COMFORT YE

Baritone Mark Rucker

Lauren Flanigan's annual fundraiser to benefit the homeless was held Monday in its new home--the acoustically superlative St. Paul's Church on 86th and West End Ave.  Admission to this star-spangled event is by donation of blanket, warm coat, groceries, or cash. Audience members are treated to one gorgeous aria after another performed by Ms. Flanigan's many friends, most of whom are stars from the Met, as is the fine coach/accompanist Kamal Khan who serves as Music Director.

As if this were not enough, the Ebony Ecumenical Ensemble, directed by Bettye Forbes, was there to raise the roof with their spirited song stylings. The audience responded to "Go Tell it on the Mountain" with rhythmic applause.

New this year was a fine group of young singers Ms. Flanigan calls The Flaniganizers, nine lovely young women, each one of whom had something special to offer, each telling about how Ms. Flanigan had helped her career before launching into her aria. They were all delightful!

Ms. Flanigan herself performed the intense scene from Act II of Puccini's Tosca, in which poor Florio Tosca must listen to poor Mario Cavaradossi (Raúl Melo) being tortured offstage while she builds up enough hate for the evil Scarpia (Louis Otey) to want to murder him. If anyone can do "intense" better than Ms. Flanigan, we'd like to hear about it!

Mr. Melo also gave us a fine aria from Puccini's La Fanciulla del West and baritone Mark Rucker, accompanied beautifully by his wife Sadie, shone in "Nemico della patria" from Andrea Chénier, showing every ounce of disdain for his ironic sentence.

There was yet more Puccini as soprano Jasmine Muhammad sang "Donde lieta usci" from La Bohème.

Among so many splendid performances we also enjoyed tenor Brian Anderson's performance of "De' miei bollenti spiriti" from Verdi's La Traviata and tenor Ryan MacPherson's "Parmi veder le lagrime" from Verdi's Rigoletto. 

Ms. Flanigan was the welcoming host for the evening's entertainment and Stewart Desmond, Executive Director of the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, spoke briefly but movingly of his campaign's successes. In a remarkable move for a food pantry, the hungry get to enter this pantry and select the foods they like, as if they were in a grocery store.

We couldn't help thinking that Mayor DiBlasio would have done better to hire Mr. Desmond as consultant instead of paying a quarter of a million dollars to the fella that wasn't doing his job in the first place. We'll put our faith in the private sector any day of the week!

(c) meche kroop

COMFORT YE

For 18 years now soprano Lauren Flanigan has produced an annual Christmas concert to benefit the homeless.  Recipients of the benefits are three worthy organizations: The Interfaith Assembly on Homeless and Housing, The West Side Campaign Against Hunger and New York Cares.  Admission to the concert is achieved by donation of a warm coat, a warm blanket, a shopping bag filled with groceries, or $40 cash.

Entertainment is provided by stars of The Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera--all friends of Ms. Flanigan whose performances we have always loved.  A typical opera star would be satisfied with a successful career, but not Ms. Flanigan!  This utterly selfless and modest wonderwoman goes to great lengths to help others.  She has established Music and Mentoring House in Harlem where she offers lodging, great cooking (another one of her oversize talents) and support to young artists, some of whom are visiting New York for auditions or competitions, others of whom live there for a time.

Accompanied on the piano by Kamal Khan, major artists provided nearly three hours of entertainment for the grateful audience.  From Handel to Wagner, Bizet to Bernstein, all the bases were covered.  Oh, did we forget to mention a surprise appearance by the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players in a scene from Pirates of Penzance?  And brief arias by some of the young singers Ms. Flanigan is mentoring?  And some lively gospel music by the Ebony Ecumenical Ensemble who appear every year?  And a powerful performance in Spanish by Ms. Flanigan-- the late Julia de Burgos, another humanitarian and poet.

The varied program was always enjoyable but allow us to mention a few personal favorites.  Mezzo Eve Gigliotti sang "Cruda Sorte!" from L'Italiana in Algeri with smashing technique and an admirable evenness of tone throughout the registers.  Soprano Amy Burton sang some fine French cabaret songs accompanied by her husband John Musto.  Soprano Jennifer Rowley hammed it up admirably as Musetta in Puccini's La Boheme.  Mezzo Vanessa Cariddi took us on a wild ride with her embellishments in "Una voce poco fa" from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia.  Baritone Luthando Qave showed some fine Russian in Rachmaninoff's "Spring Waters".  Tenor Brian Anderson introduced us to "Deserto in terra", an aria from Donizetti's Don Sebastian, an opera with which we were unfamiliar.

We could go on and on but hereby apologize to all the wonderful artists we must leave out for consideration of time and space.  If you were fortunate enough to have attended, you probably had your favorite moments as well.  And if you missed it, make sure you put it on your calendar for next year.

(c) meche kroop