TALENTS OF THE WORLD CHRISTMAS BALL

Talents of the World at Zankel Hall of Carnegie Hall

Talents of the World has been promoting the classical vocal repertoire since 2002 but only began their Annual International Voice Competition recently with three successful competitions so far. Their World Festival at Carnegie Hall began last year, a festival we enjoyed so much that we put this year's festival on our calendar the day it was announced. Perhaps you have read our review of their "Three Tenors" recital a few days ago.

Imagine filling up Zankel Hall during your second year! The word had gotten out and the hall was filled with those who love serious vocal music. Of course, it being Christmas season, there were plenty of Christmas songs on the generous program, which kept us entertained for nearly three hours. Songs are good if they are tuneful and well sung, no matter the genre.

Because we are so eager to support young talent, let us begin with the young artists to whom we were introduced at the competition earlier this month. We were overjoyed to get another chance to hear soprano Alina Tamborini perform "Adele's Audition Aria" from Johann Strauss' light-hearted operetta Die Fledermaus. We have attended coachings of this aria and we can tell you that Ms. Tamborini needs no coaching. 

Everything was perfect from her sparkly stage presence, to her vocal technique, to her humorous acting. Every gesture and facial expression seemed spontaneous, belying the hard work that must have gone into it. It is truly her "signature piece", offering opportunities for impressive handling of the fioritura--leaps and trills aplenty! It was sung in English with successful enunciation; none of the clever lines were blurred.

Another upcoming superstar is soprano Sooyeon Kang, whose performance of "Meine Lippen sie küssen so heiss" was a perfect choice, highlighting her expressive phrasing, pure tone, and fine German diction. We could understand the words, even in the upper register where her voice blooms with beauty.

Baritone Bryan Murray has been winning competitions as if he were gathering flowers; we were there for most of them. He pleases the judges as successfully as he pleases the audience. His Figaro is a knockout! Just when we thought we'd seen the ultimate "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, along came Mr. Murray with a few interesting gestures and sensational aptitude for the patter section.

Mr. Murray has remarkable stage presence as well as a full Italianate tone. As he strode the stage with the confidence of a, well, a Figaro, he was completely convincing.

Last night was our introduction to a terrific tenor, Joel Ricci. It is rare to find a young tenor who is confident enough not to push his voice. Mr. Ricci sings with ease, allowing us to relax into his warm sound without protecting our sympathetic throat from aching. With no setting or costumes, his voice created the garrett scene in which he meets Mimi in "Che gelida manina" from Puccini's La Bohême. 

The dynamic variety and Italianate phrasing were lovely and served him in good stead when Mimi, portrayed by soprano Maria Vetere, joined her Rodolfo in a very convincing flirtation. "O Soave Fanciulla" was so romantic and tender we could fall in love ourself! Mr. Ricci was on the make and Ms. Vetere was rather resistant. From where did she get her willpower!

Another highlight of the evening was getting to hear President and Founder of Talents of the World David Gvinianidze singing the Russian romance "Chrysanthemums" by N.Harito. He has a lovely rounded baritone sound and a soulful interpretation that entranced us, although we have no idea what the text was about. What impressed us the most was the way he spun out a pianissimo like a silken thread.

Our host for the evening and Director of Talents of the World, Olga Lisovskaya, had us on the edge of our seat with "O Luce di Quest'Anima" from Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix. She possesses a formidable instrument of great beauty and impressive coloratura technique, including a trill to kill.

Bass Zachary James, on loan from The Metropolitan Opera has a kingly sound that was just right for King Arthur's aria "If Ever I Would Leave You" from Lerner and Loewe's Camelot.

Baritone Gocha Abuladze has a substantial instrument with an appealing texture. We would have enjoyed his performance more if he had inflected his various arias with some variety. There was not much difference between his Don Giovanni and his Escamillo.

There were several glamorous sopranos on the program beside Ms. Lisovskaya. If no one sang we might have considered the evening a fashion show. Maria Maksakova sang the aria Lady Macbeth sings at the banquet; it was not listed on the program but her voice was just right for Verdi as it was for Dvorak's "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka. The audience loved her spirited "Russian Gypsy Romances". 

Petite Lyudmila Fesenko produced a sizeable sound in Dunayevsky's "Zazdravnaya". The aforementioned Ms. Vetere conveyed all of Aida's grief in "O Cieli Azzurri" with a particularly heart-rending "Mai piu". Anni Kolkhida sang Lara's "Granada" in superb Spanish with generous sound. 

We would like to point out here that the female singers utilizing the "tag team" approach that we heard at the Three Tenors concert a couple days ago were far more successful than the men. Several sopranos who "could have danced all night" in  Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady enhanced each other with cooperation instead of competition.

They also joined Ms. Lisovskaya for the sweet "Ding Dong Merrily on High" by Tabourot. Everyone joined in for "Libiamo" from Verdi's La Traviata and also for our favorite Christmas piece--Leontovych's "Carol of the Bells, much enhanced by the piano.

There were three excellent pianists for the evening--Stanislav Serebriannikov, Vera Danchenko-Stern, and Victoria Ulanovskaya--and a lovely violinist Sofia Khurtsilava. There was also a quartet of male dancers, one of whom dropped to a split in front of a glass of wine, proceeded to lift it in his teeth, and then drink it. Now that's something one doesn't see every day!

Aprile Millo was the special guest and sang two Georgian songs--"Do Not Sing to Me" which she dedicated to the late and much missed Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Rachmaninov's "Spring Waters". Our guest for the evening had heard Ms. Millo in her prime and found her voice to still be beautiful. But we cannot tell a lie. A singer who buries her nose in the score does not touch us at all. There was absolutely no connection and we found ourself focusing on the piano, which is what we usually do when the singer doesn't connect.

Nonetheless, by all accounts, it was a splendid evening! 

© meche kroop

FESTIVAL OR FEAST

John Irvin, Raul Melo, WooYoung Yoon, Tianchi Zhang, Omar Najmi, Victoria Ulanovskaya, Alexandra Naumenko, Olga Lisovskaya, and David Gvinianidze

We are about to celebrate a Southern Italian custom on Christmas Eve--the Feast of Seven Fishes--at the home of some dear friends.  We are not sure whether the idea is to have seven different courses of fish or to eat seven different species of fish. In actuality, in prior years we enjoyed un'abbondanza beyond seven of everything.

Such was the case last night with un'abbondanza of artistry from five terrific tenors and two prodigious pianists, augmented by the talents of baritone David Gvinianidze, Founder of Talents of the World, and Director of same, soprano Olga Lisovskaya. The evening celebrated the 135th anniversary of Enrico Caruso.

Whilst enjoying entertainment, we are also learning, always learning, always forming new opinions.  Our take home from last night is that all singers should become aware of their own strengths and play to them. There is nothing wrong with pushing oneself in new directions--in a voice lesson or in a coaching.  But when one steps onstage, it is best to confine oneself to the type of material that suits one's unique gifts.

Two young tenors did just that last night.  WooYoung Joon has been reviewed by us many times; his strength lies in his stage presence.  He is what is called "a stage animal" and it is no wonder that he consistently wins Audience Favorite awards. (He also won the Grand Prix of this festival's competition). He clearly has a character in mind before he comes onstage and his connection with the character results in an instant and profound connection with the audience.

His Tonio from Donizetti's Fille du Regiment begins with "Ah, mes amis" and we instantly felt he was addressing us in the audience as his friends. This ability to communicate supersedes technique! Of course, we also love his healthy young instrument with its ringing tone.

Another impressive artist, new to us and one of the prize winners, is Tianchi Zhang who performed "Salut! Demeure chaste et pure" from Gounod's Faust. He too understood his character and delivered the aria in fine French with ardent intent and some beautifully floated high notes. We particularly admired his pianissimo, and the apparent ease of sound production.

Yet another prize winner, Omar Najmi, performed "Questa o quello" from Verdi's Rigoletto and and an aria unfamiliar to us--"La Speranza piú soave" from Rossini's Semiramide. In neither case did we feel that the aria suited his voice. There was something going on with the texture of his instrument that we couldn't quite put our finger on and occasional problems with intonation. In any case, his is not a voice suited to bel canto at this point in time; we found the fioritura muddy. We need to hear Mr. Najmi again, singing something different.

John Irvin sounded marvelous as Lensky in "Kuda, kuda vy udalilis" from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, beautifully limning the character of the anguished young poet searching his soul on the brink of an unnecessary death.  The pianissimo moments particularly drew us in. We liked him much more than in Romeo's aria "Ah! Lève-toi soleil" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. The pianissimo passages were fine but he tends to push during the fortissimo passages.  High does not need to be loud!

Even famous tenors have better affinities for different types of music. Metropolitan Opera star Raul Melo can sing Neapolitan songs with all the requisite garlic and he did just that last night; "Core 'ngrato" was sung with affecting heartbreak. The same intensity worked magnificently in "Vesti la giubba" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in which he successfully convinced us of Canio's anguish. 

Mr. Melo's strong middle register lent gravity to "Ma se m'èforza perderti...Si, riverderti, Amelia" from Verdi's Un ballo in maschera; the aria fit his voice perfectly.  Not so "Una furtiva lagrima" from Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. Mr. Melo is not suited to Nemorino, not vocally and not dramatically.

Although the program was dedicated to Enrico Caruso, there seemed to be a heavy emphasis on the memory of The Three Tenors concerts which were a huge success and brought many new audience members to opera.  For our taste, there was too much group singing and we are going to tell you why.

Friday night, all the sopranos were equally gifted and equivalently versatile. But last night, the tenors were differentially gifted and not equivalently versatile, so having several of them singing various verses of the same aria served to highlight the tenor whose voice and demeanor best suited the aria, at the expense of the others. A case in point was "La donna è mobile", shared by Mr. Yoon who was flexible in the fioritura, Mr. Zhang who sounded fine, and Mr. Najmi who fell off pitch.

In "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot, Mr. Melo sounded fine, Mr. Yoon just about made the challenges of the low notes, and Mr. Irvin only succeeded in the midrange.

Still, we were happy to hear so many Neapolitan favorites at the end of the program, although it was disconcerting to see Mr. Irvin alone "on the book".  The evening ended with everyone sharing Denza's "Funiculi, funiculà", an audience favorite.

The evening would not have been complete without Mr. Gvinianidze's splendid baritone filling out Vincenzo DiChiara's "La Spagnola".  What a treat!

Pianistic artistry was shared by the lovely Alexandra Naumenko and Olga Ulanovskaya, who treated us to a piano medley of Italian melodies.

Tomorrow's Christmas Ball will bring in many voices and many types of music; it will be held in Zankel Hall at 7:00 PM.  Do not miss!

(c) meche kroop