TAKE THIS GIRL TO BROOKLYN!

Dan Saunders, Nathan Gunn, Ying Fang, and Aaron Blake

The stars came out in the sky overhead just as the opera stars finished their concert at Brooklyn Bridge Park. We cannot say which shone more brightly. The concert is part of The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series. Unwilling to spend hours waiting in line to attend the recital in Central Park we made the trek to Brooklyn where cheerful opera goers with amazingly quiet children gathered to share an experience that could only win more converts to opera.

It would be impossible to listen to these three superstars, accompanied by Dan Saunders at the piano, and not become a convert. Each one brought something unique and special to this program comprising predominantly famous arias and duets of the canon, with some American musical theater added at the end.

Soprano Ying Fang dazzled us the first time we heard her and she has grown in artistry since then. Ms. Fang has it all--a sparkling coloratura of remarkable flexibility, and a gracious stage presence that can only add to her physical beauty. At the opera, one is not supposed to care about appearances but between us, dear reader, eye candy is always a plus. A tasteful and flattering gown completed the picture.

We witnessed great emotional variety from this stunning artist who seems to lose herself in whatever character she portrays. Whether it be the perky Pamina sharing a moment with Papageno (Nathan Gunn, whom we will get to later), Zerlina responding to an importuning Don Giovanni (Mr. Gunn again), the lovely Lauretta begging her father to enable her marriage, the seductive Alcina (although "Tornami a vagheggiar" is sometimes sung by Alcina's sister Morgana), the aristocratic Adina, the pleading Servilia, the wistful Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, or the love besotted Maria from West Side Story--all these characters she portrayed would be immediately identifiable. What astonishing versatility!

It would be impossible to choose our favorite but we must make note of her vocal artistry in the Händel; the fioritura was perfect and the ritornello after the plaintive B section was incredibly exciting. We would also like to mention the Chinese song she chose as an encore, translated as "The Bridge". Not only was the vocal line marvelously melodic but the piano accompaniment was rich in texture. What an appropriate choice since we were in full view of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge!

Baritone Nathan Gunn is a regular at The Metropolitan Opera but we are quite sure we first heard him many years ago singing a Schubert song cycle accompanied by his wife Julie. He brings to the stage an authoritative presence and a mellow voice that seems able to make the most of whatever role he assumes. He too slips readily into a variety of characters. We enjoyed his winning Papageno, his seductive Don Giovanni, the yearning Zurga, the irrepressible Figaro, the reminiscing Pierrot, the fantasizing Billy Bigelow, the loyal Lancelot, and the excited Tony.  

Each one received full vocal and dramatic value. Perhaps our favorite was Billy's soliloquy from Carousel in which Mr. Gunn's voice, gesture, and face altered with each new emotion and each new idea.

Tenor Aaron Blake made a fine addition to the program, filling in for an ailing Ben Bliss. What we liked best about Mr. Blake was that his immersion in each character was so intense that we felt we were seeing everything through the eyes of each one. As Nadir, in his duet with Mr. Gunn, we could see the crowd of worshipers and the beautiful but inaccessible Leïla. As the tormented Lensky, we felt his anguish. In the famous "Dein ist mein ganzes herz", the passion could be cut with a knife. We don't think we have ever seen a better Nemorino as he swigged from a bottle and did a crazy jig around the stage. Don Ottavio's challenging "Dalla sua pace" was marked by some fine embellishments in the repeat when he filled in the notes of the scale. His encore "O Sole Mio" was filled with garlic.

The only thing that we would like to see Mr. Blake accomplish would be floating the high notes, since he tends to push the volume in the upper register. We noted Mr. Gunn's floated high notes in Pierrot's "Tanzlied" from Korngold's Die Tote Stadt and loved the ethereal quality, much as we loved the pingy sound of Ms. Fang's upper register. 

It was a glorious night and well worth the trek to Brooklyn!

(c) meche kroop

THE DELICIOUS FRUIT OF THE LINDEMANN TREE

Dan Saunders, Michelle Bradley, Yunpeng Wang, and Kang Wang

Thanks to Mother Nature holding off on the threatened rain and thanks to the Lindemann Young Artist Program (and all the city agencies and foundations supporting the Summer Recital Series), a large audience at Jackie Robinson Park had the pleasure of hearing a thrilling recital of arias and duets last night. Our only complaint is the brevity. Not that the artists were stinting in their generosity; just that our ears were greedy for more!

The program was wisely chosen with well-known arias and duets that most people would have recognized. Even small children were held spellbound; even the page-turner got applause during the standing ovation.

Do we tire of these familiar numbers?  Oh no!  Each one is so well written that there is room for a great artist to tell us something new about the character who is assigned that particular piece of music. Although each Lindemann artist is uniquely gifted, there is a common thread among them all; they do not just "perform", but rather they inhabit the character so completely that our mind's eye supplies the sets and costumes and story leading up to the aria or duet.

However, in a generous touch that impressed us, each artist introduced her/himself and explained what was going on. In that fashion, audience members who were not familiar with the piece and who may not have understood the language were made to feel  a part of the proceedings.  No one could have felt left out. We hope those who were introduced to the joys of opera will proceed to investigate further.

Michelle Bradley not only has a thrilling soprano but she is a true diva, commanding the stage with real presence. Equally adept at the long French lines of "Depuis le jour" from Charpentier's Louise and the round delicious flavor of Italian, she made good use of her stature and ability to engage; the audience was completely carried away. She has a special gift for portraying young women in love, as seen in the afore-mentioned and also in "Mercè, dilette amiche" from Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani and in "Doretta's Song" from Puccini's La Rondine. Her voice, expansive with resonant overtones, swells magnificently from a firm center. Her encore piece "He's got the whole world in his hand" brought the audience to their collective feet.

Tenor Kang Wang has the sweetness and ease that we so love in the tenor instrument but do not always hear.  He never pushes and therein lies the aural pleasure we experienced. He excels at young men in love.  "Una furtiva lagrima" from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore  was given a tender timbre; "Lunge da lei...De'miei bollenti spiriti" was sung with heartfelt enthusiasm; encore piece  "No puede ser" from Pablo Sorozábal's zarzuela La Tabernera del Puerto was colored with incredulity.  "La donna è mobile" from Verdi's Rigoletto required a bit more caddishness which we suspect is foreign to this lovely artist.

Baritone Yunpeng Wang was in top form. Every time we hear him he seems to grow in stature. He sang Figaro's "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia as if he were born to sing it; every expression and gesture served the character. He colored his voice completely differently as he portrayed Germont Père in "Di Provenza" from Verdi's La Traviata; although he was portraying a character twice his age, he channeled his own father and became completely convincing. 

Probably one of the less familiar numbers on the program was "O du mein holder Abendstern" (from Wagner's Tannhäuser), one of our very favorite baritone arias, and here given a beautiful interpretation by Mr. Wang. Accompanist Dan Saunders, fine throughout the evening, recreated the harp arpeggios on the piano and Mr. Wang's ornamentation on the word "engel" was exquisite. One senses the Italianate influence of Verdi on Richard Wagner but one can also appreciate Mr. Wang's crisp German diction and the depth at the very bottom of his register.

In Padre, Padrone, a film by the Taviani brothers, the hero hears this aria when he is a young shepherd in the mountains of Sardinia--and it changes his life. That's just the kind of aria it is. We imagined that Mr. Wang's performance changed some lives last night.

Mr. Wang's encore piece was the "Champagne Aria" from Mozart's Don Giovanni in which he got to express his impressive versatility.

Several duets were presented which permitted various combinations of voices. "Au fond du temple saint" from Georges Bizet's "Les Pêcheurs des Perles" allowed both Wang's to join voices in perfect harmony.  From Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Ms. Bradley and Mr. Yunpeng Wang performed the realismo love scene between Nedda and Silvio. Ms. Bradley and Mr. Kang Wang created the joy of young love in "O soave fanciulla" from Puccini's La Bohème.

To have heard such a recital with so much talent onstage and all that great energy was one of the summer's greatest gifts.

(c) meche kroop

STARS BEFORE DARK

The stars came out last night at Jackie Robinson Park long before the sky darkened.  And what stars they are!  The second of the Metropolitan Opera's two summer recitals put four of our favorite young artists onstage to the delight of the audience gathered around the bandshell.

Beautiful soprano Deanna Breiwick literally floated onstage in a magnificently becoming purple gown lending a great deal of glamour to the casual setting.  Her accurate coloratura and liquid trill were most evident in her charming selection from Donizetti's Don Pasquale, "Quel guardo il cavaliere"; the Verdi was its equal, "Sul fil d'un soffio etesio" from Falstaff.  Still, the "Glitter and be gay" from Bernstein's Candide won laurels as a crowd-pleaser.  It would be fair to say that the audience went wild.

Tenor Alexander Lewis sang "Avete torto" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi as if it had been written for him and graciously explained to the audience what the aria was about.  His "Dein ist mein ganzes herz" from Lehar's Das Land des Lächelns fulfilled the romantic promise of a summer night.

Baritone Edward Parks absolutely oozed charm when he opened the evening's festivities with Rossini's "Largo al factotum" from Il Barbiere di Siviglia.  We loved his "Figaro giu, figaro su".  On a more serious note he sang "Avant de quitter ces lieux" from Gounod's Faust with moving intensity.  And he closed the program with the Soliloquy from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel.  Nowhere could a better case be made for appreciating the American musical on the same plane as opera.

We just love duets and the evening offered several.  "All'idea di quel metallo" from "Barber" offered the men an opportunity to show their dramatic chops while "La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's  Don Giovanni did the same for Ms. Breiwick and Mr. Parks.  "Una parola, o Adina" accomplished the same for Ms. B. and Mr. Lewis.  Notably, Ms. B. moved flexibly from Adina's reserve to Zerlina's ambivalence.  The two men's voices blended beautifully in "Lily's Eyes" from Norman and Simon's The Secret Garden.

At the piano, Vlad Iftinca changed styles with admirable flexibility.  He is always a pleasure to hear.  Let it be noted that Italian, French and German were given perfect diction by all three singers.  This will go down as one of the best recitals of the year.  We will surely see and hear much more of these four talented artists in years to come.  Shall we call it "stardom threshold"?

(c) meche kroop

AHHH-PERA

No star in the sky dazzled with as much brilliance as the glamorous Danielle de Niese at the Central Park Summer Stage last night.  A favorite of ours since her days in the Lindemann program, Ms. de Niese just keeps getting better and better, her voice as sparkling as crystal and matched by some mighty fine interpretations and some gracious hosting of the first evening of the Metropolitan Opera's Summer Recital Series.  Our favorite moment was hearing for the first time a concert aria composed by Mozart to accommodate the wishes of a soprano who wanted to replace his "Deh Vieni" from Nozze di Figaro--as Ms. N. explained before singing--"something with a lot of high and low notes".  She was equally fine in several arias and duets by Donizetti, so light-heartedly perfect for a warm summer evening.  Likewise for her "O mio babbino caro" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi which surely made all the men in the audience want to satisfy her wishes.  The coloratura was always quick and clean.

Partnered by venerable bass-baritone John Del Carlo in duets from Don Pasquale and L'Elisir d'Amore, not a shred of drama was lost; in the absence of sets and costumes, it is all up to the singers and, so good were they that the mind's eye supplied what was missing. Mr. Del Carlo commanded the stage in "A un dottor della mia sorte" from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Dan Saunders accompanied and the orchestra went unmissed.  Tenor Dimitri Pittas sang with equal  dramatic intensity and some truly lovely diminuendi.  Sadly, he tended to push his high notes instead of floating them.  Not that the attentive audience had any reservations, judging by the applause for his "Una furtiva lagrima".  His duet from L'Elisir d'Amore with Mr. Del Carlo was hilarious.

These outdoor events are generally plagued by much distraction from munchers, quaffers and texters.  Let it be said that even opera neophytes who applauded in the middle of arias were more than usually attentive.  That's what happens when such stellar beings take the stage.  There are more performances to watch out for.  Take note.  Don't say we didn't tell you!

(c) meche kroop