ALL ABOUT ADULTING

 Kate Morton, Jamal Al-Titi, Chea Kang, Reed Knepper and Zoë Zhou

Steven Blier's New York Festival of Song never fails to entertain and educate, but last night's iteration made a particularly strong impression on us due to the theme of the evening--"Beginner's Luck--the Artist's Journey". Mr. Blier and I share an interest in fostering the careers of young singers; the program not only involved four preternaturally gifted young singers but the structure of the program was the journey from adolescence to adulthood. In addition, we heard songs written by composers at the very earliest stages of their careers. We have a special affection for early works when young composers are experimenting with inherited forms and taking steps to put their own stamp on things.

There were sections on the program devoted to the stirrings of first love in young women and the youthful ambitions of young men, the yearning for a wider experience in the world, and finding one's way emotionally and professionally. Spending as much time with young artists as we do, we easily related to the experiences; we confess that the songs about women resonated more than those about men but we suppose that is understandable. We particularly related to songs about coming to New York City where everything happens!

Rather than tracing the development through the various stages, we would prefer to dwell on the young artists, Schwab Vocal Rising Stars all of them. We have not a single criticism of the voices; all four singers are accomplished artists. What we would like to focus on is the manner in which they engaged the audience with their storytelling gifts. Contemporary songs were treated with the same respect as 19th century lieder and mélodie.

Heard by us only once about five years ago was the memorable soprano Chea Young Kang who made a lasting impression singing a zarzuela number in which a mulatto woman has been abandoned by her lover. Last night she impressed us with her artistic growth, whilst maintaining (and enhancing) her emotional reach. We were enchanted with her communicative artistry in Grieg's "Die verschwiegene Nachtigal".  She seemed to taste the words of the text and her very specific gestures had us hearing the call of the nightingale. 

This was followed immediately by another song about this avian species--Alban Berg's "Die Nachtigal" in which the song of the nightingale causes the rosebuds to open, obviously a symbol of a young woman's erotic awakening. This is the only lied by Berg that we love and the more we hear it the more we love it.

A famous Korean song by Dong Jin Kim was new to us but was deeply felt. We love when singers use their entire body to communicate with the audience and we couldn't miss the graceful way Ms. Kang used her arms, leaving us wondering whether she has had ballet training.

Mezzo-soprano Kate Morton gave a delightful performance of Robert Schumann's gentle "Der Nussbaum", conveying all the hints of a young woman's dreaming of a romantic future. Ms. Morton is close enough in age to connect with this period of a woman's life and was somehow able to stir our own memories. Perhaps this was the most impactful performance ever of one of our favorite songs. How amazing that a male composer set text by a male poet (Julian Mosen) so sensitively that sense memories were evoked.

Ms. Morton captured an entirely different set of feelings in Hugo Wolf's "Begegnung", the tale of a rather circumspect meeting of a young couple the morning after a tumultuous encounter, so well captured by the piano.

Where Ms. Morton truly shone was a funny piece by Jason Robert Brown who wrote a most accurate piece describing the frustration of auditioning. We have heard from our singer friends of such disappointments as auditors who aren't paying attention, often fatigued from hearing too many singers. And the confusion of being given conflicting advice. All too true and an occasion for sympathy!

Understanding male bonding and reliance on achievement was a bit more of a stretch for us to identify with but tenor Reed Gnepper and baritone Jamal Al-Titi went a long way toward making it easy. Jeffrey Stock's "We Two Boys" made a fine case for the male bonding in Walt Whitman's text with the harmonizing vocal lines telling us everything we needed to know. 

Mr. Gnepper gave a fine reading of the sensual "I Knew a Woman" by William Bolcom, never hitting us over the head with the double entendres  of Theodore Roethke's suggestive text. 

Frank O'Hara's tribute to his mentor "I'm so much more me" set by Robert Beaser reminded us of a most important feature in the development of opera singers and their relationship to their teachers and coaches. This was well captured in a duet by Mr. Gnepper and Mr. Al-Titi utilizing the sweetest of harmonies to express mutual admiration and caring.

We do love duets and our favorite was "When the Children are Asleep" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. Mr. Gnepper and Ms. Kang showed their acting chops, making the scene believable.

Mr. Al-Titi blew us away with "The Traveler's Song" by Mikhail Glinka, an energetic tongue twister involving a novel train ride and the anticipation of a new love affair. This was in stark contrast with the very tender "A Child is Born" by Thad Jones and Alec Wilder.

Th program ended with Bob Dylan's rousing "Forever Young" in which the four singers raised voices to celebrate good will toward the young. This summarized so well the feelings that we share with Mr. Blier for young artists. the final line is "And may your song always be sung". Yes indeed!

Collaborative piano wa provided by Mr. Blier himself as well as by the excellent Zoë Zhou and Associat Artistic Director Bénédicte Jourdois. 

As usual, we have a small quibble. If only there could be projected titles! Trying to read translations from a program book detracts from one's involvement in the performance, especially in a darkened theater. Singers took turns introducing the songs and saying a bit about them but a good singer does not always mean a good speaker. Just sayin'.

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ARTISTIC COLLABORATION

 Juan Jose Lazaro, Rosario Armas, and Magdalena Kuźma

It seems odd that we have to issue a disclaimer but here it is...every word of our reviews expresses our own opinion in our very own words. We do not (and never will) employ Artificial Intelligence to speak for us. If we find it necessary to quote (even our own writing) we will place the words in quotation marks.

So let us now praise genius. What a remarkable recital we witnessed last night and what a joy it was for us to note the growth of artists of whom we are very fond. Hearing the same singers and pianists over a period of years demonstrates to us the manner in which inborn gifts respond to superb tutelage and achieve depths that come with maturity.

Juan Jose Lazaro first came to our attention at Manhattan School of Music about eight years ago when he was a participant in the late Thomas Muraco's Opera Repertoire  Ensemble. In the intervening years we have enjoyed his collaborative piano artistry on countless occasions. We well recall the brilliant recital he performed as he achieved his Masters Degree in Collaborative Piano. So of course we needed to be there for the recital he gave last night at Opera America, a requisite for his finally achieving his Doctor of Musical Arts degree.

Collaborative Piano is a highly specialized and demanding branch of the musical field. It requires not just consummate pianistic skills and intense knowledge of the enormous opera and song literature but also a unique ability to highlight the singing partner, often stepping up to the coaching plate to fine tune a performance. There is no room for grandstanding or stealing the show.

Last night's recital opened with Gustav Mahler's intense song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Here, both pianist and singer have a two-fold task. The pianist must create a tapestry of sound, particularly illuminating the forces of nature that both mock and support the narrator of the text; the singer must somehow get the audience to experience the various emotions experienced by a person watching his beloved marry another. There is anger, regret, despair, and a futile attempt to heal. All this without the singer collapsing into a pool of tears. Only the audience is allowed such an emotional luxury of catharsis.

And this was perfectly accomplished by the mezzo-soprano chosen to sing it, Rosario Armas Alom, another artist whose growth we have been enjoying since her undergraduate days at Manhattan School of Music. This Mahler cycle is one of Ms. Armas' signature pieces and we would like to quote from our review from three years ago when we attended Ms. Armas' Masters Degree recital.

"... how many times we have enjoyed hearing a baritone singing Mahler's emotionally shattering cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; on a rare occasion we have heard a female singer make an attempt, leaving us with a kind of negative opinion of singers tackling works meant for the other gender. Last night was completely different! It was the essence of the text that came across as Ms. Armas completely disappeared. (If a baritone ever does the same with Schumann's Frauenlieben und Leben we may very well fall off our chair.)

Serving the music and the text to this degree requires the abandonment of self indulgence. The narrator in this cycle is suffering from the loss of his beloved and in spite of the beauties of nature he sinks into despair.  Eventually his agony yields to a calm acceptance.  Ms. Armas limned each and every emotion; even if the listener did not understand the German (which our singer enunciated with Teutonic perfection) one could not fail to understand."

Now, Dear Reader, imagine how much greater depths were plumbed after three years of growth and experience! Mr. Lazaro was with her emotionally every step of the way and what a journey it was. Something new was added by both member of this artistic team. The elements of nature were more intensely elucidated. And there were a couple phrases given a marcato reading that lent a special emphasis. We had not noticed that before. Through our ears and through Ms. Armas' artistry we felt a deeper experience. We had to pull ourselves together for the next set of songs!

Although there was Teutonic perfection in the Mahler, it was delightful to hear our two artists performing in their own language. (Ms. Armas is Mexican and Mr. Lazaro is Peruvian). Alberto Ginastera was a 20th century Argentinian composer and his Cinco canciones populares Argentinas are filled with Latin flavor, a flavor we always enjoy. Mr. Lazaro conveyed the rhythmic vitality to perfection.

Claude Debussy was a contemporary of Mahler but his Gallic style could not be more different. We love the mythic and impressionistic feel of his Trois chansons de Bilitis. It was here that both artists captured an imaginary world of antiquity, the gentle strumming of a lyre, the sensuality of a sexual awakening, and the chill of disillusionment.

The final set comprised six songs by Sergei Rachmaninov in which soprano Magdalena Kuzma gave us the gift of experiencing the emotions through her voice since we do not speak or understand Russian. We have watched her winning prizes at a number of competitions and always enjoy the Polish or Russian selections. Mr. Lazaro's piano seemed to love the lavish Russian Romanticism and so did we!

And so...we heard four different styles of music, each one given its full measure. We heard Mr. Lazaro accommodate to two different singers. We are ready to call him Dr. Lazaro. Perhaps the next time we write about Mr. Lazaro we will be writing about Dr. Lazaro!

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ENGAGING HEART AND MIND

 Roberta Mameli

We love a gorgeous unamplified human voice and we love learning things. Both these wishes were granted last night at Bohemian Hall when Aspect Chamber Music presented a program entitled The Ghosts of Hamlet. First we heard a stimulating illustrated lecture by the engaging John Brewer, Professor of History and Literature, Emeritus; then we heard a most gratifying concert of Baroque music performed by Le Concert de l'Hostel Dieu featuring stunning soprano Roberta Mameli.

To those of us who know the story of Hamlet as a 1601 Shakespearean play and as an 1868 grand opera in five acts by the French composer Ambroise Thomas,  (based on a French adaptation of the Shakespeare work by Alexandre Dumas, père, and Paul Meurice ) the lecture was a revelation. The origin of the Hamlet story was Gesta Danorum, a history of the Danish people written at the beginning of the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus. The story concerns a King of Denmark treacherously murdered by his brother who then marries the King's widow. The King's son feigns madness and the usurper tries to reveal him. The son uncovers a spy and brutally murders him along with a bunch of nobles and the usurper, then manages to become King himself.

From this raw and bloody material, Shakespeare fashioned a play filled with ambiguity, subtlety, and exploration of character. A century later, one Apostolo Zeno created a dramma per musica for Venice, one that derives directly from the source and departs significantly from Shakespeare's iteration,  giving much more importance to the female characters.

And thus we have a great deal of music of the Italian Baroque based upon Zeno's rendering of the Danish "history" which may or may not be legend. Amongst a slew of composers who wrote operas entitled Ambleto, the only composers of the group with whom we are familiar are Scarlatti who wrote his opera for Roma in 1715 and Handel who wrote another Ambleto  for London in 1712.

Performing excerpts from several of these operas was a most talented chamber group Le Concert de l'Hostel Dieu, the members of which were unfortunately not mentioned in the program; but there were three violinists, a cellist, and a theorboist who doubled on lute, all conducted by Franck-Emmanuel Comte who played an instrument that sounded like a harpsichord but was very small. Dear Reader, forgive our ignorance but we are not specialists in the field of Baroque music.

Performing the arias was the glorious Roman soprano Roberta Mameli whose penetrating and flexible instrument was well under her control as she negotiated all manner of Baroque fioritura whilst conveying a panoply of emotions. We enjoyed the performance the most when the violins were silent and she was accompanied only by the cello and the theorbo. The texture was divine. One could tell how much she enjoys singing these works and if we ever got the chance to hear her perform a Monteverdi opera or a Händel one, we would be in seventh heaven.

Some of the other Italian composers who were unknown to us were Francesco Gasparini, Giuseppe Carcani, and Carlo Francesco Pollarolo.  Johann Joseph Fux also composed something instrumental for Vienna and Johann Adolf Hasse for Paris, although we are not sure whether their works were related to Hamlet.

Which brings us to a small quibble. We would have loved projected titles since we were unwilling to tear ourselves away from the compelling performance to follow the program, not to mention the fact that the lighting was insufficient for reading it.

However, let us end on a high note, so to speak. The most welcome encore was an aria "Lascia ch'io pianga la mia sorte" from Händel's 1711 opera Rinaldo. The composer had used that melody a number of times with different text before it achieved fame in Rinaldo. It achieved further fame when used in the film Farinelli. We were thrilled to hear something familiar to close this excellent program.

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MANNES DOES ALCINA

 David Khang, Zhedong Ren, Ruijia Dong, Brooke Jones, Maestro Geoffrey McDonald,

Marcella Astore, Jooyeon Park, and Yoonji Kim

The music of Händel is favorable for young voices and we were pleased that Mannes Opera chose one of his operas to showcase seven young and talented singers. We are pleased not only because we love his music but also because it means that these young singers will have learned a role that may lead to employment. Casting students in unknown contemporary operas has always seemed to us to be wasteful of the singers' time and efforts, inasmuch as they will likely never get to reprise the role. Alcina is one of our favorite Händel operas and we have seen it and enjoyed it a number of times.

Each character gets a chance to shine since each aria offers a ritornello that invites decoration of the vocal line-- as much as the singer can Händel.  (Sorry about that; we just couldn't resist.) The story is just one episode in a 16th c. epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto entitled Orlando Furioso. It is not necessary to know the entire poem to appreciate this 1735 opera seria but it is amusing to note that poor Bradamante has been pursuing Ruggiero throughout the entire epic, and also that the prolific Händel drew not one but three operas  (Orlando and Ariodante) from the same source.

In this episode, Ruggiero (mezzo-soprano Ruijia Dong) winds up on an enchanted island where the beautiful sorceress Alcina (soprano Brooke Jones) has seduced men and turned them into animals, plants, and rocks. Poor Bradamante (mezzo-soprano Marcella Astore) has disguised herself as her own brother and, accompanied by Ruggiero's former tutor Melisso (bass-baritone David Khang), come looking for Ruggiero.

Alcina's sister Morgana (soprano Jooyeon Park) instantly falls for the disguised Bradamante and casts aside her lover Oronte (tenor Zhedong Ren). The youth Oberto (soprano Yoonji Kim) is also on the island searching for his father Astolfo who had been converted into a beast.

As you can see Dear Reader, the plot is complicated but has to do with infatuation, seduction, betrayal, forgiveness, revenge, delusion and disillusionment. Having read the notes of Director Sam Helfrich a few hours after the conclusion of the opera, we were a bit surprised to learn that his interpretation of the themes were quite similar to ours.  We can understand his intention to highlight these themes but somehow presenting the work as a French farce didn't work. 

Set designer Daedalus Wainwright created a beautiful set which seemed to be early 20th century art nouveau, at least we recognized some pieces of furniture that reminded us of Musée D'Orsay in Paris. There was a divan, a chest, gorgeous lighting, and lots of doors which emphasized the dramatic entrances and exits of the performers. 

The costume designs of Camille Charara were disappointing. Ruggiero looked not a bit heroic. Bradamante was stuffed into an ill-fitting man's suit which appeared rather contemporary. Alcina might have looked more glamorous. Morgana and Oberto made out somewhat better. As a matter of fact, in terms of acting Ms. Kim's Oberto was most convincing, since it was sincere and underplayed. Oberto's reunion with his restored father was touching.

So, between the anachronism of contemporary clothing and the art nouveau set, magnified by substituting a pistol for the libretto-identified spear--well, we just didn't get it. It's no wonder we associated a French farce with characters  running in and out. 

This is not the only strange concept a director has imposed upon this opera. We reviewed one in Santa Fe that took place in a theater, and one in New York City in which Alcina's magic spell was produced by narcotics and all her victims had to endure withdrawal. We suppose there will never be a straight production of this opera so the best we could hope for is consistency within a given concept.

We decided to try to ignore the silly stage business and focus on the musical values which were fine. Maestro Geoffrey McDonald always brings out the best in musicians and the Mannes Orchestra did not disappoint. By a strange coincidence, the first time we heard Mo. McDonald conduct, it was at least ten years ago, in a chamber production of the same opera!

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THE POWER OF THE VOICE

 

J'Nai Bridges

Like the current month, we entered like a lion and left like a lamb. To go from the poetic to the literal, we arrived tempest-tossed, windblown and rain soaked, seriously doubting our ability to shift our focus from creature (dis)comforts to artistic involvement. Nonetheless, we left more than satisfied, actually brimming with joy. The cause for this joy was spending time in the company of mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges.

We first swooned over Ms. Bridges' gifts ten years ago when she won the singer's Triple Crown--awards from The Gerda Lissner Foundation, The Giulio Gari Foundation, and The George London Foundation. As her career has blossomed, we have noted her enthusiastic and generous participation in sharing her artistry with the next generation of singers. The expression comes to mind "Beauty is as beauty does" and the generosity of spirit she displays exceeds her beauty of face, form, and fashion.

Last night celebrated her week long residency at Kaufman Music Center's Special Music School, a high school with music as its core focus, also including students from The John J. Cali School of Music of Montclair State University. The conclusion of the evening's program brought all students onstage to sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel. This brought us full circle to the beginning--"Walk on through the rain, walk on through the storm". But we are going to tell you Dear Reader, all the wonderful music that happened in between the actual rain and storm and the musical one.

We were delighted to hear Ms. Bridges lend her full-throated mezzo instrument, her keen dramatic instinct, her impeccable phrasing, and intense stage presence to works both familiar to us and to some new to us. Her interpretation of Carmen's "Habanera" left nothing to be desired.

What gave us the biggest thrill was her interpretation of Manuel de Falla's Siete Canciones Populares Españolas. We can never get enough Spanish music and this cycle offers the artist an opportunity to show a panoply of emotions from the knowing "El Paño Moruno", the judgmental "Seguidilla murciana", the sorrowful "Asturiana", the romantic "Jota", the tender "Nana", the anguished "Canción" and the devastating "Polo".  We have insufficient praise for this performance but we do have one suggestion. The music stand must vanish!

We enjoyed John Carter's Cantata, complex settings of four spirituals, with its challenging piano part played by Ms. Bridges' superb collaborative pianist Joshua Mhoon whose fine technique brought the bells to acoustic life in "Peter, Go ring dem bells". Some fine texts by Langston Hughes were set by Carlos Simon, Margaret Bonds, and Florence Price, whose "Hold Fast to Dreams" struck us as most lyrical.

The trio "Soave sia il vento" from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte allowed some students to shine (soprano Violet Hilmer, baritone Casey Shopflocker, and pianist Sol Nicholson, whilst Ms. Bridges generously held back, careful not to outshine the others.

We were surprised and delighted to hear Clara Luz Hernandez Iranzo take the role of Giulietta with Ms. Bridges singing Nicklausse in the "Barcarolle" from Offenbach's Contes d'Hoffman. It has been nearly six years since we heard Ms. Iranzo at Joan Dornemann's International Vocal Arts Institute and were pleased to notice her vocal growth. The two voices entwined in this rapturous duet and, once again, Ms. Bridges allowed her partner room to shine.

On our way home we barely noticed the wind and the rain!

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GESAMTKUNSTWERK AT NATIONAL SAWDUST

 Silvia Santinelli, Ashley Galvani Bell, and Maestro Pedro Halffter

We struggled to find a word to describe Klara, the compelling performance piece we attended last night at National Sawdust, presented by Opera Hispanica. There was very little operatic about it and very little Hispanic. The music and words were those of Pedro Halffter, renowned Spanish composer/conductor. The lead character was portrayed by soprano Ashley Bell, well known to us from her productions at DIVAria Productions, which also collaborated with Opera Hispanica on this work. 

As regular readers are aware, we choose not to prepare for attending a performance, preferring to allow the work to speak for itself. We would say that Klara spoke for itself loudly and (sometimes) clearly. Why it was called "an Opera in four Haikus" we know not. The four haikus on the program struck us as obscure and unrelated to the work we saw.

Some digging around the internet post-performance led us to a prize-winning novel by Kazuo Ishiguro entitled Klara and the Sun; it tells the story of an android purchased by a family as a companion to their daughter, exploring the relationship between the android, the daughter, her mother, and the daughter's male friend. Although we have not read the novel, as we understand it, themes of love and consciousness are explored in a way that is touching and meaningful. We could easily see it as an animated film from Gibli Studios.

Clearly Halffter was inspired by this theme although no attempt was made to follow the story in any literal sense. There was a scene in which Ms. Bell became self-aware and began to mirror the gestures of the three dancers (Laura Henning, Amanda Lamotte, and Jordana Rosenberg) that provided a framework for the story of awakening consciousness. We did indeed feel touched.

We enjoyed Halffter's music which produced some surprising associations. The opening bars brought to mind the opening bars of Wagner's Das Rheingold for reasons we cannot explain. Perhaps a musicologist could. As the music grew in texture and complexity, we were reminded of the repetitiveness and key changes of Philip Glass and Steve Reich. Not that the work was derivative in any way; it struck us as original. Duo pianos were played by Silvia Santinelli and Maestro Halffter himself.

The choreography and direction were by Richard Stafford and, although modern dance is not our first terpsichorean choice, it suited the work well. Eric Lamp's costumes were similarly a propos, with white pants suits yielding, by means of stepwise undressing, to metalicized body suits of different colors.

John Farrell's set design was similarly effective with nothing onstage but an elevated square platform encased in sheer white panels. Ms. Bell only emerged from under a pile of white fabric after the three dancers danced round about the platform. Presumably she represented artificial intelligence and the story Mr. Stafford told was of her awakening to a form of consciousness by imitation. There was another touching scene in which one of the dancers fell and Ms. Bell expressed compassion and physical caring. Ms. Bell has quite the gift for conveying emotion through facial expression and body movement. There were also video projections for which Mr. Farrell is credited but we found them nothing more than a distraction.

We have heard Ms. Bell sing on a number of prior occasions and have had only good things to say about her voice. Last night did nothing to change our positive opinion although this work did not give her much to sing. The tessitura was sufficiently high that we had difficulty making out much beyond "I wish".

Following the performance a panel discussion, organized by Ms. Bell, was held. We had the opportunity to hear some opinions about artificial intelligence shared by the most engaging Mo. Halffter, a thoughtful Hindu monk, and two NYU professors. We have our own opinions which we will not share here so it was stimulating to hear what some experts had to say. In sum, the evening offered both artistic and intellectual value.

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