OPERA INDEX GALA

Gloria Kim, Joshua Sanders, Leah Brzyski, Teresa Castillo, Brian Michael Moore,
Xiaomeng Zhang, Aaron Crouch, Meigui Zhang, Yunuet Laguna, and Jane Shaulis

Last night at the glamorous Metropolitan Club, Opera Index held their annual Distinguished Achievement Award Dinner, honoring Joyce DiDonato and Elinor Ross. President Jane Shaulis gave a warm welcome to attendees. As we looked around the room it seemed like every citizen of Planet Opera was there to celebrate the honorees and to hear some extraordinary entertainment by a group of 2019 Award Winners.

Unfortunately, legendary soprano Elinor Ross was unable to attend but a selection from her debut at The Metropolitan Opera as Turandot was played. The recording was made a half century ago! We will be overjoyed to hear all of the young artists we heard last night making debuts at The Met!

Tenor Joshua Sanders led the entertainment with a stunning performance of "Ah! mes amis" from Donizetti's La fille du régiment. Nailing all the high C's was not enough for Mr. Sanders who engaged the audience by circulating between the tables. Ain't nobody don't love that aria!

Actually, all of the choices for the evening's entertainment were arias that are familiar and popular. We Strauss lovers were thrilled to hear "The Presentation of the Rose" from Der Rosenkavalier and our table agreed that Leah Brzyski made a perfect innocent Sophie.

"O zittre nicht" from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte is another crowd pleaser due to its vocal acrobatics and soprano Teresa Castillo did not disappoint, giving us plenty of vocal fireworks with all the accompanying thrills and chills.

We never miss a chance to hear baritone Xiaomeng Zhang perform "Vy mne pisali" from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, which absolutely must be his signature piece, sung with terrific tonal quality and just the right touch of hauteur. We simply cannot wait to hear Mr. Zhang perform the title role in the entire opera, a role which seems made for him.

Tenor Brian Michael Moore tackled "Ah! la paterna mano" from Verdi's Macbeth, nailing the notes as well as MacDuff's deep grief over the loss of his family. A highly moving performance indeed.

Lest one think that there is not much of interest beyond the famous male duet in Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de perles, we wish you had heard soprano Meigui Zhang sing "Comme autrefois" in which Leila reminisces about her past in the loveliest French sung on the loveliest melody. We particularly admired the note spun out like a silken thread.

Men giving away their hearts is a topic dear to our heart and tenor Aaron Crouch performed "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" from Franz Lehar's Das Land des Lächelns. Yes, it is a silly operetta but this hit tune has provided ample material for an expansive tenor with good German.

The entertainment ended with the beloved "Song to the Moon" from Dvorak's Rusalka movingly performed by sensational soprano Yunuet Laguna, who made this difficult language sound as musical as Italian. We actually saw the moon in our mind's eye, so convincing was the performance.

Piano accompaniment was provided by Gloria Kim who can play just about anything!

Richard Stilwell gave a lovely tribute to honoree Joyce DiDonato who always has something sincere to say about young artists. We have often attended her master classes and find her tutelage to be original and very much custom tailored to each student. She certainly deserves to be honored, not just at a gala but constantly. This is such a prominent and admirable feature among the opera community--always helping the younger generation along.

© meche kroop

THE MIRACLE WORKER

Justina Lee, Shannon McGinnis, Aaron Crouch, Maya Amir, Keymon W. Murrah, Alexandra Nowakowski, and
Joyce DiDonato (photo by meche kroop)

Guest review by Ellen Godfrey:

April in New York means that opera lovers get to see the wonderful three day event of master classes led by the exceptional and multitalented mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Most masterclasses take place on only one day, but she has the same four singers for three days in a row on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In addition, she works with the young singers during the daytime as well. Students are selected through auditions of singers from around the world.

The classes are part of the Weill Music Institute held at the Resnick Education Wing of Carnegie Hall. The sessions are always filled to capacity and many of the audience members return year after year.

Joyce Di Donato is the most original and talented Master Class teacher of all the master classes I have seen over many many years.  She is so supportive of the students; they feel right at home with her.  She has a second sense about knowing what she can do to help each student and she uses a lot of physical exercises to free up the singer’s body and mind. She is like a dog with a bone; she will work on just a few measures over and over again and not give up until the singers succeed in finding their own personal way to sing those notes.

Ms. DiDonato made some opening remarks before the first session began. She emphasized that she is not a pedagogue nor a voice teacher. Her mission is to guide the singers in how to perform, to be artistic and to find the drama in what they are singing. We have the total liberty to cry or to laugh or to be daring. This is a playground, a chance to liberate ourselves and be free.

Ms. DiDonato welcomed the first singer, Alexandra Nowakowski, a Polish- American soprano.  She thanked Alexandra for taking the risk of being the first to  perform on the program. Ms. Nowakowski sang the “Caro Nome” from Verdi’s Rigoletto. She was very confident in her singing, had good resonance, a good trill, a beautiful messa di voce, and good portamenti. Her phrasing was also lovely and she  received a big hand from the audience. It seemed like a perfect performance to us, but there was still work to be done.

Ms. DiDonato asked her if, as Gilda, she felt different this day then the day before when she had encountered a handsome young man as she came out of church. Rigoletto is such a popular opera, everyone knows how it goes and they stop listening…so she was told to compose as though she were Verdi and to search out Gilda’s character.  Ms. Di Donato also told her not to be a coquette, but to have elegance; also to anticipate the beat and not just land on it. After she sang the aria again, the audience was astonished to see how much progress she made.

In the second session, she again sang a lovely “Caro nome.” She was advised to try to discover more in the music and text and to live it as though she didn’t want the moment to end.  Alexandra was quick to catch on to what she was being told and the modifications could be heard. 

She sang a different aria for the third class… “Come per me sereno” from Bellini’s La Sonnambula. Alexandra told us that this was the first time she sang this aria in public.  She sang it beautifully, with gorgeous high notes right on pitch.  Ms. DiDonato was very pleased with it but felt it lacked some fragility and suggested she be bold enough to play with the dynamics more. 

The second singer was the Israeli mezzo-soprano, Maya Amir, coming to New York for the first time. She sang Ottavia’s aria “Disprezzata regina” from Claudio Monteverdi’s opera L’incoronazione di Poppea. She has a lovely mezzo voice and a nice delicacy to her voice, but was told that she sometimes needs to make her voice ugly.  She is the Queen and needs to act as one. Ms. DiDonato worked with just the words of the aria several times to get her to be more dramatic. "You need to show your hate and you must spit out the consonants."  She was told after a lot of repetition of the phrase “Disprezzata regina”  that she was a thousand times better.

For the second session she chose the well-known aria “Lascia la spinta” from Handel’s oratorio Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno,  (I wish young singers would announce the name of their arias and their own name by projecting their voices so that we in the audience can hear their names and what they are performing). She sang with great fragility and softness. She was praised by Ms. DiDonato but she felt that somehow it seemed that Maya didn’t want to be seen or heard. She gave her a water bottle in each hand to use to give her energy as she sang.  After some work on this she told Maya that she had improved and she was coming out more.  For the final session, she sang Ramiro’s aria from Mozart’s La Finta Giardineri ,“E giunge a quest segno.” Ms. DiDonato said she needed more attack on the notes and that more grit is required for this aria. She complimented Maya for getting more out of herself.

For the first session, tenor Aaron Crouch, a native Bostonian, sang “Il mio tesoro” from  Mozart’s Don Giovanni. It was sung with good breath control and good coloratura, but there were a few times when his voice got a bit ugly. He is very personable and communicates well. "Welcome to where you are now", she said; "I’m sure you will be a major talent but you have to be patient and have a plan. We know what we want to sound like but it should be natural; you have an infinite amount of options and colors.  I love what you did this morning…just take some time to digest it".  

He started the second session with “Total Eclipse” from Handel’s Samson, which he also sang in the third session.  He was told that he has a lovely tone and that this would be a good audition aria for him. Ms. DiDonato worked with him a long time on the “e” vowel.  She said, "Don’t think about the sound you are making; you should feel the sensations". He made great progress from the second session and sang this aria beautifully with lots of feeling in the final session. 

Counter-tenor Keymon W. Murrah was the final singer on Friday. He sang Orfeo’s aria “Amour, viens rendre a mon âme ta plus ardente flamme.” from Gluck’s Orfeo. He had no trouble with the coloratura singing and used his breath well. Ms. DiDonato said "I love this piece and how you sing it. I want to hear the words enveloped in your glorious sound. You have so much natural talent but we have to get to the next level; you have to be patient." 

Keymon sang “Where'er you walk” from Handel’s Semele for the second session. Ms. DiDonato worked with him tirelessly on just a few words and getting the sound lighter and easier. She talked about comforting people and making the world a better place.  She then told him to go out and sing to the people individually in the audience. He made eye contact with members of the audience as he sang and sometimes shook their hands.  This was a beautiful moment and the audience gave him a big round of applause. Keymon said that he felt freer to be himself.  In the final session he sang “A quel giorno” from Handel’s Semiramide. He sang with freedom and good range from top to bottom. Ms. DiDonato had him sing with a pencil in his mouth to help his breathing and keep the vowels in place.

Justina Lee and Shannon McGinnis were the wonderful pianists who accompanied the singers.   

All four singers made wonderful progress under Ms. DiDonato. It was also evident that she loves working with these young singers and helping them to pursue their careers.