IT'S CLASSIC, IT'S LYRIC, IT'S ARTISTIC--IT'S CLASSIC LYRIC ARTS!

Artistic Director of Classic Lyric Arts Glenn Morton and his talented group of young artists

A gala is defined as a social occasion with special entertainments or performances, a festive celebration-- and that is exactly what transpired last night when Classic Lyric Arts celebrated its young artists and entertained those denizens of Planet Opera fortunate enough to be at the annual Fall Benefit Gala.

For those of you who don't already know, CLA runs two highly esteemed programs which aim to advance the careers of young singers by on-site immersion in the cultures of France (L'Art du Chant Français) and Italy (La Lingua della Lirica). Everything is covered--diction, style, repertoire, stagecraft, and career development. The students are also given international performing opportunities.

Filmmaker August Ventura has documented these programs for anyone to witness the magic that takes place, and we have attended some of the master classes taught by some truly brilliant teachers who brought out the best in their students.

We will come to the entertainment part of the evening shortly but first we wanted to comment on the tribute given to the program by former student Dorothy Gal who shared with the audience some charming stories about the training she received. She was not the only alumna present. These young artists develop a strong loyalty to the programs and a deep attachment to Artistic Director Glenn Morton.

As far as the singing goes, we were royally entertained as the students showed off their newly acquired artistry.  Beautiful soprano Mikaela Bennett, fresh out of the Italian program, provided a splendid performance of "O, mio babbino caro" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi.

There was a sparkle in her top notes and plenty of pleading, enough to convince her poppa to give her anything she wanted. We just recently heard her for the first time with Steven Blier's "Sing for your Supper", singing cabaret in English. It was quite a treat to learn of her skills in Italian.

We adored mezzo-soprano Kady Evanyshyn's lovely performance of "Connais-tu le pays" from Ambroise Thomas' Mignon  for its long lyrical phrases and fine French style. This gave firm evidence of her hard work in both programs.

Does anyone not love "Ah! mes amis" from Donizetti's La fille du régiment? One tends to hold one's breath waiting for the tenor to nail those high C's and Vincent Festa tossed them off without a sign of strain. High notes aside, the aria was delivered with beautiful tone and apt sincerity.

We always love a good duet and the lovely Larisa Martinez paired with baritone Suchan Kim for "Tutte le feste al tempio" from Verdi's Rigoletto. The pair sounded excellent together and succeeded in conveying all the pathos required. Ms. Martinez' voice opens up beautifully on top and Mr. Kim has a full tone with a great deal of depth.

Vera Kremers sang "Youkali" by Kurt Weill and made every word count.  Even at the top of her register, we understood every word. This was perhaps the best French diction we have ever heard from someone not born in France. Her bright voice was firmly grounded. We would have liked a bit more emphasis of the tango rhythm but we got plenty of that from Laetitia Ruccolo's piano.

The quartet from Puccini's La Bohème is a wonderful showpiece. Rodolfo and Mimi have a tender moment while Marcello and Musetta are having a knock-down drag-out fight. Soprano Nadia Petrella gave us a tender well-modulated Mimi with tenor Matt Greenblatt a fine Rodolfo. Ms. Bennett returned as Musetta with baritone Bret Thom as Marcello. These four graduates of the Italian program perfumed the air with virtual garlic. Michael Sheetz was the excellent accompanist.

Händel's opera Serse is one of the composer's best. In "Va godendo/Io le dirò", the role of Serse, usually sung by a mezzo-soprano, was sung by Gon Halevi while Jordan Rutter sang the part of Arsemene, which is also generally sung by a mezzo-soprano. In a kind of reverse gender-bending, these two countertenors made a special kind of music. It's a fach of which we are very fond and we enjoyed the change.

Soprano Tamara Rusque gave a moving performance of Cio-Cio San's big aria of self-delusion--"Un bel di vedremo" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Her big rich sound has an impressive resonance and her acting skills were convincing.

Dongling Gao left the European world behind and graced us with a lovely Mandarin love song accompanied by Jia-Jun Hong. And finally, three handsome dudes performed the trio from On the Town by Leonard Bernstein.  Michael Stewart accompanied while Mr. Greenblatt, Mr. Thom, and Jon Thierer had a marvelous time with it; the joy was reflected on the faces of the audience.

We want to give three cheers to the programs, the artists, and to Glenn Morton.  So....hip, hip, hooray.  Or as we say nowadays, WOOT!

(c) meche kroop

CLASSIC LYRIC ARTS GALA

Briana Hunter, Elizabeth Chang, Stella Papatheodorou (photo by Leslie M. Ritch)

 Classic Lyric Arts is an organization that shares our goal of advancing the careers of young singers.  President and Artistic Director Glenn Morton hosted a Spring Benefit Gala last night at the Kosciuszko Foundation which was supported by the Gerda Lissner Foundation.  This was a wonderful opportunity for guests to hear some promising young singers and an equally wonderful opportunity for the young singers to show off what they have learned at the two European training programs.  Most of the singers have attended both La Lingua della Lirica in Emilia-Romagna and L'Art du Chant Français in the Périgord region.

We not only heard the singers but had plenty of time to speak with them about their experiences in the programs.  On both accounts one can consider the programs of CLA a huge success. Students are trained in diction, style, repertoire, stagecraft and career development.  They learn this from native speakers who teach in their own language.  It sounds like a total immersion experience.

The recital portion of the evening was led by Briana Hunter whose portrayal of Carmen in Bizet's "Gypsy Song" was as spirited as it was richly sung.  She will be performing the role at the Music Academy of the West.  She was joined by Stella Papatheodorou and Elizabeth Chang.

Madison Marie McIntosh and Terence Stone (photo by Leslie M. Ritch) 

"C'est le dieu de la jeunesse", a thrilling duet from Leo Delibes' Lakme was performed by sparkling soprano Madison Marie McIntosh and Terence Stone, whose voices harmonized so beautifully.


 A fun Rossini trio from Il Barbiere di Siviglia "Ah! Qual colpo/Zitti zitti" was sung by Maya Yahav Gour (who has a fine rich mezzo) along with tenor Vincent Festa and Xiaomeng Zhang.  Embellishments were handled in admirable bel canto style.

Sean Christensen and John Viscardi (Leslie M. Ritch)

Tenor Sean Christensen and baritone (yes, he is now a baritone and a fine one) John Viscardi did a fine duet from Puccini's La Bohème--"O Mimi tu più non torni".

Xiaoming Tian and Tamara Rusque (Leslie M. Ritch)

 Tamara Rusque gave Nedda a great big sound and some intense drama in her duet with Silvio from Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci.  Her Silvio was guest artist Xiaoming Tian.

Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi and Leonardo Caimi (Leslie M. Ritch)

Guest artists from Italy Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi and Leonardo Caimi thrilled the audience with their star-quality delivery of the duet "Parigi, o cara" from Verdi's La Traviata.  Ms. Lombardi also gave a moving account of "Un bel di" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly in which she floated the high notes and sustained the tone beautifully from pp to ff.  Mr. Caimi gave an equally moving performance of "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini's Tosca.  This heartbreaking aria was sung with gorgeous phrasing and dynamic control.  What a pleasure to hear familiar arias sung so well by native-born Italian artists.  The air fairly oozed garlic.

The trio from the finale of Gounod's Faust --"Anges purs, anges radieux" was sung by Adriana Velinova with a full and resonant soprano that filled the room.  Her Faust was Michael Papincak with Fan Jia as the Devil--both guest artists.

Mr. Morton accompanied Ms. Lombardi and Mr. Caimi.  Other accompanists were Eri Nakamura, Laetitia Ruccolo, Michael Sheetz and David Mamedov.

Closing the program was "Make our garden grow" from Leonard Bernstein's Candide, conducted by Michael Sheetz.  May CLA grow like Candide's garden!

© meche kroop

LA MAESTRA ITALIANA

Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi and Sean Christensen

Most master classes are both instructive and educational; they usually focus on interpretation, diction, phrasing--rarely on voice production, leaving such matters to the participants' own voice teachers.  Yesterday's master class was an exception--and it was exceptional.  Sponsored by Classic Lyric Arts which hosts programs of advanced studies in language, culture and classical repertoire in Italy and France, the class was taught by Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi, Director of Daltro Canto, dedicated to R&D of new approaches to vocal pedagogy.  The emphasis is described as "spontaneous vocal production through an understanding of energy flow and increased mind/body awareness".  Doug Han accompanied the artists.

As an observer and auditor, we noticed impressive changes in all four participants, sopranos Tamara Rusque, Elizabeth Novella and Dorothy Gal and tenor Sean Christensen.  We had never heard any of them sing beforehand but were able to compare their performance before working with Maestra Lombardi and after a half-hour of coaching.  The methods were new to us and seemed to involve a profound knowledge of anatomy and bio-energetics.  The guidance was given in Italian and translated by Glenn Morton, Artistic Director of Classic Lyric Arts.

There was some overlap but each participant was handled differently.  Signora Lombardi seemed to know exactly where each singer's tension was located and how to release it.  The entire body was brought into play, from the feet up.  There was a lot of emphasis on the spine and the hip joint.  Singing on one leg with the other swinging back and forth seemed to work wonders, as did wiggling the spine in serpentine fashion.

Much work was also done with the face.  Holding the lower lip between the fingers produced quite a difference as did wiggling the upper lip.  Who knew before today that showing the lower teeth could change the voice?  Or that the diaphragm was connected to the cervical vertebrae?  One singer was given a Ricola to hold between her back teeth.  Another interesting strategy was to bite the lower lip and vocalize.  Lacking the knowledge to understand how these strategies work we are nonetheless sure that the participants who are taking her weekend workshop will come away with a great deal of valuable knowledge.  The maestra is not only an amazing teacher but is a gifted artist herself--well known in all the famous opera houses of Italy as well as Paris, Zurich and Stuttgart.  How admirable that she is sharing her unique discoveries with the next generation.  Bravissima!

© meche kroop

LES CONTES D'HOFFMAN

Won Whi Choi and Kirsten Scott (photo by Jen Joyce Davis)

At world famous opera houses, singers fly in from all over the world, generally experienced in the role for which they have been hired; they have the briefest of rehearsal times.  Not so at Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance, a program she began a decade ago.  Participants in the program are chosen by audition from a large field of applicants and given scholarships; they spend a considerable period of time in concentrated study, focusing mainly on character development and authenticity.  Coaches and master teachers help them hone their skills.  The results are impressive.  The young singers, many on the cusp of major careers, work together as an ensemble and give a performance of convincing authenticity.

We do not go to the opera to learn about current events and politics; we go to be transported to another time and place.  This goal is best achieved by supporting the intentions of the composer and librettist and this is something at which Prelude to Performance excels.  We do not see machine guns, cell phones or black leather coats.  We see what audiences saw when the opera was first premiered.  In the case of Les Contes d'Hoffman, that was 1881 at the Opéra Comique.  Jacques Offenbach had seen a play entitled Les Contes Fantastique d'Hoffman, written in 1851 by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, which had woven together a number of stories written by E.T.A. Hoffman between 1814 and 1819; he chose Mr. Barbier as his librettist.  Poor Mr. Offenbach died shortly before the premiere and had not finished orchestrating the work.  Fervent musical scholarship has nearly succeeded in eliminating the spurious changes to the work and come up with a definitive version.

The framework of the story is the character Hoffman recounting the three great loves of his life and his realization that his current lady love, the diva Stella, is an amalgam of all three-- the young girl, the musician and the courtesan.  The theme of the story is the devotion of the artist to his craft versus the pursuit of love.  The character The Muse takes on the identity of Hoffman's best friend Nicklausse and takes part in all three of his adventures, always trying to rescue him from his ill-fated romantic adventures so that he may devote his life to art.  Each act has a villain, the personification of evil and Hoffman's nemesis.

In last night's cast, tenor Won Whi Choi impressed us with his beautiful singing and convincing acting.  His Hoffman was well into his cups during the Prologue, doing a memorable rendition of "Kleinzach"; he created a sympathetic poet who cannot take care of himself and really needs The Muse to bail him out.  The power of his voice grew as the evening progressed and he shone both in his arias and in his duets.

As The Muse, Kirsten Scott created a winning character and sang with a lovely evenness of tone throughout her register.  One sensed the worthiness of her motives and the resourcefulness of her strategies.  We particularly enjoyed her "Violin Aria".

As the perennial heavy, bass-baritone Yuriy Yurchuk was evil personified.  In the tavern scene, he was the arrogant Councillor Lindorf who plots to steal the Prima Donna Stella away from Hoffman.  In the Olympia act, he portrayed the nasty Dr. Coppelius who sells Hoffman the magic glasses that make him see the doll as a real woman.  In the Antonia act, he is the wicked Dr. Miracle who causes Antonia's death.  In the Giulietta act he is the evil magician who bribes Giulietta with a diamond in order to steal Hoffman's reflection.  In every case, he created a different color of evil.  Let us not fail to mention the richness of his voice.  This man has low notes to spare!

One more character appears in every act as a servant and tenor Francisco Corredor deserves to be singled out for his contribution as comic relief.  His Cochenille moved as mechanically as Olympia causing the audience to burst into laughter; he was again hilarious as the hearing-impaired Frantz who would really prefer singing and dancing to serving Dr. Crespel.  In the Giulietta scene he portrayed Pitichinaccio.

Bass Benjamin Bloomfield made a fine Luther, absorbing all the good natured taunts of the students.  He appeared again as Crespel, Antonia's possessive father and later as Schlémil, one of Giulietta's lovers.  Again, he excelled at creating different characters.

Originally, the three important women's roles were sung by the same soprano and this is occasionally done in modern times.  Nonetheless, due to the drastically different types of voices called for, it seems better to cast each role with a different soprano.  Last night we loved the finely honed coloratura of Mizuho Takeshita as Olympia the mechanical doll.  A superb lyric soprano Lenora Green was affecting as Antonia who loves Hoffman and loves singing and must make a choice.  The larger voice of Tamara Rusqué was perfect for the wily courtesan Giulietta.

Walker Jermaine Jackson made a fine Spalanzani; Samuel Thompson did equally well as Hermann; Chantelle Grant sang the voice of Antonia's mother; and Meroe Khalia Adeeb made a great diva in the role of Stella.

Robert Lyall conducted and we heard some fine sounds, especially from the woodwinds and horns.  We appreciated the directorial choices of E. Loren Meeker who kept the action moving and told the story cleanly without any directorial conceits.  Costume design by Charles Caine was exactly right, as were Wig and Makeup Design by Steven Horak who did especially well with the villain roles.

The set design was not credited but the entire opera took place in Luther's Nurenberg tavern with half-timbered walls.  It was simple and it worked.  The three "Tales" utilized a minimum of furniture which brought the attention to the singers.  The singers were the stars last night.  Even the chorus, directed by Nicholas Fox, shone brightly.  The opera will be repeated Saturday night and we are eager to see the other cast.  We expect they will put as much magic in the magic realism as last night's cast.

© meche kroop

TEACH 'EM LEECH

Richard Leech surrounded by Prelude to Performance singers

The major excitement of this week's Prelude to Performance Masterclass was witnessing some remarkable growth in the singers we heard a week ago and then observing even further growth based on the instruction by master teacher and renowned tenor Richard Leech. Mr. Leech's major point was the importance of communication with the audience; with that point we could not agree more.  He began by urging the students to build their craft to the level that they know their voice, know the role, and then to "just do it" by trusting that the voice will respond when the singer has something to say.

He quoted Kirsten Flagstad: "Singing is just speaking on pitch".  He further quoted his own voice teacher who told him to "be adequate" with adequacy being defined as fulfilling the task at hand.  Do the necessary work and then just set it aside!

Then Mr. Leech got down to the nitty-gritty with each student.  Over and over again he made the point of the importance of the words and counseled the students to give each vowel and consonant its full measure, especially in the recitatives.  He wanted each student to include the members of the audience and to let them into his/her inner thoughts.  The thought should precede the phrase that is sung.

Tenor James Knight sang "Una parola, o Adina" from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore with the excellent Maggie Sczekan.  The instruction to have him stop briefly and change the color between his calling out to her and the more internal aspect of speaking her name with great feeling worked wonders.

Tenor Javier Bernardo, so fine last week, had managed to incorporate Mr. Owens' lesson to great advantage and this week was instructed to establish a chain of little moments with frequent breaths in between; each moment must have a specific meaning.

Ignacio Gama, singing Dulcamara, was told that the bass is the heartbeat of a duet (or trio, or quartet) and must establish a strong rhythm.  The clarity of his character was emphasized.  When James Knight (who dropped the "Edgar"?) sang "Una furtiva lagrima", he was taught to let the audience into his private thoughts; this really made a difference!  Major WOW factor!

Halfway through the class, the performance of  Les Contes d'Hoffman was addressed.  We were impressed by the growth of tenor Won Whi Choi who gave a riveting interpretation of "Kleinzach", having been instructed to engage the audience and to think more about communicating than about making pretty sounds.  In this aria, rhythm is important in the storytelling.  Later, the tenor brilliantly sang a duet ("Malheureux, tu ne comprends donc pas") with silvery-voiced Tamara Rusqué who was advised to exaggerate the commas in order to separate Giulietta's thoughts.

In the duet "C'est une chanson d'amour", sung by tenor Joseph Brent as Hoffmann and soprano Janani Sridha as Antonia, Mr. Leech explained that in an extended duet such as this one, both singers must stay committed and remain in the same physical posture for a longer than average time.

It is enormously gratifying to hear each singer improve over such a short period of time.  Each master teacher has something different to offer.  We are eagerly anticipating next Wednesday's master class with Ken Benson who always makes valuable contributions.  The final master class will be given by Tito Capobianco on Friday 6/28, also at 6PM.  If you love singing, if you love singers, if you love learning--you should be there.  Furthermore, there will be a free taste from this lavish buffet table on Saturday at 3PM in Lang Hall of Hunter College.  And finally, you would be well advised to save the weekend of July 11th.  Both operas will have two performances with two different casts.  We are sufficiently impressed by the talent to want to hear both casts.

© meche kroop