CARMEN GETS WET

Theodore Sarge, Young-Kwang Yoo, Lara Secord-Haid, Matthew Pearce, Tahanee Aluwihare, Quentin Bruno,
and Geddy Warner

If you love revolution in opera, read no further.  Just try to snag a ticket to City Lyric Opera's current production of La Tragédie de Carmen at the West End Theater (at The Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew) before word-of-mouth books up the remaining performances. We promise you an entertaining evening. Our attention was captured for an hour and a half and we left filled with conflicting thoughts and feelings.

This production has one foot in Bizet's 1875 masterpiece and the other in Part III of Prosper Mérimée's novella (which masqueraded as a non-fiction travelogue). But it has both feet in the water upon which we will shortly elaborate. And it is up to its neck in directorial narcissism.

It is our opinion that a work of art should stand on its own merit and should not require exegesis. Imagine explaining the Mona Lisa! For that reason we do not read the program until after an opera ends. We prefer to allow it to affect us. Or not.

The 1981 work La Tragédie de Carmen is an adaptation of Bizet's masterpiece; and it is not a masterpiece. It is a condensed, telescoped version, preserving our favorite arias, but ditching the chorus, the local color, and many of the characters and scenes that tell the story. The emphasis is shifted to the four main characters and their intense interaction. 

Arias have been reshuffled like the cards that the titular Carmen uses to foretell her future. Jean-Claude Carrière wrote dialogue to knit the vignettes together and Marius Constant composed music to weave the arias together. Peter Brook directed it, reminding us how we wish the era of regietheater would end. Opera began as a composer's medium and put the singer center stage. In our opinion this is how it should be. Directors should stick to film!

That being said, it was a canny choice for the relatively young and daring City Lyric Opera. Their mission is to provide one-of-a-kind opera going experiences without expectation or financial burden. This they have achieved. They have managed to keep us well entertained and to find excellent singers to feature in their productions.

For example, we had the marvelous mezzo-soprano Tahanee Aluwihare whose dusky instrument and seductive presentation gave us a believable free-spirited Carmen. As Micaëla, soprano Lara Secord-Haid sang beautifully but had the unenviable task of making the shy but brave character into a nasty jealous shrew who attacks Carmen.

Our Don Jose was superbly portrayed by tenor Matthew Pearce who was strangely "promoted" to the rank of General, which made his subjection to the will of Zuniga (Geddy Warner) rather peculiar. Men of lesser rank cannot demote a General! Forgetting all that, he sang with beautiful tone and lovely phrasing--and no down-time to rest his voice.

As Escamillo, Young-Kwang Yoo used his fine baritone to advantage without any costume choices to aid in his characterization.

Considering musical values aside from voices, Maestro Rebecca Tong led a chamber orchestra of 15, emphasizing the suitability of this production for a boutique opera company. We cannot claim to be completely satisfied with the balance; the piano sounded particularly odd when contrasting the cheerful theme of the bullfight with the tragic theme of Carmen's death. A recording by a full orchestra was used for the bullring music and this was poorly integrated with the live music.

Addressing the production values, some ideas were valid and some struck us as bizarre. The program notes would have the audience believe that the reflections on the water are meant to make us reflect upon our emotional gaps and how we fill them. Not for one moment during the show nor afterward has this entered our introspective mind. We cannot say that mirrors would have served better but we can say that making singers perform in several inches of water seems a form of artist abuse.

When Don Jose and Escamillo fight with water pistols (we kid you not) the audience laughed out loud, as they did at other points in the performance. We are not saying that comic moments don't belong in a tragedy; the Bard himself had humorous scenes in his tragedies. But this was just weird.

It also seemed inapposite for Micaëla and Carmen to have a cuddle session toward the end. There was not a shred of evidence to motivate that scene. As a matter of fact the condensation of the plot did not provide much motivation for a lot of the action. The wedding scene came at a point when Carmen was through with Don Jose and we thought it was a fantasy of his.

In the Mérimée novella, Micaëla does not even exist-- but Garcia, Carmen's husband (Quentin Bruno) does. His presence in this version seemed to serve to illustrate Don Jose's violent nature.

The rape/death scene seemed particularly badly directed since Carmen just lay down in the water as if she wanted to be raped. If this was supposed to make some kind of psychological point, it didn't float.

The production team comprised Victoria Collado as Director, Anna Driftmier as Scenographer/Costume Designer, and Charlotte McPhearson as Lighting Designer. We are not sure but surmise that directorial decisions were made jointly. 

In any case, Ms. McPhearson's lighting was suitably dramatic. An ensemble of three men wore headbands with bright lights which added to the eerie quality. They were Theodore Sarge (who had a brief moment as Lillas Pastia making a speech), Quentin Bruno (who had his brief moment as Garcia), and Geddy Warner (who had his brief moment as Zuniga).

We were wondering whether opera newbies would be the right audience for this piece. It is short. It is dramatic. It has sex and violence. We tried to approach it with the openness of a newbie and still found fault. What about diehard opera fans? We think they would find it a travesty with all that cut-and-paste of the music. Of course, it could be fun to identify where in the Bizet the music was taken from. "Oh wait!  Isn't that the music from where Micaëla is looking for Don Jose in the mountains?"

Perhaps if someone want to retell the Carmen story, he/she might consider writing their own music!

Photos from the production can be seen on our Facebook page--Voce di Meche.

(c) meche kroop

ALANNA FRAIZE PROFESSIONAL STUDIES RECITAL

Alanna Fraize

We are gluttons for vocal music! We were feeling totally satisfied by a superb George London Foundation concert at The Morgan Library and yet...and yet we could not pass up the opportunity to hear the lovely mezzo-soprano Alanna Fraize for what could be the last time for a couple years. Students we love at the local conservatories graduate and enter young artist programs around the country and around the world. We lose sight of them for awhile and have only our memories to hold onto until they return. And by then they are usually famous!

We have followed Ms. Fraize for a few years, both at Manhattan School of Music and in her performances with A.R.E. Opera (now City Lyric Opera). We have reviewed her Mozart, Rossini, Delibes, and Puccini. How could we not witness her final recital at MSM!

With that in mind we rushed up to Manhattan School of Music, rain-soaked and wind-blown. We were rewarded with some outstanding performances, our favorite of which was Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Although usually sung by a baritone, it is not unheard of for a woman to perform it. Indeed, Ms. Fraize has as deep a feeling for Mahler as a performer as we have as a listener.

The poet witnesses the marriage of the beloved to someone else. He (the actual translation of "Geselle" is "journeyman"--a step above an apprentice) endures the grief of loss, the consolation of nature (at first rejected but ultimately accepted) and finally comes to some kind of peace with himself. This offers the performer all kinds of opportunities to express grief, despair, suffering, and resolution. Whether Mahler first wrote it for voice and piano or voice and orchestra is debatable but there is no doubt that the evocative melodies appear in his symphonies.

Hearing Ms. Fraize's dramatic interpretation with all manner of vocal coloration justified our mad dash uptown. But that wasn't the only gem on the program. As much as we love Verdi's operas, we are enchanted by his songs. The fine vibrato Ms. Fraize employed suited the songs very well. We love the indifference of the singer in "Stornello" in contrast with the deprecating attitude toward the neglectful lover in "Non t'accostare all'urna".  "Keep your damn flowers", she says. "Where were you when I needed you".  ("You tell him sister", we were thinking.)

There was a set of songs by composers who wrote for film in the mid 20th c. Our favorite in this group was Nino Rota's "Come stai? Hai dormito?" from I due timidi which we enjoyed so much last winter at MSM.

The program closed with Jake Heggie's cycle Paper Wings, which was commissioned by Frederica von Stade who composed the lyrics. The work premiered in 1997.  We enjoyed Ms. Fraize's storytelling and personality in "Paper Wings". We also liked the bluesy "A Route to the Sky" in which we heard strains of Beethoven's "Für Elise" in the piano of Ms. Fraize's excellent coach/accompanist Nobuko Amemiya.

It was a lovely recital and there was a very special encore in which the singer's mother accompanied her singing "Song for Newfoundland" by Wayne Chaulk. Imagine all these years, all those reviews, and we never knew that Ms. Fraize comes from Newfoundland!  Let's have a big round of applause for Newfies!

(c) meche kroop

LONDON'S LOVELY LADIES

Ken Noda, Julie Adams, and Emily D'Angelo

After two weeks of operas about women being suppressed and abused it came as quite a relief to enjoy a George London Foundation recital in which two women made a strong showing of artistry and presence. Soprano Julie Adams and mezzo-soprano Emily D'Angelo have no qualms about showing both beauty and strength. We couldn't have imagined a better recital, well worth the soaking we got from yet another rainy day.

The big surprise was how Ms. D'Angelo's artistry surpassed our inherent dislike of American 20th c. songs. We have suffered through Copland's settings of Emily Dickinson's poetry on a few occasions and we were not expecting to be so drawn in. But, there it is! True artistry can bring out hidden qualities in anything. (We are thinking of how Moroccan Cauliflower Soup changed our mind about that previously detested vegetable.)

We felt as if this gifted young singer were composing the poetry as she sang it but actually, she was "merely" channeling Ms. Dickinson. Words on a page became experienced reality. "Heart we will forget him" was particularly affecting. She is a true story-teller!

She performed two works about eerie myths in a single set. In "The Seal Man" by 20th c. composer Rebecca Clarke, she related the story of a woman so madly in love that she follows her beloved into the sea and drowns-- quite a metaphor! We preferred Clara Schumann's telling of the tale of "Die Lorelie", probably because we prefer German lieder of the 19th c. better than 20th c. songs in English. The former rhymes and scans; the latter is prosy.

Ms. D'Angelo's instrument has a wonderful texture and her artistry has earned awards and recognition including a 2018 George London award. All the ingredients for success are there; it is gratifying to read about the many roles for which she has been chosen.

It take courage to include Schoenberg and Berg on a recital program. The vocal lines are strange to the ear and the text even stranger. And yet she made sense of them with her precise German and apt phrasing.

Nonetheless, our favorite among Ms. D'Angelo's selections was "Sein wir wieder gut" from Strauss' comedy Ariadne auf Naxos. She captured all the enthusiasm of a young composer who recognizes the reconciliation required of this most sacred art.

Ms. Adams is likewise the recipient of many awards including a 2015 George London award; she too has earned recognition for her powerful dramatic soprano which lent itself so well to "Elsa's Dream" from Wagner's Lohengrin. She sang with ardent passion and ringing tone, bringing out the yearning in Elsa's character. We loved it!

Lovers of Strauss (and we count ourself in that group) could not help but thrill to her performance of two songs--"Morgen" and "Beim Schlafengehen". Both songs are of a peaceful nature, the first one a shared peacefulness, and the second one a solitary peace. In "Morgen" we realized we were holding our breath! At the word "stumm", her coloration and diction took us into a new place. The violin accompaniment by David Chan echoed the vocal line to great effect.

And look how she interpreted a pair of songs by Rachmaninoff! We generally expect "Ne poy, Krasavitsa" to be sung by a man so it was an interesting choice. It is so filled with Russian soul that we could feel the pain in our heart. We love the way the piano echoes the Oriental mode of the vocal line and vice versa. In "Son" we enjoyed the dreamlike rippling in the piano. This seems like a good place to tell how much we appreciate Ken Noda's playing, about which we will have more to say further along.

Grieg too wrote about a dream. In "Ein Traum" the dreamer's dream becomes reality and what passion we heard in Ms. Adams' coloration! This set of songs included some low lying passages but this did not daunt our singer, not even in the regret filled "Zur Rosenzeit".

We were thinking how perfect the recital would have been had there been a duet. Lo and behold, these two lovely ladies provided an encore that was the perfect cherry on the sundae--"Belle nuit" from Offenbach's Contes d'Hoffman. We had just heard it Friday night but would be happy to hear it again tomorrow. The harmony of the two contrasting voices was delicious and it didn't hurt that these two ladies looked the parts they played. There was shapely Ms. Adams with flowing blond locks, very believable as an enchanting courtesan; and next to her the stately Ms. D'Angelo with her short hair and androgynous attire, looking like a young student.

We could end here on a high note, so to speak, but we would be remiss not to say more about the superb violinist Mr. Chan who opened the program playing the "Allegro vivo" from Debussy's Sonata in G minor. We know very little about violin technique but we know artistry when we hear it and noticed how similar the violin is to the human voice in terms of dynamics and phrasing. Both Mr. Chan and Mr. Noda began with a delicate touch that quickly swelled into passion. Mr. Noda's piano produced purling figures to accompany and support the wordless voice of the violin.

The two instrumentalists were even more impressive in the "Méditation" from Massenet's Thaïs in which the violin sang its secrets supported by some gorgeous arpeggi in the piano. We love the way tenderness gave way to passion.

What an exceptional concert! We love the fact that the George London Foundation supports these young singers at the early stage of their careers and then invites them back a few years later so we can assess their growth. We love witnessing promise becoming perfection!

(c) meche kroop

MORE #METOO

Scott Lindroth, Amelia Hensley, Helena Brown, Andrew Dwan, Allison Gish, Victor Khodadad,
Julia Tang, and Barbara Porto

Social movements generally take a while to get off the ground and then, it seems, they reach critical mass and dominate the conversation. In the past ten days we have reviewed a half-dozen operas with the theme of women suffering from egregious male misbehavior-- being intimidated by male power and made to feel guilty for male lust. We will indeed be overjoyed when this situation is eliminated. New Camerata Opera has joined the movement with an excellent realization of The Rape of Lucretia.

The Rape of Lucretia was composed by Britten as one of a group of chamber operas written in the impoverished post-World War II period when faith and funds were in equally short supply in Great Britain. The libretto by Ronald Duncan is prosy, declamatory, filled with special pleadings for Christianity, and marked by poetic metaphors--some of which were lovely, i.e. "Thirsty evening has drunk the wine of light". Others were more obscure. There wasn't much in the way of vocal line to appreciate.

Serving as narrators of the story were Victor Khodadad and the powerful soprano Helena Brown. In a masterstroke by Stage Director Bea Goodwin, a "silent" narrator, in the person of actor Amelia Hensley, "doubled" the role of Lucretia; she enacted the words in American Sign Language, thus driving home the point of women being silenced. We wondered how the expressive Ms. Hensley co-ordinated her signing with the dialogue and learned that there were titles projected toward the stage as well as toward the audience.

We might mention right now that the English was so clearly enunciated that titles were uncharacteristically redundant. We would also like to mention that the female members of the cast learned enough ASL to incorporate some signing as gestures whilst singing. We have only a slight familiarity with ASL but enough to recognize a few of their signs and to know of their legitimacy. We found this to be extraordinarily powerful and quite compelling, adding to their expressivity.

The story is reported rather differently in various historical sources but is thought to take place around 500 B.C.E. A group of soldiers, fueled by resentment, alcohol and testosterone, rail against the unfaithfulness of women. Their wives have cuckolded them in their absence; the air is thick with shame.  Only the wife of Collatinus (bass Andrew Dwan) has remained chaste and the others are jealous. The evil Etruscan Prince Tarquinius (baritone Stan Lacy) has no wife, just a bunch of whores.

Egged on by Junius (baritone Scott Lindroth), Tarquinius decides to make a wild late-night ride to Rome to prove Lucretia false. There was an interesting but subtle directorial move here; the urging of conscience takes place in one ear and the urging of lust in the other.

This ride was a highlight of the evening for several reasons. One is the creative use of the cast members to create the image of this mad ride with a violently whipped and furiously galloping horse; the other was the driven music (under the baton of Maestro Justin Bischof) which did not quite equal Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Walkyries" but was exciting in its own right.

When Tarquinius arrives at Collatinus' home, the faithful Lucretia (superb mezzo-soprano Allison Gish) feels intimidated and obliged to offer him hospitality. During the night, he enters her room. Whilst asleep she responds briefly to the rapist, thinking it to be her husband. When she awakes she fights back to no avail. The next morning, mad with shame and guilt, she sends for her husband. He understands and absolves her but she stabs herself.

Adding greatly to the story, by showing the contrast between the men's world of violence and the women's world of peaceful spinning and cultivating flowers, are Lucretia's two companions, her motherly nurse Bianca (mezzo-soprano Julia Tang) and the younger flirtatious Lucia (soprano Barbara Porto). In their spinning scene, the visuals were creative and the melismatic singing gave us an opportunity to appreciate the lovely tonal quality of their instruments.

Like most post-Puccini operas, this one struck us as a "play with music". For our personal taste, the best part of the score was the gentle music played whilst Lucretia slept, emphasizing the harp. Otherwise, the score is dissonant and complex as befits the story. Maestro Bischof conducted the strings of the chamber orchestra on stage right with the winds occupying stage left. Percussion was placed behind the performers.

Luther Frank's set was minimalistic as were Sarah Dixey's costumes. We were far more interested in Ms. Goodwin's effective storytelling and visual imagery, as well as the excellent singing. Photos of the production can be seen on our Facebook page--Voce di Meche.

After three experiences with this opera we acknowledge its powerful message and its relevancy but it will never be in our "Top 100". And yet, we recommend it highly for the originality of this production and its successful execution.

(c) meche kroop

CLASSIC LYRIC ARTS SALON

Alexei Kuznietsov, Johanna Will, Carlos Arcos, Temple Hammen, Daniela Magura, Carolina López Moreno,
and Jake Landau

Last night we attended a lovely private salon held by Classic Lyric Arts, at which we were introduced to some very promising young singers and also had another opportunity to enjoy the ringing tenor of Alexei Kuznietsov who made such a strong impression at Monday's Around the World in Song.


We have written often about CLA and their total immersion programs held every summer for the past ten years in Italy, and almost as long in France. Every time we hear students from those programs we have been impressed by their facility with language and also by the sense that they know what they are singing about.

Because we love duets, we found ourself particularly pleased by "Belle nuit" from Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffman. Here, the role of Niklaus was sung by mezzo-soprano Daniela Magura and soprano Julianna Will sang the part of the courtesan Giulietta. Collaborative pianist Jake Landau skillfully kept the gondola rocking!

We would not hear Ms. Magura in a solo aria but enjoyed her very much in the closing duet "Dôme épais" from Leo Delibes' Lakmé in which she sang Malika to the Leila of soprano Carolina López Moreno. The French was as fine as one could wish and the harmonies were luscious.

Ms. Moreno has a soprano of great promise and we thrilled to her emotional performance of "Tu che di gel sei cinta" from Puccini's Turandot. She has a real feel for Puccini as we heard in "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" from his La Rondine. In both cases, the Italian diction and phrasing were admirable and her voice opens beautifully at the top.

Ms. Will's fine instrument was heard in the "Jewel Song" from Gounod's Faust and in "Un bel di vedremo" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly. We are pleased to tell that her Italian was excellent and the sound of her voice was glorious.

Soprano Temple Hammen performed "Se il padre perdei" from Mozart's Idomeneo and the delightful "Du gai soleil" from Massenet's Werther. Both French and Italian were lovely.

Mr. Kuznietsov performed "Amor ti vieta" from Giordano's Fedora with an appealing vibrato that caught our ear. He also proved that a singer doesn't have to be Spanish to capture the essence of zarzuela. His "No puede ser" from Sorozábal's La tabernera del puerto was given full expression with plenty of variation in color.

Baritone Carlos Arcos performed Tosti's "Non t'amo più" with plenty of Latin passion and variety of dynamics, all the way down to a delicate pianissimo. His phrasing in "If ever I would leave you" from Loewe's Camelot reminded us of the very permeable border between opera and musical theater.

Mr. Landau's piano was supportive throughout without ever overwhelming the singers.

It was a very fulfilling evening and we are looking forward to hearing more of these special singers.

(c) meche kroop

AN UNLIKELY MARRIAGE

Patrick Kilbride, Paul Max Tipton, and Lucía Martín Cartón  (photo by Russ Rowland)

It seemed like a strange coupling but strange couplings often produce very special children and such is the case with the marriage of Heartbeat Opera with Opera Lafayette. Opera Lafayette is a longstanding (25 years) fixture in D.C. and we have enjoyed their annual visits to NYC for some time since they bring lovely productions of Baroque opera. Heartbeat Opera has been growing for only five years and is best known for their radical reinterpretations of the classics, thus achieving impressive recognition and honors from the opera community.

The lovechild of this visit was a riveting production of Alessandro Stradella's 1681 opera La Susanna, a retelling of the story from The Book of Daniel about an innocent young woman blackmailed by two venerable but lustful judges and condemned to death. The story has a happy ending due to a deus ex machina in the person of the youth Daniel who cross-examines the two judges, thus exonerating Susanna and condemning the wicked judges to death.

This story was the inspiration for Carlisle Floyd's 1955 opera Susanna and the Elders, remembered primarily for the soprano aria "Ain't it a Pretty Night". The story has been immortalized by many Renaissance painters; many of the works so inspired were exhibited in the Gallery of BAM Fisher where last night's opera was performed.

Ethan Heard's direction shed so much light on the issue presented by the story that we had tears dripping from our eyes. The story was presented with specificity, leaving us to identify with Susanna and her predicament; memories were evoked that left us shaken and angry. Good art should make us feel and think; this Mr. Heard accomplished, all while the Baroque ensemble soothed us with lovely harmonies. 

If this had been set by a contemporary composer, it would likely have had a jagged atonal setting that would have just left us irritated. The contrast between the lovely music and the horrifying story worked to great advantage.

The framing device for the story was an academic lecture on female studies and also art history, since the scenes of the violation employed a stop-action or freeze strategy which imitated the many paintings we saw in the Gallery. This narration is generally performed by a male character named Testa, but was here performed by Sara Couden whose powerful contralto was employed both effectively and musically to further the characterization.

As the eponymous Susanna, the plangent soprano of Lucía Martín Cartón could not have been better. She radiated joy and innocence in Act I, and conveyed both fear and hope in Act II. 

As the wicked judges we heard two fine singers who had the unenviable task of making us hate them. Tenor Patrick Kilbride and bass-baritone Paul Max Tipton were scarily convincing in their lust and deceit. Moreover they sang a particularly fine trio with Ms. Couden in Act I.

Soprano Ariana Douglas rounded out the cast. She didn't have much to do as a student in Act I but in Act II she portrayed Daniel as a White Knight who got involved by conducting the cross-examination whilst Ms. Couden's professor kept her distance.

These fine voices were matched by some splendid playing of the chamber orchestra off to the side. We never would have expected to hear Ryan Brown, founder and artistic director of Opera Lafayette and Jacob Ashworth, music director of Heartbeat Opera (as well as music director of Cantata Profana) sitting side by side bowing their violins! A theorbo, a cello, a bass, and a harpsichord completed the group.

Reid Thompson's scenic design was simple and effective. There was a large round vessel center stage which served well for Susanna's Act I bath, as well as a prisoner's docket for Act II. There were three enormous statues onstage,  male authority figures--a statesman, a priest, and a soldier--representative of all types who have been involved in abuse of power toward women.  All were carried offstage at the end. Lighting by Oliver Wason was effective.

Beth Goldenberg's costumes for Act I were perfect. Susanna wore a shimmering body suit for which, fortunately, she had the right body; it fostered the image of happiness, innocence, and moisture. (In place of water there were tiny sparkly confetti.) The judges were dressed in what appeared to be Renaissance robes.  

In Act II, Susanna wore an orange prisoner jumpsuit which jolted us into contemporary times. Our main quibble was with the Professor who was costumed a bit too glamorously for someone giving an academic lecture. It would have been more appropriate had she been wearing a tailored pantsuit.

Emma Jaster's movement direction was as fine as we have come to expect from her.

Of course this story has contemporary resonance. What upset us the most, among the many memories that were evoked, was a documentary we saw that was smuggled out of a Middle-Eastern country in which an innocent woman was buried up to her neck and stoned to death--all captured on film. Every time we see a woman on the streets of New York who has been taught to cover up her beauty so as not to inflame a man's lust, we feel the same anger; oh, the injustice of it all! 

The success of this particular treatment of this particular opera drove the point home without spoonfeeding, without hammering us on the head with contemporary examples.  Therein lay the artistry.

Although opening night was sold out, perhaps you will be able to snag tickets for tonight, tomorrow or Sunday matinée. We recommend it highly. We reviewed two operas this past week in which the directors tried too hard to make the stories "relevant". This was different.

(c) meche kroop

AROUND THE WORLD IN SONG

José Maldonado, Tamara Kim, Sulgi Cho, Alexandra Linde, Marcel Sokalski, Alexei Kuznietsov, Xeni Tziouvaras, and Tongyao Li

Guest Review by Cullen Gandy

It was back to the West Village again, one of my very favorite places, this time for a special evening of song. This effort was brought about by some familiar faces in the opera community-- Meche Kroop and Amber Evans; two figures who have consistently championed the cause of supporting young talent in the city. This concert, too, was aimed toward that end. It featured a select crew of young talent, that they have mined from around town. Their national patrimonies each (funny enough) spanned from all across the world.

The singers, 6 in all, chose to sing songs from the languages native to the countries of their origin; or those with which they had a close familial connection. As you can imagine, this made for quite the eclectic evening of art! Swedish, Polish, Korean, Ukrainian, Greek, and Spanish were on the menu — while they are beautiful languages, I won’t have too much authority to speak on diction.

The first young singer of the night was a soprano by the name of Alexandra Linde, from Sweden. The most salient selection from her set was a Swedish aria by the name of "Ack hvad behag ett hjärta njuter" (Krauss). I had to do a double take when looking at this one, because it sounds almost identical to something Mozart would have written. It is a pleasing light lyric soprano voice, and showed some really nice ability to sing in the legato parts of the set. Sometimes, though, she faltered a bit with the fioritura passages. I think Mozart will be a great fit for her as she progresses through her professional career.

Marcel Sokalski offered a set of Polish art songs. The Canadian baritone had a clarion type of sound, especially through the middle and top, without sacrificing too much on the bottom. His voice reminds me of some great lyric baritone contemporaries like John Brancy, where people marvel at just how easy it sounds up there. His acting was good for the majority of the set, but there was a bit of indicative hand gesturing going on, at times. He will be attending Chautauqua this summer; featured in the role of Demetrius from A Midsummer’s Night Dream.

Sulgi Cho explained that the “modern” art song didn’t exist in Korea, because of the lack of pianos and western musical norms there. She offered several traditional songs, with the addition of a fairly recent Korean art song. She was the only person to have brought a prop to the show, a little hand fan, which was cute. I really enjoyed the ethereal quality of Cho’s voice. It seemed to emanate throughout entire space of the room, like a sunbeam. She also displayed several stylized gestures during the course of her singing, which reminded me of French Baroque operatic styling. Interesting stuff.

As the night progressed, so too did the maturity of the artists in certain ways. Alexei Kuznietsov, a Ukrainian tenor, was an interesting example of that. In his bio, it reads that he has garnered a fair amount of acclaim in his native country, by winning an X-Factor competition there. You would never know it, from how unassuming and bashful his stage demeanor is, when he introduces his work.  The voice, though, enamored. He has put in so much solid technical work through the passaggio that I couldn’t help but admire the sounds that were coming out. It is very Gedda-like, in my opinion (sure enough, he has performed Lensky and other such signature roles). While the acting, much like the speaking, was generally understated, he did show a bit of flair in his final selection Dyvlyus” ya na nebo. The high note at the end was immense and satisfying, the kind of high singing to which younger, less experienced tenors, ought aspire.

Greek mezzo-soprano Xeni Tziouvaras was probably one of the most polished acts of the evening. The initial things that I appreciated about her were that she gave a succinct, well though out description of what she was about to sing, and she encouraged the audience to hold applause until after the end of the set. I cannot bear sitting through a concert where the audience claps after every single song. She offered an interesting Greek translated version of Ravel’s 5 Popular Greek Songs (ironically, usually sung in French). Her voice was mature, but not over darkened; as some eager young mezzos are oft to be. She had a gorgeous, well-connected sound, with no audible cues of a shift in technique. The major revelation was how that voice connected to her dramatic capability. Her gestures and expressions were always well-informed by the context of the song, and they always seemed genuine and extemporaneous, as a result.

José Maldonado, a Mexican-American baritone I had the pleasure of hearing just a day before, closed out the evening with the more 'crowd pleasing’ Spanish, feel-good songs. He has a powerful instrument that really bursts out in a wall of sound on top. Sound output through the passaggio, and the climax on top, make me think of a Quinn Kelsey-esque Verdian instrument. His acting chops were ample, too — he left so much on the stage after Granada that he looked fatigued! I expect people will be seeing him on some larger stages sooner rather than later.

The pianists showcased some diverse skills, themselves. David Ji, Tongyao Li, and Tamara Kim were all keenly attuned to the needs of the songs and their collaborators, while still maintaining their own careful styles. I was particularly impressed when Kim and Maldonado were able to synch up their entrances in and out of rubati (the Spanish set being the only one with which I had enough experience/knowledge to criticize).

The evening was delightful, and it gave a chance for each of the young talents to shine in their own ways. If I had one critique, it would be that the structure of the concert could have done with a bit more exactitude. People were standing around chatting like fifteen minutes into the concert that was supposed to start at 8, there was no discernible set way that the artists were to be ushered onstage/introduced, and there were no parameters around the explanations of the pieces. This caused some of them to be a bit too long or convoluted. All-in-all the overarching idea was to provide young singers with a low pressure platform to showcase their skills, and I think Meche and Amber achieved that with gusto. There were also brownies and wine after, so 10-out-of-10 for the night; as far as I am concerned.

(c) meche kroop