VOCALIS CONSORT

Martin Neron, Sonya Headlam, Sahoko Sato Timpone, Christopher Sierra, and Sean McCarther

The Vocalis Consort is new to us but the pianist is not. We have heard him before at Opera America and the prospect of hearing him perform Spanish (and Spanish influenced) music was a tempting one. We wished that the concert might have been better attended since the offerings were most fulfilling.

The first half of the program comprised music by Spanish composers. Tenor Cristopher Sierra has a nice unforced sound and sings with sazon. We enjoyed a pair of songs by Fernando Obradors, a self taught Catalan composer who arranged his country's folk songs.  Folk songs are always appealing due to their memorable melodies; his are no exception. We have always loved the beautiful sentiment of "Del cabello mas sutil" and Mr. Sierra sang it as beautifully as it was written, with both passion and tenderness in equal measure. Mr. Neron's rippling piano accompaniment was lovely.

Soprano Sonya Headlam has a lovely voice but was unfortunately "on the book" for her selections from Joaquin Nin-Culmell's Sephardic songs. There was no audience contact and we felt shut out. But we did enjoy the piano accompaniment in "La rosa enflorece".

Argentinian composer Carlos Guastavino is a favorite of ours and baritone Sean McCarther sang the violent "Milonga de Dos Hermanos" with pleasing tone but a deficiency of passion.

Guastavino's melancholy "La rosa y el sauce" was given a nice interpretation by mezzo-soprano Sahoko Sato Timpone. The brightness of her tone brought "Jota" to life--one of a pair of songs from Manuel de Falla's Siete canciones populares espanolas. Mr. Neron's piano provided the rhythmic thrust. The gentle lullaby "Nana" was lovely.

Ms. Sato Timpone surely captured the humor of Obradors' "El Vito".

The second half of the program comprised Robert Schumann's Spanisches Liederspiel op 74.  Schumann was not the only composer to set German translations of Spanish folksongs. We have often heard Hugo Wolf's "Spanisches Liederbuch" but this was our first hearing of the Schumann. All four singers took the stage and joined forces in various combinations and with gorgeous harmonies. We were reminded of Brahms' Liebeslieder Walzer, and that's a good thing!

The actor Igor Correa was on hand to weave the songs into a story. Perhaps Schumann's Dichterliebe can have a story imposed upon it but it was a mighty stretch to form a story out of his Spanisches Liederspiel. Nonetheless, Mr. Correa narrated it well.

Ms. Headlam and Ms. Sato Timpone harmonized beautifully in the charming "Erste Begegnung". The men took over with equivalent success for "Intermezzo". Come to think of it, however one paired the voices, they sounded swell together. We particularly enjoyed the two numbers in which all four members of the ensemble sang together--"Es ist verrathen" and "Ich bin geliebt". 

In a work of this sort, being "on the book" makes sense and would seem necessary. We do have one suggestion however. We would have liked the texts in the original language, as well as the English translations.

We were delighted to be introduced to such a superb song cycle and equally delighted to see a new group on the music scene of New York City.  We look forward to future performances and to Vocalis Consort reaching a wider audience.

(c) meche kroop

THE ART OF THE ART SONG

Thomas Muraco

Winnie Nieh

As a rule we do not review rehearsals, but tomorrow's performance of ASPS (The Art Song Preservation Society) conflicts with a prior reviewing commitment and we did not want to miss the opportunity of hearing soprano Winnie Nieh singing some of our favorite lieder, with the esteemed Thomas Muraco as her collaborative pianist.

Any afficionado of art song would be delighted by the program and we sincerely wish that all of you will be able to squeeze into Christ and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church on W. 69th St. for the 3:00 recital. From what we witnessed yesterday, the program promises to provide deep aural and emotional satisfaction.

We know Ms. Nieh from her several performances with Utopia Opera and are so glad that she keeps garnering prizes and interesting roles.  She is an emerging artist with a great deal going for her. Her voice is pure, sweet, and well-focused--able to soar above piano or orchestra. Her German is as good as it gets with every word understandable.

In the set of songs by Franz Schubert, we had trouble choosing a favorite, since each one brought out different colors. In "Im Frühling", Schubert switches between major and minor and Ms. Nieh colored her voice appropriately for this bittersweet tale of love and sorrow.

In the contemplative "Nacht und Träume", Mr. Muraco's playing had a spiritual feeling. He emphasized the key change, a subtle but nonetheless jolting modulation--and Ms. Nieh matched him perfectly.

The rhythmic "Der Musensohn" made us want to get up and dance and the tender "Sei mir gegrüsst" brought tears to our eyes.  And if you are unable to feel for the young lady confiding her woes to her mother in "Die Männer sind méchant", you were never a teenager! This song truly allowed Ms. Nieh's acting skills to emerge.

A set of Hugo Wolf songs, with texts by Eduard Mörike, filled us with delight. "Der Knabe und das Immlein" is a real charmer and Mr. Muraco's piano provided the buzzing bee. The humorous play on words in "Elfenlied" provided further pleasures, as did the playful "Mausfallen-Sprüchlein". The two artists excelled in "Nixe Binsefuss" with Mr. Muraco playing what we called "fairy music" when we were small.

That was fine to end on because earlier we were close to weeping again when the pair performed "Das verlassene Mägdlein", one of the saddest songs with which we are familiar. Again, Ms. Nieh's fine acting put the song across just as Wolf intended. The attention to text and music vividly brought the picture to the mind's eye.

Mezzo-soprano Emily d'Angelo, a Metropolitan Opera National Council Award winner, will be performing some of our favorite songs by Brahms and this should bring further delights which we regret we will miss.

The second half of the program will be sung in French with Thomas Grubb taking over as collaborative pianist. Mezzo-soprano Sahoko Sato Timpone will sing selections from Hector Berlioz' Les Nuits d'Eté with text by Théophile Gautier and La Chanson d'Eve by Gabriel Fauré.

Baritone Robert Brandt will perform selections from Maurice Ravel's Deux Epigrammes de Clément Marot and from Histoires Naturelles.

It promises to be a most worthwhile afternoon! ASPS exists to promote the art song repertoire and the artists that perform it. We love their motto--"Where music speaks and words sing".  Most apt.

(c) meche kroop

FIGARO as TELENOVELA

Samarie Alicea as Susana and José Adán Perez as Figaro celebrating their marriage in Vid Guerrerio's version of Nozze di Figaro (photo by Ken Howard)

It has been a quarter century since our introduction to Mozart's Nozze di Figaro when Director Peter Sellars tackled it and presented it up at SUNY-Purchase-- in  modern dress and taking place in what appeared to be Trump Tower and starring the Trump family.  There were no titles and we hadn't a clue what was going on  We were lost and just enjoyed Mozart's music. 

In that quarter century, we have come to love Mozart's masterpiece above all others and have seen it probably 20 times, if not more. We have never welcomed the idea of updating it to contemporary times because the libretto is so rooted in the 18th c.

We were curious about the latest iteration, Figaro!, with a newly written libretto by Vid Guerrerio; our curiosity was satisfied last night at The Duke Theater on 42nd Street and we are pleased to report that, taken on its own terms, it makes for a delightful and insightful evening of theater. The choice of venue was perfect since the black box theater is just the right size and offers excellent sight lines and fine acoustics. The decision to not amplify the voices was the right one.

Pierre Beaumarchais' story line has been largely preserved, filled as it is with crazy characters and sit-com situations. Mozart's music has been largely preserved (although trimmed to a quick 2 1/2 hours) and valiantly played in a reduction for piano, string quartet and bass. Musical Director Raphael Fusco conducted from the piano.

What has been discarded is Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto. Mr. Guerrerio has distilled the essence of the story, added and subtracted a character here and there, and written a libretto based on contemporary speech and slang that the mostly young audience could readily understand. We could not have predicted how successful this would be. 

In the 18th and 19th c., composer and librettist worked hand in hand to match the rhythm of the native language to the rhythm and phrasing of the music. Mr. Guerrerio was obliged to fit his libretto into music already composed. He deserves a great deal of credit for a task we would have deemed impossible. The cast deserves credit for good diction that made the libretto understandable for the most part, except for some lapses in rapid patter passages. Since the titles were very faint, this clarity was a distinct advantage.

Director Melissa Crespo kept up a rapid pace. During the overture, 18th c. characters in elaborate costumes began with a stately dance that was interrupted by the 21st c. hip-hop character L'il B-Man teaching them some modern moves. This served to carry us into Act I. The action has been moved to Beverly Hills and the emphasis has been placed on the awkward interactions between the working class and the leisure class, with all its attendant power struggles.

Here, the Count has been transformed into Paul Conti (performed by Luke Scott), owner of a large estate. His wife, the neglected Countess, now appears as Roxanne (performed by Raquel Suarez-Groen, looking way to young for the part), an over-the-hill actress concerned about aging and addicted to plastic surgery in an attempt to win back her straying husband.

Figaro (José Adán Pérez) is an illegal Mexican immigrant (or so we think until the "reveal") in Mr. Conti's employ.  His bride is Susanna (Samarie Alicea), who works for the Conti's as well; in this case, it is Susana's debt that needs to be paid off, a debt to a Korean factory owner, Ms. Soon-Yi Nam (Sahoko Sato Timpone) , who advanced her funds to get across the border. This character replaces Marcellina as Susana's nemesis. Dr. Bartolo is now Babayan (Ethan Herschenfeld), an Armenian thug who is the Korean's accomplice.

Barbarina has been eliminated, and as substitute we have the Conti's punk daughter Barbara (Emma Grimsley) who has grown up alongside Li'l B-Man (Dwayne A. Washington), a hip-hop guy whose arias are not well received, filled with "bitch" and "ho" as they are.  He will have to grow up to win her affection. A new character is his mother Donna (Lori Marabal) who doesn't want him to be sent off to military school. 

Basilio has been transformed into Basel (Michael Kuhn), a tutor. The gardener Antonio is here called Atzuko (David Castillo).

There were no weaknesses in the cast but we were most taken with the performance of the lead couple.

Set design was simple--a large picture window overlooking palm trees with some simple furniture suggesting affluence. A swimming pool is created by suggestion and a garden (for the final act), by hedges. Lighting Design is by Gina Scherr and Costume Design is by Lux Haac who did particularly well with Roxanne and Susana's costume and wig exchange for the final act.

This all works out quite well in conveying the story of a boss trying to take advantage of his power over his employees. This makes the production relevant to our time without sacrificing entertainment value. One tends to forget that opera served an important role in shifting political values in its own time. Here, we find ourselves in a similar time of change, a time when we need the arts to support this change.

We are always in favor of presenting opera in ways to engage young audiences. By the laughter and applause we heard, a good time was had by all. In total agreement was the fellow reviewer who accompanied us and a young soprano we spotted in the audience who also loved the show.

Today, we listened to a thrilling broadcast of Nozze di Figaro (The Metropolitan Opera Saturday broadcast). We heard it in a new light.

(c) meche kroop