.

Mezzo-soprano Xiaohan Chen used all of her resources in a song about Lady Yang and Emperor Xuanzong from the Tang Dynasty --"Hitom with Autumn Wind". Everything came together in a lovely performance.

Soprano Olesia Verzole used her voice and face to tell the story of Ukrainian oppression "Time Passes" by Stefania Turkewich. We think more bodily involvement would make it even better.

Although we didn't care for the song (Britten's "Seascape"), Jessica Bayne did a lovely job of painting a picture. Even if we couldn't understand all the words we could see the seascape through her eyes.

All of the performances were lovely and it gave us great pleasure to hear so many languages. We have only described the ones that stuck in our mind due to the feature we were focusing on last night--storytelling.

The superb accompanists for the evening were Evgenia Truksa and Dura Jun.

There will be more concerts! Thursday and Friday feature scenes from operas and we are excited to see what these fine young artists will do with scene partners.

(c) meche kroop