FROM GHETTO TO CAPPELLA

Pedro d'Aquino, Jessica Gould, Noa Frenkel, James Waldo, and Diego Cantalupi
(photo credit--Stephen de las Heras)

A full house proved the magnificent Fabbri Library of the House of the Redeemer was the place to be on Sunday for Salon/Sanctuary Concert’s seventh season opener featuring music of baroque Italy. A reprise of last season’s compelling program of Jewish and Catholic cross-pollination through music, From Ghetto to Cappella was completely sold out. While we felt badly for the many concertgoers who were turned away for lack of space, we welcomed the chance to enjoy for the second time this eye-opening array of musical treasures and fascinating  concert, which showed more dialogue than segregation during one of the most oppressive periods in history. 

During the time of the Counter-Reformation, the world’s first ghetto was built in Venice, physically separating Jews from Christians and putting even further limits on their mobility in Christian society. The music from the time reveals more of an exchange than isolation, however, and in true Salon/Sanctuary fashion, the concert explored a theme overlooked by other presenters – in this case, the effect each religious musical culture had on the other.

Fans of Jessica Gould’s roving concert series have come to expect visual splendor with intellectual stimulation from Salon/Sanctuary events, and Sunday’s program served an ample helping of both in the exquisite 1608 Library. Ms. Gould, not only a fervent scholar but a fine soprano, participated in a performance replete with both passion and precision. Five musicians – Ms. Gould, contralto Noa Frenkel, James Waldo on viola da gamba, lutenist Diego Cantalupi and Pedro d’Aquino on organ and harpsichord – did exquisite justice to a delectible variety of baroque treasures sung in Latin, Italian, and Hebrew.

Israeli contralto Noa Frenkel opened the program with a haunting ancient Hebrew chant from Yemen, D’ror Yikra, which segued into Durante’s Vergin tutto Amor, known as a pedagogical piece, here passionately sung by Ms. Gould with striking ornamentation that recalled the phrygian modes heard just moments ago in the preceding selection. The rich timbre and full-bodied sound of both soprano and contralto was a welcome contrast to a the vocal androgyny that has become commonplace and even (mystifyingly) celebrated in some early music circles.

We love duets, and it was lovely to hear the two women’s rich voices blending effortlessly in O immaculata, a sacred piece from Benedetto Marcello’s large volumeL’Estro Poetico Armonico, which integrated the melodies of chants he heard in the synagogue into cantatas and duets with Italian texts.

The Jewish-Italian composer Salomone Rossi has figured prominently in Salon/Sanctuary programming, with four previous seasons including a concert dedicated solely to his work. Rossi got into trouble with members of his own community for integrating the polyphony of the church into Hebrew sacred music that he wrote for synagogue services, because polyphony was considered too sensuous a form for people who considered themselves to be in exile. The two Rossi songs on the concert, Cor mio, sung by Ms Gould, and Ohime che tanto amate, sung by Ms. Frenkel, were performed with tasteful ornamentation and stylistic flair, accompanied with panache by the winning continuo team of gambist James Waldo and lutenist Diego Cantalupi.

Mr. Cantalupi, a visiting guest artist from Italy, shined in two works by Girolamo Kapsberger, a Venetian composer of noble German birth who wrote extravagant works for lute. With his impressive instrument, the long-necked theorbo, Mr. Cantalupi’s turn as a soloist in a Kapsberger Sarabanda and Toccata was marked by technical finesse and stylistic aplomb.

The innovative and trailblazing female composer Barbara Strozzi received a level of recognition in her lifetime that was simply unheard of for women composers of the 17^th century, and she received her due on Sunday in two selections, one sacred and one secular. Ranging from soprano heights to contralto depths, Ms. Gould performed a wildly inventive Salve Regina that was equal parts spiritual and earthly passion. Handling the byzantine melismatic passages and striking chromatic descents with ease, Ms. Gould’s dramatic commitment and vocal sheen kept the audience on the edge of their seats. Ms. Frenkel’s chocolate contralto showed an equally expansive range in the gorgeous cantata Lagrime Mie, in which cantorial hebraic chant-like fragments can be heard in the laments of an abandoned lover.

Two Handel selections capped off the program. In the chamber duet Langue, geme, the two dark-hued voices intertwined in langorous legato stretches and matched impressively in lines of virtuosic coloratura. Immediately after, a short but powerful dramtic duet from the oratorio Esther, sung here in Hebrew from the 1759 version commissioned by the Jewish community of Amsterdam brought the concert to an inspiring conclusion. The rollicking allegro from the Langue, gemeduet served as a playful encore.

While our tastes run to polyphony over chant, From Ghetto to Cappella is a beautifully performed, thought-provoking and musically splendid program that we hope to see reprised again on future seasons so that more people can hear it. Special thanks go out to NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò for their role as co-producers of the event.

(c) meche kroop

ALEXIS CREGGER

Susan Morton and Alexis Cregger

"Dramatic soprano" is the way Alexis Cregger describes her fach but the word "dramatic" also describes this artist's way of approaching a song, be it lied or aria. Not only is her instrument of good size but her dramatic skills are brought to bear on everything she sings. Her connection with the text is so deep that we experience the song along with her. We got the impression that she sees in her mind's eye and hears in her mind's ear what the poet or librettist is describing.

Last night at the National Opera Center, her marvelously varied program demonstrated her facility with French, German, Italian and Spanish; it also revealed her artistry in a number of styles. She was introduced by the delightful opera impressario/conductor/raconteur William Remmers for whose Opera Utopia she has performed in numerous Gilbert and Sullivan roles.

The program opened with Maurice Ravel's Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques. Ravel's music paints a picture of the Greece of his fantasies and we enjoyed Ms. Cregger's sharing those fantasies with us. We particularly enjoyed the romantic "Chanson de la mariée", the boastful fellow in "Quel galant m'est comparable" and the joyful "Tout gai!". In this cycle major and minor shift back and forth to fine effect.

Joaquín Rodrigo's cycle Cuatros Madrigales Amatorios also covers the emotional waterfront from the sad lament of a lonely woman in "Con que la lavare?" to the angry jealousy of "De donde venis amore?", an emotion discerned and revealed by Ms. Cregger that we had missed in prior performances by other singers.

If there is one composer for which Ms. Cregger's voice seems meant it is Richard Strauss. For unknown reasons, the marvelous Brentano Lieder are not performed as often as many of the others and we were thrilled to hear Ms. Cregger immerse herself in the first five of the six.  Strauss wrote these rather later than most of his song output, in 1918, after he had written many of his operas.

The poetry of Clemens Brentano is filled with passion for nature expressed with unusual harmonies, chromatic melodies, and lots of melismatic passages, all beautiful revealed by Ms. Cregger and her excellent piano partner Susan Morton. The only one with which we are truly familiar was "Amor", a charming tale of a shepherdess who feels pity for the suffering blind child and gets burned.

And now we come to the most exciting part of the program--the arias! We heard "Martern aller Arten" from Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail in which Kostanze sings of her steadfast nature. It was a powerful performance to say the least.

But capping the program was "Regnava nel silenzio...Quando rapito in estasi" from Act I of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Lucia is wandering in the woods with her companion and recounts a ghost story. Ms. Cregger's artistry hinted strongly at the emotional fragility and unbalanced nature of the eponymous Lucia. One could see disaster waiting in the wings. There was astonishing vocal fireworks in the cabaletta.

As if this were not sufficient, we heard an arresting delivery of the punishing aria "Der Hölle Rache" that was absolutely chilling. Ms. Cregger's voice is not only substantial but sufficiently flexible to blow us away with accurate fioritura.

A gentle encore was exactly what was needed lest we fall over in the street on the way out!  We got just exactly that--Ernesto Lecuona's "Escucha el Ruiseñor".  Escuchar we did!

Ms. Cregger has a bright and beautiful instrument with plenty of strength to back it up. Everything she sings has dramatic validity. She is on her way to Germany to audition and we are sure she will take the Germans by storm.

(c) meche kroop

WALL STREET GREED! POLITICAL CORRUPTION! RACISM!

Cast of Bonfire of the Vanities....(Photo credit- Lucas Syed)

Let us begin by saying that we had a helluva good time at Bonfire of the Vanities, a contemporary opera based on Tom Wolfe's 1987 page-turner about Wall Street dishonesty and greed, political opportunism and corruption, and the prevalent racism. Has anything changed in 3 decades? The fact that very little about the story needed to be changed seems to answer the question.

Readers may be astonished that we found so much to like in a contemporary opera sung in English. We don't even need all the fingers of one hand to enumerate the contemporary operas that we enjoyed.  Mostly, we are sitting there gritting our teeth and wishing to escape. So let's take a closer look at the grounds for success. 

First and foremost is Stefania De Kenessey's eclectic music. There is not a whiff of academia about it; it is clearly written to appeal to contemporary musical tastes of the public, not to critics; it is totally accessible and melodic.  One can't help recalling that the titans of the golden age of opera wrote for the PEOPLE and addressed contemporary concerns, whether they were obliged to disguise the theme or not.

The 18-piece chamber orchestra played well under the baton of the excellent Daniela Candillari who successfully captured the mood of the scene, whether serious or funny. There is nothing inherently funny about the themes of the opera but there is usefulness in humor. Art holds a mirror up to society and it is easier to accept what we see when we are able to laugh at ourselves.

So, leavened with some funny lines and absurd situations we are able to laugh at greedy hucksters designing bond issues in which people borrow from themselves (we can't claim to have understood the finance logic), mothers singing lullabies to their children on their iPad's while shopping for luxury goods, rich white folk fawning over and throwing money at black hucksters pleading the cause of philanthropy, furious landlords recording tenants who are abusing rent control, frustrated lawyers looking for guilty white folks to skewer, and alcoholic reporters ready to distort the truth to succeed in tabloid journalism.

Indeed, in the entire story, there is only one honorable character--the one who cannot be found in Mr. Wolfe's book--Tamara Kilmore, an Afro-American attorney who defends the hero Sherman McCoy because SHE BELIEVES HE IS INNOCENT. As sung by the terrific Adrienne Danrich, she is the one character who steps out of our preconceived notions and acts like a fully realized human being.

Randal Turner does an excellent job of portraying the (anti)hero and even evokes sympathy for a man who must lose everything to find his soul. Like so many wealthy people he is unable to really see those outside of his race and class. He has never developed empathy. He just wants to be Master of the Universe. How ironic that he lives on credit and has no money! People who work and save are, in his eyes, objects of contempt.

As his wife Judy, Ann-Carolyn Bird is believable. Will she or won't she stand by her douchebag of a cheating husband??

We particularly enjoyed the characterization of Arthur Ruskin. Benjamin Bloomfield did a superlative job and we were sorry that he was killed off in the first act. In the book he lasted longer, but that was just one of a few alterations of the plot made when the book was adapted as an opera.

As his floozy wife Maria who had sex with anyone and everyone who could serve her interest, we heard Ying Jie Zhou, who was pretty and sexy but whose voice was a bit on the weak side and whose acting was riddled with cliché. The role might have been better cast.

As the cynical Assistant District Attorney who wants to advance his career by nailing a guilty white male, Glenn Seven Allen turned in a superlative performance. We loved his duet with Ms. Danrich. Another excellent characterization was that of Kyle Van Schoonhoven as the alcoholic tabloid journalist Peter Fallow. 

As the hospitalized youth Henry Lamb (sacrificial lamb?) whose injury sparked the racial conflagration, Aaron J. Casey gave a fine performance.  We liked him best in his soliloquy which became a moving ensemble piece.

Kevin Maynor's Reverend Bacon, a characterization that was probably meant to represent Al Sharpton., had no problem bilking the Rich White Folk or the two pastors (Matthew Tuell and Brett Mutter) who gave him money to establish a day care center for Poor Black Kids. He was masterful at pushing the racial guilt buttons. 

Matthew Tuell reappeared heavily disguised as the landlord Kovitzky who garnered a lot of laughs.

What about the libretto? Michael Bergmann, who also directed, wrote short punchy lines that did well in terms of colloquiality and in terms of working with the music. We have observed that ponderous texts in the English language yield incomprehensible music but in this case the short rhyming lines, bordering on doggerel (NOT meant as criticism!) worked extraordinarily well.

Video projections by Doug Underdahl succeeded in creating a New York City atmosphere. Costumes by Christina Hribar were perfect for Reverend Bacon and for the ghetto kids. For the "social X-rays" at the cocktail party and the Wall Street hustlers, they seemed only approximate. Hair and makeup by Ron Wolek were particularly effective for Mr. Bloomfield and Mr.Tuell.

Having updated the work by 30 years, iPads and cell phones could be introduced without detriment and nothing was lost. 

The 3 1/2 hours (including two intermissions) flew by without a single longueur. This is what contemporary opera should be--and that's entertainment! It doesn't matter whether you call it opera or American musical theater. The voices were almost all good and they were unamplified.  And that's more than enough for our satisfaction.

Finally, let us add that the theater at El Museo del Barrio is the perfect size for this type of work, and that the acoustics were fine. In addition to clearly enunciated English (much easier because of the way the language was employed) the excellent titles were useful in case one missed a word here and there.

(c) meche kroop

HOW SWEET IT IS!

Craig Ketter, Rebecca Wilson, Pamela Lloyd, Olga Bakali, and Ryan Kinsella

Opera Dolce has been delighting New York audiences for six years.  In the past few years they have been bringing the works of Antonio Carlos Gomes before the public. It is unfortunate that the works of this 19th c. Brazilian master have been overlooked. He was the first New World composer to be accepted in Europe; indeed his operas thrived in opera-hungry 19th c. Italy. It would be fair to say that his pot-boiler plots were no worse than those of the Italians.

Several of his operas dealt with themes of the Portuguese aristocrats rubbing up against the indigenous people of Brazil. This must have seemed exotic to the Europeans who lauded his work. We are unaware of his operas being presented in the United States in the present time, but it would be a pity to overlook his writing. Presenting his arias as "stand alones" is the approach taken by Opera Dolce and we are thrilled to hear his marvelously melodic arias and duets.

Last night's recital, Oceans Apart: Wagner and Gomes United in Music, presented his music alongside that of another titan of the 19th c., Richard Wagner, the great German Romantic whose lush orchestrations and new harmonies astonished the opera world. Gomes wrote in the Italian style but managed to incorporate influences from the senior Wagner.

New to us, but not new to the world of opera, was dramatic baritone Ryan Kinsella who made a superb long-suffering Dutchman in the duet "Wie aus der Ferne" from Richard Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer. Mr. Kinsella's substantial voice was finely balanced by the brightly resonant voice of soprano Pamela Lloyd who portrayed Senta. There appeared to be no chemistry between the two characters at first but by the end of the aria, the Dutchman responded to Senta's earnestness.

Mr. Kinsella is masterful in using his full-throated voice to convey emotion while being spare in his gestures, making them all the more effective when he employs them. He barely moved his body in "O du mein holder Abendstern", Wolfram von Eschenbach's aria from Wagner's Tannhäuser but shaped his phrases with great beauty and dynamic precision. 

He was far more theatrical in his other duet with Ms. Lloyd--"Fra questi fior che adori" from Gomes' Lo Schiavo in which the two singers got quite worked up. Gomes' minor key melody was gorgeous.   

Ms. Lloyd, with her brilliant upper register demonstrated a great deal of strength in the lower register as she sang "Quale orribile peccato" from Gomes' Fosca, the tale of a really really bad woman who ends the opera by taking the poison she intended for her rival.

Soprano Olga Bakali was also new to us and impressed us with her powerful voice in "O ciel di  Parahiba" from Gomes' Lo Schiavo. There is plenty of strength at the bottom and some beautifully drawn out pianissimi. She showed equal facility with Wagner, giving her all to "Elsa's Dream" from Wagner's Lohengrin. It was a nicely modulated performance, notable for her emotional connection.  She was equally fine in the rapturous "Liebestod" from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.

There was a third fine soprano on the program, also new to us and recently arrived from Chicago. Rebecca Wilson met "Dich teure Halle" head on, filling the exultant aria from Wagner's Tannhäuser with a huge sound. We hope our first hearing of this sizable voice will not be our last.

Accompanist for the evening was Craig Ketter who has a fine light touch at the piano and always seems supportive of the singers.

(c) meche kroop

VERDI'S ENDURING LEGACY

August Ventura

Giovanni Reggioli and Victoria Cannizzo

Last night was well spent, enjoying all kinds of stimulation--intellectual, musical, and gastronomic.  The occasion was the Thirteenth Annual Savoy History Lecture, delivered by writer-filmmaker and Verdi scholar August Ventura. It was entitled "Exploring Giuseppe Verdi's Enduring Legacy: Italy's Risorgimento, Unification under the House of Savoy, and Beyond."

A wealth of fascinating details were covered, illustrated by means of film excerpts curated by Mr. Ventura and accompanied by some superlative singing by soprano Victoria Cannizzo. Ms. Cannizzo has a warm and generous sound, a gracious stage presence and fine technique. She produced a lovely legato line with plenty of resonance.

Aida, as we learned from Mr. Ventura, was commissioned for the opening of the new opera house in Cairo, but also had a veiled message for Verdi's homeland, as did many of his operas. Ms. Cannizzo  sang "O, patria mia", the heroine's song of despair over never seeing her homeland again. The final note was beautifully floated.

Ms. Cannizzo also sang "Mercè, dilette amiche" from I Vespri Siciliani, an altogether lighter aria in bolero rhythm which showed off the artist's skill with fioritura and a light-hearted style. Accompanying her on the piano was Giovanni Reggioli.

There were some highly valuable take-home points made by Mr. Ventura regarding Verdi's role in the unification of Italy. Today's opera audiences in the United States do not seem to be terribly interested in contemporary political issues, presumably because we have a high degree of freedom.  But the 19th c. Italian people lived under highly resented Austrian domination in a plethora of nation-states, scarcely aware of their common culture and language.

Verdi worked mightily with his librettists to get what he wanted--stories that would galvanize the Italian people to unify and to throw off the yoke of their colonizers. How skillful he was in slipping his messages past the Austrian censors!

Today it is easy to recognize that the chorus of the Hebrew slaves wanting freedom from their Babylonian oppressors stands in for all oppressed people. "Va pensiero" from Nabucco, one of Verdi's earliest successes, could be considered the anthem of the Risorgimento.

Similar evidence can be found in other operas such as Macbeth into which Verdi inserted a chorus of politically oppressed folk, a scene outside of Shakespeare's play.  Likewise, we can see the same theme in Attila.

Another very interesting point was made by Mr. Ventura.  In our culture, information and attitudes are disseminated electronically. The entire world was clued into the Arab Spring almost instantaneously. In 19th c. Italy this "viral spread" took place through music. People heard music in the opera house, then sang it at home and in the streets. Opera was a most effective tool for popularizing ideas inasmuch as the Austrians were in control of the press.

Verdi's humanitarian ideals have particular resonance in our own time with people all over the world chafing under the yoke of terrorism and fleeing their homelands. The human cost of war and fighting for freedom as expressed in his operas are no stranger to our own time with military men returning home damaged and troubled. Verdi indeed speaks to us today as loudly as he did to his contemporaries. If only we would listen!

This brief report can scarcely do justice to Mr. Ventura's ambitious and comprehensive lecture. We would also like to mention that the Dynastic Orders of the Royal House of Savoy are among the oldest orders of chivalry in the world, dating back a millennium. The American Foundation of Savoy Orders sustains the humanitarian goals of the House of Savoy.


(c) meche kroop

GOOD EVENING OPERA, MEET CABARET

Jason Graae, Veronica Loiacono, Roberto Borgatti, Elena Heimur, Edgar Jaramillo, Jodi Karem, Judith Fredricks, and Percy Martinez

It's a rather new concept--bringing opera out of the concert halls and into different venues, bringing it to people who may not have been exposed to opera or who have been intimidated by it (really??).  Judith Fredricks has been producing and directing evenings of opera arias in an off-Broadway studio with table seating and wine service. But, it was time to try something on a larger scale--opera in a nightclub.

Would it work?  Would the audience drink too much and get loud and drown out the singers? We had our anticipatory misgivings. We well remember our evenings of opera arias at Caffe Taci where the owner worked the room asking people to quiet down.

Our anxieties were for nothing.  Last night's performance at the Metropolitan Room went astonishingly well. Perhaps it was the excellence of the singers but the room was totally silent during the performances until the audience burst into wild applause with shouts of "Bravo!" and "Brava!". Ms. Fredricks gamble paid off in spades.

Host and narrator for the evening was the congenial and multi-talented Broadway star Jason Graae who explained what each opera was about and what the singer was singing about. Thankfully, no amplification was needed or used; Michael Fennelly accompanied on the piano with some surprising contributions from an oboe, played by the versatile Mr. Graae.

The arias and duets were well chosen for their familiarity, providing a sense of comfort for those in the audience who were on the newbie side. The six singers were well known to us and impressed us with the way they adapted to the new situation. They seemed motivated to outdo themselves by singing the best we have ever heard them.

Fast-rising tenor Edgar Jaramillo wowed the audience with "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini's Tosca. His voice and gesture painted a vivid picture of a life-loving artist recalling the most sensual experiences of his life as he faces his imminent death. We have rarely felt that aria as intensely.

Mr. Jaramillo tackles every aria with the same involvement, as we observed in his "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot.

Soprano Veronica Loiacono made a pitiful plea to her poppa in "O mio babbino caro" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. She next appeared as Gilda in the final act quartet from Verdi's Rigoletto with baritone Roberto Borgatti as the titular character. (No, we don't suspect Ms. Loiacono of having Daddy issues.)

Mr. Jaramillo again stood out as the licentious Duke with his latest conquest Maddalena sung by mezzo-soprano Jodi Karem.

Ms. Karem appeared in a couple temptress roles and certainly has the appearance and seductive color in her voice to carry it off. She was superb as Delilah seducing Samson in "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix" by Saint-Saens. More seduction came in the person of Carmen manipulating Don Jose (finely sung by tenor Percy Martinez).  Of course he couldn't resist!

Mr. Martinez shone last night in several other roles as well. His "Vesti la giubba" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci showed an original interpretation that never seemed copied from anyone else's and was, therefore, more moving. He was also fine as Otello in his duet with Mr. Borgatti as the treacherous Iago in "Si, pel ciel" from Verdi's opera of the same name.

Mr. Borgatti found his perfect role as Escamillo, manifesting just the right amount of vocal and dramatic self-confidence in the Toreador song from Bizet's Carmen. He strutted around the small stage swirling his jacket like a cape.

Soprano Elena Heimur showed her versatility in three very different roles. First as Lakme in the famous duet "Sous le dome epais" from the eponymous opera by Delibes (with Ms. Karem); then in "Ch'il bel sogno" from Puccini's La Rondine; and finally as Musetta singing her famous waltz from Puccini's La Boheme, with Mimi, Rodolfo and Marcello mugging in the background.

The finale of the program was the "Libiamo" from Verdi's La Traviata in which the entire ensemble took part. We join them in toasting one of the new directions opera is taking. Thanks Ms. Fredricks, thanks Mr. Graae, and thanks Metropolitan Room for a revolutionary evening. We've moved from the Metropolitan Opera to the Metropolitan Room.

(c) meche kroop

TRIFECTA

Julian Milkis, Abdiel Vazquez, and Anastasiya Roytman

Scintillating soprano Anastasiya Roytman generously shared her Carnegie Recital Hall debut with two other superb artists in a compelling program that included not only our favorite Wagner and Mahler songs but contemporary American songs that we actually enjoyed!

The last time we heard and reviewed Ms. Roytman we opined that she needed a larger hall (than Scorca Hall at the National Opera Center) to show off the size of her voice and we are delighted to report that she scaled her wonderful instrument to the size and acoustics of Weill Recital Hall.

And a lovely instrument it is and well suited to the chosen material. No wonder that she has achieved acclaim worldwide! She has a gracious stage presence and makes good use of body and facial expression to get a song across, without resorting to excessive theatrics. It's all in the voice, which is most important.

Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, WWV91 are settings of the poetry of his beloved Matilda Wesendonck; they are filled with passion and deep feeling which Ms. Roytman successfully communicated with superb control of dynamics and phrasing. The songs offer many opportunities for changes of color, also exploited by Ms. Roytman; she seemed totally present with the text and able to communicate the depth of feeling to the audience. We especially enjoyed "Schmerzen" but also admired the buildup of intensity in "Träume" where Wagner's phrases ascended the scale.

Her astutely chosen piano partner, Abdiel Vazquez, demonstrated a particular resonance with Wagner and contributed a solo piece--Tausig's arrangement for piano of "Isolde's Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde--an arrangement we had never heard before but long to hear again as it has been echoing in our mind's ear all night.

Gustav Mahler's Rückert-Lieder offer the same opportunities for a variety of moods and colors and delight us no end.  Here, they were given an almost operatic treatment with each song seeming like an aria with all emotional bases covered. Ms. Roytman effectively negotiated the large skips in "Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder!". But our personal favorite was the powerful "Um Mitternacht" which was given a suitably powerful delivery.

Ms. Roytman's diction achieved a remarkable sense of legato in the phrasing, so difficult to achieve in German. Our only small critique is that there needs to be more attention paid to consistency of pronunciation of the "ch", a problem experienced by most non-German singers.

The big surprise of the evening were songs by contemporary composers that were neither "academic" nor derivative. We are always thrilled when our preconceived notions are overcome. Alexey Shor, present in the audience, wrote the music and lyrics for "Coming of Age Trio" and "Ode of Persistence Trio". This world premiere included the stylish clarinet playing of Julian Milkis and gave Ms. Roytman the opportunity to show a different aspect of her artistry.

The first song had an episode in which she performed a vocalise with the clarinet which was remarkable. Mr. Shor's text rhymed and involved the coming of Spring; the music was melodic and strangely melancholic. The second song was playful and the text was about an ambivalent woman who succumbs to a persistent suitor.

The second big surprise comprised some jazzy songs by Stefania de Kenessy, whose music was so fine that we immediately arranged to see her new opera next weekend--Bonfire of the Vanities at Museo del Barrio. "Four Laughs Only" was exactly that--laughing accompanied by clarinet and piano. "Trio in 4 Movements" included humming and nonsense syllables (WA-WA) which completely avoided the problem of making the rhythms of the English language musical.

We would like to commend Ms. Roytman for one more thing. She never used a score! Mostly, when we hear contemporary music, the stuff is so obscure that the singer is on the book.  Not so here! This allowed her to communicate directly with the audience and to express the joy of this original music.

As encore the artists gave us an improvisatory version of "Summertime" from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess in which all three artists let loose.  It was a fine end to a fine evening!

(c) meche kroop