TRAGEDY TONIGHT! COMEDY TONIGHT!

Cast of Suor Angelica

Although Giacomo Puccini wrote a trilogy, Prelude to Performance wisely decided to present only two parts, focusing their attention on the two one-acters that employed a large cast and which provided a fine balance between the tragic and the comic. We are pleased to report a stunning success in that we were moved to tears and then to laughter. This only happens when a committed cast dedicates themselves totally to the work and the original intention of the composer and librettist are honored with fidelity.

The tragedy of Suor Angelica is both personal and cultural. The cultural tragedy is related to the sexually repressive period in late 17th c. Italy. Poor Suor Angelica has borne a child out of wedlock, probably due to innocence and ignorance; she has been hustled off to a convent and hasn't seen anyone from her family in seven long years.

The personal tragedy is that she finally receives a visit from her aunt La Zia Principessa who comes on a mission of getting Angelica to sign over her inheritance in favor of her sister who is about to be married, after a presumably chaste courtship. The aunt treats her niece with scorn and derision. What news of the male child?  He died of an illness a couple years earlier but no one had seen fit to share this news with the mother. "Everything was done to save him", claims the aunt. Somehow we did not believe her.

Angelica, an expert in herbology, takes poison then realizes she will be damned and prays to the Virgin for forgiveness. She experiences a vision or hallucination of the child she lost and dies believing in her salvation.

This is very much a story of its time since women can now choose to have a child without the questionable benefit of matrimony! Thankfully, the story was not updated and we did not spy a single sister bearing a cell phone.

What we did spy was a superlative cast working in concert and creating a supportive society filled with individual characters, each unique in spite of the uniform habits.

Soprano Michelle Johnson's performance of the lead role left nothing to be desired. During her scene with the rejecting aunt, she lost her convent cool and exhibited profound flashes of the anger and despair that had been suppressed and finally erupted.  Her "Senza mamma" was as moving as any we have heard. This is a sizable instrument used judiciously!

Similarly, mezzo-soprano Leah Marie de Gruyl created a hateful character that was just as totally believable as the one created by Ms. Johnson.  So effective was she that we couldn't keep from imagining what kind of upbringing she endured that made her place family reputation above familial love. Ms. de Gruyl has an impressive instrument that should take her far in the world of opera; she employed it in the service of characterization, coloring her voice with icy coldness.

The remaining nuns were also excellent. We were quite moved by soprano Nicole Rowe's Suor Genovieffa, a former shepherdess, who admitted to missing the pleasure of holding a baby lamb in her arms.

We also liked the two nuns who were responsible for provisioning the convent--Jenna Buck and Renee Richardson.  Melanie Ashkar sang well as La Maestra delle Novizia. There was not a mediocre voice onstage. Everyone sustained the beautiful legato line of the Italian. Molly Burke portrayed La Suora Zelatrice, Crystal Glen was Suor Osmina, Yulan Piao was Una Novice, Amy Guarino sang Suor Dolcina, Wan Zhao was La Suora Infermiera, and two Converse were portrayed by Hillary Hei Lee Law and Maria Zollo.

Ian Campbell's direction was superb with plenty of onstage business to keep the nuns busy. Joshua Rose provided the simple set with projections of a cloister for the first part and a sky filled with stars for the final part.  His lighting was equally effective. Charles R. Caine designed the costumes.

Under the baton of Willie Anthony Waters, Puccini's gorgeous lyricism shone brightly and limned the various characters and situations.

Review of Gianni Schicchi to follow!

(c) meche kroop

GIULIO GARI ANNUAL GALA WINNERS RECITAL

GIULIO GARI

The memory of this fine tenor lives on by virtue of the admirable work of The Giulio Gari Foundation; they provide awards, grants and performance opportunities to young singers on the cusp of major careers.  Few opera goers acknowledge the intense hard work that goes into career development and the high cost of lessons and coaching. We witness the end results and neglect the means.  It was up to Stephen De Maio and Licia Albanese to get together with Gloria Gari to honor Mr. Gari's memory in the best way possible, ensuring that the baton will be passed to younger generations.

The Giulio Gari Foundation presented their awards yesterday to as fine a group of young singers as we have heard. As a matter of fact we have been fortunate enough to have heard many of them before and were thrilled to have the opportunity to hear them again. . The winners we heard deserve every accolade they received. The foundation chose wisely and well; needless to say, each singer chose his/her material wisely and well, with an eye to showing off his/her own particular vocal range and style.  Piano partners Arlene Shrut and Mikhail Hallak partnered the singers with panache and versatility.

First prize winner Marina Costa-Jackson was saved for last. Without drawing any comparisons, let us just say that her family has astonishing musical genes which, along with dedication and hard work, resulted in a stirring performance of  "Stridono lassu" from Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci; her gorgeous soprano evoked the flight of birds so envied by Nedda whose life is constrained, to say the least.  As she began, her rich low notes suggested those of a mezzo but then her voice soared into the sky with the most gorgeous vibrato and top notes.

Second prizes were won by Michelle Johnson and Chloe Moore, both sopranos.  Ms. Johnson sang "Io son l'umile ancella" from Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur and caressed each word and phrase with her silky sound which opened up beautifully in the crescendo.  Ms. Moore used her bright and shiny voice in "La Gavotte" from Massenet's Manon.  When she opened up at the top of the register we thought all the glasses in the room would break.

The brilliant bass-baritone Musa Ngqungwana, third prize winner, performed "Riez, allez, riez du pauvre ideologue" from Massenet's Don Quichotte with a big round tone and fine French diction.  We made sure to learn how to pronounce his name because we are going to be hearing a lot more from him.

Fourth prize was won by the excellent baritone John Viscardi who sang "Ya vas lyubil" from Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame; his performance was filled with Russian soul.  Oh, how we dearly love Tchaikovsky!

Fifth prizes were won by sopranos Elise Brancheau and Ewa Plonka Nino.  Ms. Brancheau performed Micaela's aria "Je dis que rien ne m'epouvant" from Bizet's Carmen.  Her fine vocalism and acting captured the faith-based courage of her character.  Ms. Nino did justice to "Acerba volutta" from Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur. We enjoyed her pianissimo as much as the grand crescendo in which she spun a beautiful tone.

Grant winners were also on the program and every single one excelled.  Bass-baritone Leo Radosavljevic captured Figaro's outrage with his fine voice and expansive personality as he performed "Aprite un po' quegl'occhi" from Mozart's Nozze di Figaro (which we heard at the Metropolitan Opera and reviewed last night).

Soprano Liana Guberman and tenor Riad Ymeri harmonized perfectly in the tender duet "O soave fanciulla" from Puccini's La Boheme.  We enjoyed the depth of feeling they expressed.  We fondly recall Ms. Guberman's beautiful realized Mimi last season at Loft Opera.

Another brilliant duet was performed by soprano Mia Pafumi and tenor Mingjie Lei--"Una parola, O Adina" from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. Their characterizations were as admirable as their voices, both of them fearlessly tackling the fioritura. Both have sweet light voices, perfect for those roles.

We loved the way mezzo Shirin Eskandani realized the character of Rosina as she performed "Dunque io son" from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia; she tore into the fioritura with gusto. Her Figaro was the fine baritone Christian Bowers; his reactions were priceless.   Instead of writing notes, they sent messages to Lindoro via cellphone.  The audience loved it.

The fiery duet from Donizetti's Anna Bolena--"Ah! Qual sin cercar non oso" was well performed by mezzo Lisa Chavez and baritone Jarrett Ott.  We always love a good bel canto duet and last evening we reveled in an embarrassment of riches.

Last but by no means least, we thrilled to the sound of trumpets.  That is we thrilled to the sound of "Suoni la tromba" from Bellini's I Puritani.  What thrilled us particularly was the big bass sound of Patrick Guetti and baritone Jamez McCorkle. Mr. Guetti, whose performances  we have enjoyed on several occasions, strikes us as one of those "stage animals" from whom one cannot takes one's eyes and ears.

Not only were we thrilled by the quality of the entertainment but we had the pleasure of experiencing the honoring of two renowned singers who have contributed so much to young artists--Marilyn Horne and Richard Leech, both of whom had interesting things to say.

And then...as they say...dinner was served. We would like to honor The Giulio Gari Foundation for their generous contribution to the world of opera.

(c) meche kroop

SAKÙNTALA

It is likely that few of us have ever heard Franco Alfano's 1921 Sakùntala, although there are a couple recordings extant.  Likewise, you will probably not get an opportunity in the future.  But thanks to Duane D. Printz, Founding Executive and Artistic Director of Teatro Grattacielo, a significant number of us opera fanatics got the chance to hear it last night in concert version at the Skirball Center of NYU.  And concert version was definitely the way to go, since Mr. Alfano's libretto, based on a 4th c. Sanskrit play, is rather silly by 21st c. standards, and lacking in dramatic action.  A King, while on a hunt, runs into the beautiful protectress of a hermitage, the eponymous heroine.  He falls in love with her, woos her, marries her, impregnates her and then abandons her.  She is too depressed to fulfill her duties and is cursed by an old priest, so that when she takes herself to court her husband fails to recognize her and she drowns herself.  Those early 20th c. heroines lacked our 21st c. self-preservation skills that has us gals just writing off the bums and moving on!

OK, the plot is scanty but oh, the music!  Gorgeous shimmering textures are used to convey the exoticism of the locale and Maestro Israel Gursky conducted the massive orchestral forces at his disposal with great aplomb.  But these massive orchestral forces tended occasionally to overwhelm the singers who at times struggled to be heard; this lead to an occasional forced sound, especially in the upper registers, particularly at moments of maximum emotionalism.  Tenor Raul Melo did his best to rise above the huge waves of sound but sometimes sank below the waves.  The high tessitura likewise offered challenges to soprano Michelle Johnson in the titular role, leaving scant room for the subtlety and variety of color of which she is capable.

Sakùntala's friends were sung by soprano Asako Tamura and mezzo-soprano Shirin Eskandani whose rich voice provided the biggest thrills of the evening, not to mention applause that sounded as loud as the orchestra.  It appeared that the lower voices succeeded better in every case.  Three basses handled their vocal duties well: Ashraf Sewailam in the role of the priest Durvasas , Damian Savarino as Harita, one of the ascetics and Young Bok Kim as Sakùntala's father.  Baritone Peter Kendall Clark distinguished himself as the King's Equerry.  Tenor Kirk Dougherty sang the role of the young hermit who seemed to be the sidekick of Harita.

We overheard a few members of the audience saying that they refused to follow the libretto, which had been beautifully translated by Ms. Printz herself, and just closed their eyes and listened to the glorious music. One audience member has both recordings of the opera and counts it as a masterpiece of realismo. That the opera was produced on the radio comes as no surprise.  We were grateful to have an opportunity to hear this rarity.

© meche kroop