GERALD FINLEY MASTER CLASS

William Kelley, Joe Eletto and Gerald Finley

Every master class is different but they all share something in common. A famous singer with the ability to impart his/her knowledge works with a few different students, usually for about a half-hour each, and tries to give each one something useful.  Some students readily pick up on these gifts and others seem unable to grasp them, possibly because of the stressful circumstance of learning in front of an audience.

Yesterday's master class at Juilliard was exceptional in that baritone Gerald Finley possesses not only a great knowledge of his art but also the ability to find a point of entry to reach each student. The other reason it was exceptional is that the students of Juilliard's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts are preternaturally receptive and relaxed in front of an audience.

Most master teachers have a main theme to convey and Mr. Finley's had to do with the many aspects of intimacy. In contrast with the expansive "reaching out" of opera, lieder singing is an "inviting in" kind of performance. The singer must express who he/she is as an artist, emphasizing simplicity and vulnerability. It's a "heart-to-heart" kind of thing, an expression we ourselves have used to describe a number of Juilliard-trained singers. The singer must be the music and be the emotion so that the members of the audience can feel those feelings.  We are totally in agreement!

The first student was bass Daniel Miroslaw, working with collaborative pianist Valeriya Polunina. We were delighted that he chose to sing a song in his native Polish entitled "Whence the First Stars" by M. Karlowicz. Ms. Polunina was coached to begin with a note expressing the distance from the stars; one could hear the distance as this set the stage for Mr. Miroslaw. She also was coached to slow the tempo just a bit.

Mr. Miroslaw has a wonderfully rich instrument and he was coached to take his inspiration from the text and reminded to focus on the tone and the line, especially when singing his own language. Rests in the music become a cue to express emotion. He needed to ease up on the effort and this made an impressive difference. By the end of the half-hour we could feel the remoteness of the heavens!

The second singer was countertenor Eric Jurenas with Juliana Han at the piano. They began with Henry Purcell's "Sweeter than Roses". Mr. Finley instructed Mr. Jurenas to sing his English as if it were Italian, shifting the English "O" to an Italian "AW". It is always advisable to go by how it feels in the body rather than how it sounds. Since and open vowel resonates better less air is needed. Furthermore, it was advised to take more breaths and to make them meaningful. Ms. Han did so well with the Baroque style and the pair worked very well together.

Baritone Joe Eletto performed next with the always wonderful William Kelley producing marvelous colors on the piano. They performed "Schöne Fremde" from Robert Schumann's Liededrkreis, Op.39. Mr. Finley made an interesting point about knowing what came before a particular selection within the cycle.  He emphasized the necessity, when singing German lieder, to be totally aware of the text and to sing the words "immaculately". Every syllable requires vitality and energy.

In this song, the poet is expressing the strangeness of being in a foreign place; the place is indeed beautiful but overwhelming in its strangeness. After this bit of coaching we could indeed feel these unique feelings and were reminded of some of our stranger travels. Mr. Kelley sustained this mood right into the postlude.

The final student was soprano Christine Price who possesses an instrument just made for Strauss. She sang the moving "Mein Herz ist stumm, mein Herz ist kalt" from Sechs Lieder aus Lotosblätter, Op. 19, accompanied by William Kelley. The same advice about opening the vowels served here as well. How many times have we heard voice teachers saying to avoid widening the mouth on "AH". Attention was paid to the final consonants and their strict enunciation.

It was a master class in which each artist grew in intimacy and communication--a worthwhile class for both artists and audience.

(c) meche kroop

JUILLIARD VOCAL ARTS HONORS RECITAL

William Kelley, Juliana Han, Eric Jurenas, and Theo Hoffman

We confess to greediness where pleasure is concerned. Last night's Vocal Arts Honors Recital at Juilliard could easily have gone on for another hour.  It left us wanting more--not in any way unsatisfied, just wanting more goodies from the four gifted artists who graced the stage at Alice Tully Hall.

The two singers were nominated by their voice teachers for a competitive audition and then selected by distinguished judges.  Each chose his own program and that lent a degree of excitement to the evening--learning a bit about how they experience their own particular talent.  The two pianists were chosen from the Collaborative Piano Department.

The first half of the evening was performed by counter-tenor Eric Jurenas accompanied by the lovely Juliana Han. If you read our review of Anthony Roth Costanzo last week, you may recall how fond we are of this special fach.  If you are a regular reader, you may recall that we do not prefer singing in English. We are now back-pedalling since Mr. Jurenas' superb English diction and Henry Purcell's lavish melodies ensured that this was our favorite part of his offerings.

Mr. Jurenas has a finely focused instrument that is brilliant in the upper register and manages to bring an amazing roundness of tone in the lower register.  Although no one knows what the castrati sounded like, we were imagining that was the sound. We are glad, however, that Mr. Jurenas was never called upon to make the necessary sacrifice.  Hard work is sacrifice enough!

The Purcell songs were the perfect choice for his instrument and he brought the text to life with dramatic expressiveness, dynamic variety and thoughtful word coloring.  "Music for a While" from Oedipus has rarely fallen on our ears with such delight.  In "Sweeter than Roses" from Pausanias, we loved the melismatic singing on the word "victorious"; what Mr. Jurenas did with the word "freeze" made us shiver!

He showed some fine French style in Ravel's Épigrammes de Clément Marot which gave Ms. Han an opportunity to shine.  He evinced equal skill with German in a selection of songs by Alexander Zemlinsky and Gustav Mahler. We have always enjoyed "Lob des hohen Verstandes" from Des Knaben Wunderhorn--a metaphor for ignorant audience members (the donkey) who can't tell good music (the nightingale) from bad (the cuckoo).  Of course that doesn't apply to New York audiences! Mr. Jurenas sang it with great style and humor.

Another text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn--"Das irdische Leben" was given all the tragic interpretation Mahler wrote into it, a real heartbreaker. No one can do tragedy like Mahler!

The second half of the program belonged to baritone Theo Hoffman and collaborative pianist William Kelley. Mr. Hoffman has impressed us since his very beginnings at Juilliard and he just keeps getting better. His many awards and multiple castings indicate that we are not alone in being impressed.

He sang three Tchaikovsky songs that were wildly romantic. We do not speak Russian but they sounded very authentic to our ears.  More importantly,  the words came across as if they tasted delicious in his mouth. His dynamic range is huge; he began at barely a whisper and opened up to an astonishing crescendo of passion.

The concluding song of the set, "Whether day dawns", gave Mr. Kelley a chance to tear into the passionate postlude.  The set of songs were so powerful and so dramatically sung that the next set of songs by Carlos Guastavino allowed the temperature in the hall to cool slightly while still upholding artistic intensity.

Guastavino composed in the early 20th c. when poetry still scanned and rhymed.  The vocal lines are lovely and Mr. Hoffman's Spanish was perfect, according to our native Spanish speaking companion. In "Ya me voy a retirar" the pain of the poet's loss is converted into beauty.

Our favorite of the set was "La rosa y el sauce", a plaintive song that ended in a dazzling vocalise.

Mr. Hoffman's program ended with the New York premiere of Three Tennyson Songs by Jonathan Dove, a contemporary composer who manages to write melodically. Perhaps choosing a "good" poet like Alfred Lord Tennyson brings out the best in a composer. Mr. Kelley had a great time with the prelude to "O Swallow, Swallow" and played some interesting octaves in "Dark House" while Mr. Hoffman employed vivid word coloring.

We longed for some encores but there were none.  We comfort ourselves knowing that there will be many more opportunities to hear these artists in the future. They have been winning prizes hand over fist and are already much in demand.

(c) meche kroop

A LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT

Kenneth Merrill and Diana Yodzis

To some folk, two recitals in one day would be excessive but we confess to gluttony where music is concerned.  Our first event, as part of "The Song Continues" at the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall, was a most enjoyable recital by a lovely young soprano named Diana Yodzis.  She employed her pleasing bright soprano to serenade the audience in a varied program.  As she gradually moved away from the piano, she let go and revealed her engaging personality.

She began with Rossini's La regata veneziana which we always love to hear.  It gives the singer an opportunity to express, in turn, anticipation, anxiety, excitement and relief.  This was readily accomplished by Ms. Yodzis; we felt as if we were living through the gondola race ourself.

Hugo Wolf is a more challenging composer with less obvious vocal lines.  His Mignon songs are not nearly as melodic as those set by Schubert but always worth hearing. Word coloring was well employed and the sad story was given ample expressiveness. Our sole (and rather minor) criticism is the singer's insecurity (typical of many American singers) with the final "ich" which is often left unvoiced or pronounced as "ick".  This is a minor flaw and easy to correct.  Otherwise, her German was excellent, particularly with the umlaut.

A trio of songs by Duparc were song beautifully with nicely phrased long even lines. We particularly enjoyed "Phidylé". French diction was fine.

A recital given under the auspices of Ms. Horne would not be complete without a set of American  songs.  The selections from Aaron Copland's Old American Songs were well chosen and we especially enjoyed Ms. Yodzis' rendition of "I Bought Me a Cat".

Kenneth Merrill was a fine supportive piano partner who subtly pulled back the volume whenever the vocal line entered.  Great work!

As encore, the artist dedicated "La Vie en Rose" to her fiancé who is serving in the military.  We couldn't help thinking that this fortunate young man will find himself with a beautiful and talented wife--a fine reward for serving our country!

Bryn Holdsworth, Adanya Dunn, Raphaella Medina, Juliana Han, Kirill Kuzmin, Miles Mykkanen, Robert Bosworth and Marilyn Horne

Still on a high from the lovely recital, we attended Marilyn Horne's Master Class in which four fine young singers had the rare opportunity to be coached by one of the 20th century's iconic singers.

When the singer sings the song initially, one wonders how it could possibly be improved.  And then Ms. Horne supplies the answer.  Her four young singers worked hard to implement her suggestions and reached a new level of accomplishment.

We are very familiar with tenor Miles Mykkanen's fine technique and outsize personality, but last night we heard a different side of him as he essayed Hugo Wolf's "Benedeit die sel'ge Mutter".  Ms. Horne had him work on being more reflective and tinkered with his dynamics to fine effect.  Robert Bosworth served as piano partner.

Mezzo-soprano Raphaella Medina worked on a gorgeous Spanish song by Fermin Maria Alvarez with whom we were unfamiliar.  "La Partida" has ample melismatic passages and stirring Spanish rhythms, the strictness of which Ms. Horne wanted observed. Incisive diction was another feature she emphasized.  Further, she encouraged Ms. Medina to use her arms.  The end result was a stirring performance, to which pianist Juliana Han added a great deal.

Soprano Adanya Dunn took the stage with a wonderful relaxed stage presence and delighted the audience with her engaging personality.  Ms. Horne guided her through Britten's "The Salley Gardens", slowing the tempo and encouraging some sentimentality to good effect.  We truly enjoyed her storytelling in Liszt's "Die Loreley".  Shifts in dynamics and tempi made the performance even better.  Kirill Kuzmin was her fine accompanist.

Soprano Bryn Holdsworth, accompanied by Robert Bosworth, performed Strauss' wonderful "Allerseelen".  Ms. Horne suggested that young people may not have experienced significant losses sufficient to convey the depth of feeling in the song (we beg to differ--loss is not confined to the elderly, nor to the middle-aged) and that a young singer would have to "act".  Ms. Holdsworth did just fine in this regard and brought tears to our eyes.  Ms. Horne worked with her on grounding and on steadying herself through the diaphragm.  There were places that she encouraged Ms. H. to be more reflective and more pianissimo.  This definitely added to the success of the performance.

It was truly a magnificent day--a "double header" of a day.

© meche kroop