A GIFT FROM LINDEMANN

Nate Raskin, Zalman Kelber, Adrian Timpau, Gabriella Reyes de Ramírez

We have written extensively about the mission and accomplishments of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, so let's just plunge right into yesterday's exciting recital. We confess that we are most receptive to a singer's artistry when we love the work he/she has chosen. Although we have sometimes been brought to appreciate a previously unloved work by a singer who can show us its worth, still we prefer to hear works that speak (sing) to us.

Schumann's Liederkreis, Op.39 is just such a work. Repeated hearings allow us to discover new ideas and feelings we may have overlooked. It is in Italian opera and German lieder that we can best appreciate the multiple features of a singer's artistry.

From the very first phrase sung by baritone Adrian Timpau we could assess that magical undefinable appeal that connects the singer with the audience, heart to heart. Mr. Timpau must love these songs and they fit his voice like a bespoke suit. The timbre is at times soothing and at other times forceful but there is always a connection with the material.

His German provided no opportunity for criticism. Vowels were round and resonant whilst consonants were crisp. We could understand every word without glancing at the program. Phrasing was lovely and there was ample dynamic variety.

This cycle tells no story--it is just a collection of splendid songs in different moods. Our favorite song is "Waldegespräch".  Mr . Timpau changed the warm color of his voice heard in "Intermezzo" to one of harshness as he sang the words of the rider in the forest who perhaps means no good toward the beautiful woman he comes upon, who just so happens to be the witch Lorelei. We could discern Mr. Timpau's intention to color their two voices differently but we sense that he could do just a little bit more to establish the man's character, whether he interprets him as seductive, well meaning, or evil. We would wish for a lighter color for the woman's voice.

In "Auf einer Burg" Mr. Timpau ensured that we saw through his eyes--the stone statuary and the abandoned hermitage.  Collaborative pianist Nate Raskin made sure that we heard, through his fingers, the rain, the woodland birds, and the musicians.  The performance was a revelation.

Mr. Raskin's piano was at all times in the moment. We loved the peaceful introduction to "Mondnacht" and the piano part of "Schöne Fremde". The searching melody in the piano created a spooky mood for Mr. Timpau's anxious verse in "Zwielicht". "Im Walde" was notable for the aural picture created by the artists--birds, hunting horns, and all.

We have one observation and perhaps a suggestion for Mr. Timpau. We noticed that he clasped his hands in a ministerial pose for the entire cycle. We would suggest that he loosen his grip and allow his hands to express what comes across so successfully in his voice.

Soprano Gabriella Reyes de Ramírez needs no such encouragement. Her body and face are as expressive as her large voice. The fine vibrato lent some serious overtones that we felt in the bones of our middle ear. The molecules in the room were dancing.

Her collaborative pianist Zalman Kelber was with her every step of the way. It's a fine voice for Strauss and we have no criticism of her German in the four selections we heard, but we enjoyed the Spanish more, probably because we don't get to hear it as often as we'd like.

Joaquín Turina's Poema en Forma de Canciones is a fine composition, filled with Andalusian flavor, so well captured by Ms. Ramírez and Mr. Kelber.  The Spanish rhythms of the lengthy piano introduction to "Nunca olvida" made us want to get up and dance.  

All the songs in this cycle are about love--disappointed love, ambivalent love, and love for the goddess Venus. Our favorite in this group was "Las locas por amor" when Venus turns down long term sensible love for brief mad passion! Yes indeed!

As much as we enjoyed these Spanish songs about love, we were over the moon for Ms. Ramírez' performance of "Carceleras" from the 1889 zarzuela Las Hijas del Zebedeo by Ruperto Chapí. In this song, the singer tells of her love for her sweetheart in extravagant metaphor. To say that Ms. Ramírez threw her all into this song is saying a lot; there is a lot of her and it is all wonderful!

(c) meche kroop

DOUBLY TALENTED

Minjung Jung and Ji Yung Lee at uilliard Morse Hall

Last night was a chance for Ji Yung Lee to shine with dual artistry. She appeared first as a singer, offering three selections from Richard Strauss' Mädchenblumen in which the text compares different flowers to different types of women. This is an opportunity for the singer to exhibit different colors and moods, which this lovely soprano had no difficulty achieving.

Her bright soprano sounded beautiful in the upper register, but we could best appreciate her facility with German in "Epheu" which has a lower tessitura.  Our only complaint was the use of the music stand. This loathed piece of stage furniture was used for the entire recital, to our dismay. The collaborative pianist for the Strauss was the excellent Minjung Jung.

For the remainder of the program, Ms. Lee served as collaborative pianist; it would be an understatement to say that we are impressed when an artist can do justice to two fields. 

Her accompaniment of bass William Guanbo Su was excellent; she has a real feel for Brahms. We confess to a certain antipathy for this composer's  Vier Ernste Gesänge largely due to their pious nature. The Bible comes in last in our appreciation of literature. We far prefer the sanguine Brahms with his lighthearted folk songs and ironic romantic despair.

That being said, a wonderful singer can nudge our appreciation in a positive direction and this was accomplished by Mr. Su whose richly textured instrument and expressive coloration went a long way toward alleviating the tedium of the preachy text.  He was particularly fine in the lowest end of the register.  Now, if only he could abandon the music stand!

If mezzo-soprano Marie Engle continued this connection-blocking habit, we were feeling more tolerant since she was a last minute replacement for the ailing Kady Evanyshyn. We are sure she has studied Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben for some time, however, because she invested the work with all the various moods and colors called for by the text.

Ms. Engle has a pleasant voice quality and a fine command of German. Her interpretation of the earlier songs dealing with naiveté, excitement and girlish glee were right on point. That she was also able to convey shock and sorrow came as a surprise to us since that emotion is more difficult to convey by acting. In the final song, she employed a wider vibrato that added to the depiction of grief and despair.

It was in the affecting major/minor shifts that the two artists showed their stuff, leading to a very effective performance in spite of the music stand! We would love to hear this pair perform the same cycle off the book.  Put it on my wishlist!

(c) meche kroop

GERMAN FORUM SCORES A BIG WIN

Mariella Haubs, Babette Hierholzer, Gerard Schneider, and Jardena Fluckiger

Evenings of classical music offer many delights but transcendent moments happen but occasionally and produce feelings of incomparable bliss. We experienced just such a moment last night at the German Forum concert at the intimate Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center.

The special moment occurred when tenor Gerard Schneider was singing Richard Strauss' "Allerseelen". The poet tells of the sole day of the year when one gets to reunite with loved ones who are no longer on this earth. Mr. Schneider sang it with a depth of feeling that leapt right from his heart to ours. It was the the kind of connection we dream about and what every singer longs to achieve. Our eyes brimmed with tears.

By contrast, he sang Strauss' "Zueignung" with a blend of tenderness and passion that was thrilling to hear. Here is a tenor well on his way to superstardom who knows exactly how to use his gorgeous instrument. He also sang selections from Schumann's Dichterliebe with great control of dynamics and color, soothing the sore ears we got from enduring a recent awful performance, one we declined to write about.

And if one wanted something lighter, he gave us "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz", the well known aria from Franz Lehar's Land des Lachelns; he sang it ardently and we were completely enraptured. "Ach, so fromm" from Friedrich von Flotow's Martha was sung with the tender tones of love.

Soprano Jardena Fluckiger has a lovely pure tone and entertained us with some of our favorite songs by Hugo Wolf, selected from his Italienisches Liederbuch. She has an expressive face that complements her voice, and when she employs bodily gesture it adds a fine dimension to her performance. We always love the racy "Ich hab in Penna einen Liebsten wohnen" and, after the punchline, Babette Hierholzer's piano contributed the most delightful postlude.

Ms. Fluckiger gave us some impressive coloratura singing in "Quel guardo" from Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale. The embellishments were well handled and there was a particularly fine trill.

Compared with the bel canto fireworks, the two songs by Claude Debussy from Quatre chansons de jeunesse seemed a bit pallid and wanted more color.

Rounding out this superb program was music for violin and piano, performed by Ms. Hierholzer and concertmistress of the Juilliard Orchestra Mariella Haubs, who deserves all the accolades she receives. She was playing a Peter Guarneri violin from 1721, loaned by The Juilliard School, and what a sound came from this instrument!

Ms. Haubs is beautiful and glamorous but if you close your eyes you would believe it was someone very very famous and of more advanced years. The star number was the first movement of Beethoven's Kreutzer sonata, the presto section of which is forceful and technically demanding of both pianist and violinist. The two artists rose to the occasion to such an extent that we wanted desperately to hear the rest of the sonata but, alas, it was not on the program.

Instead we heard "Winter" from Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, a seasonal selection in which we could hear the snowflakes falling. Also on the program was Mozart's Sonata in F Major with its rapid fire triplets.

The evening ended with two selections from Lehar's Die Lustige Witwe.  First, Mr. Schneider sang the role of Camille, Count de Rosillon, inviting Valencienne (Ms. Fluckiger) to a romantic rendezvous in a pavilion. Then we heard "Lippen schweigen", the Act 3 duet between Hanna and Count Danilo, accompanied by violin and piano.

The German Forum, helmed by President Henry Meyer-Oertel, provides performance opportunities for artists from German speaking countries and has a loyal and devoted following. Many of the members share a passion for German composers and, naturlich, the singers sing German the way it should be sung. Their events are always major treats! Those who read our opinions know how highly we esteem the versatile collaborative pianist Ms. Hierholzer. Watch out for the next event!

(c) meche kroop

SIX LANGUAGES, NO LESS!

Suchan Kim, Dina Pruzhansky,Kinneret Ely, Shu-Yu Hsiung

Regular readers recall how fond we are of bel canto. of duets, and of hearing wonderful songs we've never heard before.  All three conditions were experienced last night when versatile soprano Kinneret Ely performed a most enjoyable recital at The National Opera Center.

Let us begin with the new. While singing well in Italian, Russian, German, French and English, Ms. Ely seemed most at home in Hebrew. A 20th c. song by Nachum Nardi took us on a journey into the desert with the lovely melody bringing in the sounds of the camels' bells--beautiful achieved by Dina Pruzhansky. A lullaby by Yehiel Halperin took us to a gentler landscape, whilst Nira Chen's setting of a verse from the Song of Songs was exquisite.

All three songs were performed with simplicity by Ms. Ely who has a most winning stage presence, graciously telling the audience about each song on the program. Her exciting coloratura was saved for other material on the program. We never tire of "Una voce poco fa" from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Ms. Ely paid full attention to Rosina's spunky nature.

In the lengthy mad scene from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Ms. Ely accurately conveyed the many shades of madness experienced by the eponymous heroine. Here, Shu-Yu Hsiung's flute joined Ms. Pruzhansky's piano and the accompaniment left nothing to be desired.

It was a great benefit to have such a fine robust baritone as Suchan Kim on hand to perform Rigoletto to Ms. Ely's Gilda in the scene where she confesses and her father consoles. We've heard Verdi's Rigoletto several times in the past couple months and that is another scene of which we never tire.

In the less familiar "Doute de la lumière" from Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet, the couple switched from a paternal relationship to a romantic one and that was so swoon-worthy that we wanted to hear the entire opera.

Ms. Ely also gave us three sets of lieder in her generous program. There was a trio of Tosti songs that we enjoyed, although we would have wished for a little more legato to truly achieve the Italianate style.

A trio of Strauss songs delighted us with Ms. Pruzhansky especially wonderful in Morgen. Ms. Ely clearly knows how to pronounce the difficult "ch" as she demonstrated in the word "glücklichen"; so we hope she will become more consistent as in "Zecher" and "Becher", where more definition was needed. (We confess to being rather nit-picky with our German.)

A pair of Rachmaninov songs rounded out the program and sounded fine. (We confess to knowing very little about Russian diction!) Ms. Pruzhansky nailed the sound of the rushing water in "Spring waters" whilst Ms. Ely nailed the hopefulness engendered by the coming of Spring.

As encore, we heard the delightful "Vanilla Ice Cream" from the Harnick/Bock musical She Loves Me, which Ms. Ely sang in a most charming manner.

At a time when most young sopranos sound identical, it was a pleasure to hear one with a unique tone involving substantial vibrato. Interestingly, in the role of Rosina, there was a rich mezzo-soprano quality in her lower register.

We are sure to be hearing more from this promising young artist.

(c) meche kroop

A PRE-VALENTINE TREAT FROM THE GERMAN FORUM

Michael Hey, Magda Gartner, Babette Hierholzer, Äneas Humm, Alexander Liebermann, and Henry Meyer-Oertel

Those who love German culture (count us in!) should be aware of the exciting events programmed by the German Forum, of which Henry Meyer-Oertel is President and Babette Hierholzer is Artistic Director. This worthwhile organization gives young German-speaking artists the opportunity to perform in New York City. We have attended several of their events and have always enjoyed them immensely.

Last night we were introduced to two excellent new singers, a highly talented organist, a 20th c. Swiss composer, and a contemporary composer whose work we actually loved (surprise!); we also enjoyed a lovely cocktail hour with German delicacies. Food for the spirit and food for the body!

Most astonishing of all is the 20-year-old lyric baritone Äneas Humm whose talent surpasses his youth by a huge factor. It is a beautiful instrument with lovely overtones; the manner in which he employs it indicates a great deal of serious study. A Züricher, he is already well known in Europe.  Last night was his New York debut.

He showed vocal expressiveness in two songs by Edvard Grieg and a trio of songs by the 20th c. Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck, a composer to whom we were thrilled to be introduced. Having gone online to amend our ignorance we discovered that he wrote several hundred songs. We can only hope that other singers will avail themselves of this vast collection. The three we heard were lovely, with our favorite being the melodic "Nachklang" with text by von Eichendorff.

Mr. Humm gave a tender performance of "O du mein holder Abendstern", from Wagner's Tannhaüser, exhibiting fine dynamic variety and coloring. Babette Hierholzer accompanied him beautifully on the piano. From Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore, he sang "Come Paride vezzoso" with substantial control of the phrases at the lower end of the register and a nice facility with the fioritura. He made a very good attempt at portraying the arrogant Belcore but his gentle nature kept poking through.

He also sang a pair of songs by the prolific Viktor Ullmann who died tragically during the Holocaust. This is another composer who merits more attention from singers. Mr. Humm sang two songs from The Songbook of Hafis, translated from Farsi and dealing with the jolly and tragic aspects of alcoholism.

As if this were not enough, we heard the world premier of "Le Fugitif" by the gifted young composer Alexander Liebermann. Readers may recall how much dissatisfaction we have expressed with contemporary songwriting and will be surprised to learn that we loved this song, not only the piano writing but the satisfying melodic vocal line. The French text was beautifully sung by Mr. Humm. We want to hear more from Mr. Liebermann!

French seemed to be the language of choice for mezzo-soprano Magda Gartner who excelled in her "Seguidilla" from Bizet's Carmen and also in "Nobles seigneurs" from Giacomo Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. Her French was superb.

We enjoyed "Sei wir wieder gut" from Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos and also two arias in Italian from this tri-lingual artist. She graciously introduced us to two of Mozart's ladies going off the deep end. We heard Donna Elvira's "Ah! Fuggi il traditor!" from Don Giovanni which showed off her bright upper register and then Dorabella's difficult aria "Smanie implacabili" from Cosi fan tutte, in which she captured the character's adolescent angst.

We do not consider ourself to be a fan of organ music but we were definitely dazzled by the artistry of Michael Hey who is establishing an impressive career since graduating from Juilliard last year.  He "let out all the stops" (sorry about that) in Léon Boëllmann's "Toccata" from Suite Gothique and in Max Reger's "Phantasy on chorale" which reminded us of Phantom of the Opera.  

He also gave a nuanced reading of J.S. Bach's "Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele".

We always enjoy Ms. Hierholzer's collaboration, giving each artist a fine partnership and being particularly attuned to the varying demands of the music.

This was an almost overwhelming recital, stuffed with delectable goodies. We always enjoy discovering new music and new artists. We are feeling grateful to the German Forum for providing this experience.

(c) meche kroop

ALAN GILBERT CONDUCTS JUILLIARD ORCHESTRA

Alan Gilbert conducting Juilliard Orchestra (photo by Chris Lee)

Maestro Alan Gilbert has been music director of the New York Philharmonic for the past six years and also serves as director of conducting and orchestral studies at The Juilliard School. If we had a private moment with him we would love to ask him whether the musicians of the former could deliver a better performance than the Juilliard Orchestra did last night.  We doubt it. We are not sure what percentage of the musicians are graduating but it’s certain that this particular group will never play together again and this may have been responsible for the intensity and excitement of their performance.

Mr. Gilbert is an uncommonly lively conductor, using not just his hands, not just his upper body, but his entire body, making the performance a dance-like event.  We got The Full Monty!  This total involvement served to bring out the best in his young musicians and we think any orchestra in the world would be fortunate to have a Juilliard graduate as a member.

The program was well chosen—Richard Strauss’ 1888 tone poem Don Juan and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony which premiered in 1813. Both works delight our 19th c. ears and we found ourselves wondering why contemporary symphonic music is so unlistenable. Until a composer comes along who can engage us we will just be obliged to stick to the masters. And what masters they were!

Composers of lieder found poetry that they liked and supported it, amplified it and explored it through the means of voice and piano, with another instrument occasionally thrown into the mix. The text seems to float on the surface of the music. Composers of symphonic tone poems also used literary devices but more as inspiration.  Strauss was inspired by the Nikolaus Lenau version of the Don Juan tale in which the hero is more of a romantic dreamer than an entitled rogue.  He supposedly was searching for his romantic ideal—a woman who embodied all women, an überfrau, if you will.

Perhaps we were not able to hear all this in the work but what we did hear was thrilling—the rousing opening theme followed by a more lyric one introduced by the compelling concertmaster Simon Michal. There was a frisky theme and a somber one, with brass fanfares interrupting periodically. The ending did suggest the death of the Don, announced by strings and kettle drum. One could certainly hear the fading heartbeat.

In the Beethoven, the first movement was introduced by rising scale passages and octave skips. The themes were clearly laid out in classical fashion and the carefully worked out development section revealed the master’s genius. When he dips into the minor key it is wrenching. We have heard so-called musical experts claim that Beethoven was not a good melodist but relied solely on rhythm. We disagree. The melodies of this work are memorable and hummable. The part with which we do agree is that Beethoven used rhythm most effectively with phrases crisply articulated.

The second movement appeared to belong to the strings with the lower strings introducing a somber theme which was picked up and expanded by the violins.  The theme was developed with endless inventiveness and intricacy.  Not one note or phrase of this was missed by Maestro Gilbert and the Juilliard Orchestra. As we heard in the development section of the first movement, there were compelling contributions from the winds.

The energetic third movement leaned heavily on rhythm as the theme bounced around from one section of the orchestra to the other. The excitement was palpable. The final movement gave conductor and musicians alike a real workout. The entire symphony pulses with life and enjoys a unity that many symphonies do not. 

The program notes indicate that Beethoven contributed this work to a concert to benefit troops wounded in the Battle of Hanau, fought to prevent Napoleon’s retreat back to France after his ill-advised land grabs. Actually, the Austro-Bavarian corps lost the battle which is immortalized in Horace Vernet’s painting held at the National Gallery of London. War is an ill wind that blows some good when it inspires art and music.

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GERALD FINLEY MASTER CLASS

William Kelley, Joe Eletto and Gerald Finley

Every master class is different but they all share something in common. A famous singer with the ability to impart his/her knowledge works with a few different students, usually for about a half-hour each, and tries to give each one something useful.  Some students readily pick up on these gifts and others seem unable to grasp them, possibly because of the stressful circumstance of learning in front of an audience.

Yesterday's master class at Juilliard was exceptional in that baritone Gerald Finley possesses not only a great knowledge of his art but also the ability to find a point of entry to reach each student. The other reason it was exceptional is that the students of Juilliard's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts are preternaturally receptive and relaxed in front of an audience.

Most master teachers have a main theme to convey and Mr. Finley's had to do with the many aspects of intimacy. In contrast with the expansive "reaching out" of opera, lieder singing is an "inviting in" kind of performance. The singer must express who he/she is as an artist, emphasizing simplicity and vulnerability. It's a "heart-to-heart" kind of thing, an expression we ourselves have used to describe a number of Juilliard-trained singers. The singer must be the music and be the emotion so that the members of the audience can feel those feelings.  We are totally in agreement!

The first student was bass Daniel Miroslaw, working with collaborative pianist Valeriya Polunina. We were delighted that he chose to sing a song in his native Polish entitled "Whence the First Stars" by M. Karlowicz. Ms. Polunina was coached to begin with a note expressing the distance from the stars; one could hear the distance as this set the stage for Mr. Miroslaw. She also was coached to slow the tempo just a bit.

Mr. Miroslaw has a wonderfully rich instrument and he was coached to take his inspiration from the text and reminded to focus on the tone and the line, especially when singing his own language. Rests in the music become a cue to express emotion. He needed to ease up on the effort and this made an impressive difference. By the end of the half-hour we could feel the remoteness of the heavens!

The second singer was countertenor Eric Jurenas with Juliana Han at the piano. They began with Henry Purcell's "Sweeter than Roses". Mr. Finley instructed Mr. Jurenas to sing his English as if it were Italian, shifting the English "O" to an Italian "AW". It is always advisable to go by how it feels in the body rather than how it sounds. Since and open vowel resonates better less air is needed. Furthermore, it was advised to take more breaths and to make them meaningful. Ms. Han did so well with the Baroque style and the pair worked very well together.

Baritone Joe Eletto performed next with the always wonderful William Kelley producing marvelous colors on the piano. They performed "Schöne Fremde" from Robert Schumann's Liededrkreis, Op.39. Mr. Finley made an interesting point about knowing what came before a particular selection within the cycle.  He emphasized the necessity, when singing German lieder, to be totally aware of the text and to sing the words "immaculately". Every syllable requires vitality and energy.

In this song, the poet is expressing the strangeness of being in a foreign place; the place is indeed beautiful but overwhelming in its strangeness. After this bit of coaching we could indeed feel these unique feelings and were reminded of some of our stranger travels. Mr. Kelley sustained this mood right into the postlude.

The final student was soprano Christine Price who possesses an instrument just made for Strauss. She sang the moving "Mein Herz ist stumm, mein Herz ist kalt" from Sechs Lieder aus Lotosblätter, Op. 19, accompanied by William Kelley. The same advice about opening the vowels served here as well. How many times have we heard voice teachers saying to avoid widening the mouth on "AH". Attention was paid to the final consonants and their strict enunciation.

It was a master class in which each artist grew in intimacy and communication--a worthwhile class for both artists and audience.

(c) meche kroop

QUINTESSENTIAL QUINTILIANI

Barbara Quintiliani

It was during the set of Strauss songs that we had this thought:  "Ms. Quintiliani was born to sing Strauss".  Then we realized that during the Donizetti we thought her voice was perfect for bel canto.  By the end we realized that this abundantly gifted soprano could sing just about anything.

With an instrument that is as flexible as it is ample, this artist also has a delightful and engaging stage presence and a winning sense of humor.  There is not a whiff of diva about her.  She could be the girl next door until she opens her mouth to sing. She possesses a voice of great power that she can rein in with consummate control in the pianissimo passages.

Although she states that she is mostly given work as a crazy harridan, we enjoyed the way she can also express tenderness as in Strauss' tear-jerker "Befreit" in which a couple faces the death of one of them with courage and acceptance.  Nonetheless, our favorite in the Strauss set was "Die Nacht".

The first time we heard Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia was at Caramoor last summer and we were thrilled to get a second hearing of "M'odi, ah M'odi...Era desso" in which the titular character is begging her son to accept the antidote to the poison she has just administered (!).  She goes through a panoply of emotions ending in remorse and abject grief.  Ms. Quintiliani got them all right with a veritable explosion of fioritura.

She gave a fine performance of four early songs by Verdi in which one can hear his bel canto roots as well as the crafting of melodies one would observe in his later operas.  Our hands-down favorite was "Non t'accostare all'urna" in which the ghost of the singer berates the man who grieves-- his love is too little and too late.  Ms. Q's voice dripped with rejection and scorn. There was an enviable portamento as well.

To relieve the intensity, Ms. Q. sang the delightful "Brindisi" to which collaborative pianist Sean Kelly provided the oom-pah-pah accompaniment.

Also on the program was an aria from Cherubini's Médée--"Vous voyez de vos fils", in which the heroine gives way to her fury which remains an  undercurrent even when she pleads for Jason's return.  We never heard Callas sing it but we don't think there could be a more fiery performance than the one we heard last night.

We also heard two songs that were new to us by the Dutch/American composer Richard Hageman in which the piano writing was particularly lovely and beautifully played by Mr. Kelly.

"Ocean! thou mighty monster" from Carl Maria von Weber's Oberon closed the program but didn't end the delights, since Ms. Q. provided a most welcome encore--"Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" from Catalanis La Wally.  It was then that we had the thought: "This artist is born to sing realismo opera".  Now we are wondering what she sounds like in something by Wagner.  That's just something to look forward to!  Martha Cardona Theater might just be the one to undertake that!  Daniel Cardona, are you listening?

Let it be noted that diction was equally fine in English, Italian, French and German.

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