A TASTE OF DON G.

Ken Young, Jeduthun Chung Gu Kim, Mengtao Zhou, Maestro Giovanni Longo, Claudio Mascarenhas, Iris Prcic, Valentine Baron, and Geeseop Kim

New York Lyric Opera Theatre has thrived under the leadership of General/Artistic Director Elizabeth Heuermann. Not only is there a constant stream of recitals but also a summer music program, vocal competitions, and student outreach. Who in the opera world has not been reached by these many activities!

Last night at the National Opera Center, there were two consecutive performances of a judiciously cut version of Mozart's masterpiece Don Giovanni, giving two casts (with some overlap) the opportunity to try out their roles in front of a live audience, and giving a new audience the opportunity to hear the highlights of the score in less than 90 mins. In place of a live orchestra, we had the marvelous Giovanni Longo at the piano, playing the exciting score with appropriate vivacity.

A concert version of an opera does not give the singer an opportunity to emote and the much deplored use of music stands deprives the singer of the chance to connect with the audience.  Furthermore, we believe that if such a performance is geared toward new initiates to opera, titles would have been of value. We personally know the opera well and could tell what was going on without the drama. Newcomers would not have understood.

Voices on the whole were quite good, given the limitations. We are very hard on tenors who push their voices and sound tight. No such complaint about Jed Chung Gu Kim who took the role of Don Ottavio. His sweet sound was just right for the part and he sang with lovely legato and ease of sound production. His "Il mio tesoro" was lovely and someday we would like to hear his "Dalla sua pace". Alone among the cast, he seemed to try to connect with his beloved Donna Anna.

In that role, soprano Mengtauo Zhou exhibited an attractive tone and a facility with the coloratura. We believe that, freed of the music stand, she may develop more variety of color that would make the performance even better. She was quite lovely in "Non mi dir". She and Mr. Kim did beautifully in their Act I duet.

The eponymous Don Giovanni was portrayed by bass baritone Claudio Mascarenhas as an arrogant heel. No charm for this seducer! His powerful sound and stage presence lent veracity to the part. He created a sense of menace throughout.

As his servant Leporello, Geeseop Kim exhibited a less robust type of bass baritone. His Act II aria gave him some stage time, with his best sound at the upper end of the register. We bet that the audience longed to hear his Catalogue Aria.

As the vengeful Donna Elvira, we heard Iris Prcic, who calls herself a "zwichenfach soprano mezzo". To our ears, she sounded like a solid dramatic soprano with her best notes in the upper register.  There is a steely core to her tone that made her just right for the role. The difficult "Mi tradito" with its wide skips was well handled.

The role of the flirtatious Zerlina was sung by Valentine Baron whose light soprano was just right for the role. Her "Batti, batti" was lovely and demonstrated flexibility.

Unfortunately, bass Ken Young has a mature sound that didn't fit the role of Masetto.  However he was just right for the Commendatore, lending gravitas and horror to the role. The final scene in which he drags Don G. to hell was quite chilling. In the opening scene in which he is murdered by Don G. both men sounded great together.

As a matter of fact, all the ensembles were superb, earning credit for the balance of voices. The harmonies written by Mozart are always "music to our ears". 

(c) meche kroop

A RAINBOW OF SONG

Atsuko Nieda and Antonio Signorello

It was a short recital at The National Opera Center but all the bases were covered in terms of repertory for an Italian tenor.  Accompanied by pianist Atsuko Nieda, Antonio Signorello, who hails from Catania in Sicily, appeared under the auspices of New York Lyric Opera Theatre. Elizabeth Heuermann is the General/Artistic Director of this organization and we have enjoyed her creative directing on a number of occasions as well as her vocal performances. (The last time we heard her was in the role of Adele in Die Fledermaus.)

We hope she was not responsible for Mr. Signorello's changing scarves for each aria and canzone. Every color of the rainbow was represented and perhaps the color was meant to relate to the lyrics, but we found this bit of stage business to be quite distracting.

We loved the well-chosen program which included arias by Puccini and Verdi (what's not to love!) and canzone by Tosti, Cardillo, and Cali. We enjoyed the use of rubato in "L'ultima canzone" with its lovely vocalise at the end, and "A vucchella", both by Tosti. We would have called Cardillo's "Core 'ngrato" our favorite until we heard a song new to us--Cali's "E vui durmiti ancora", or Mattinata Siciliana.  We ourselves must have been asleep to have overlooked this gem.  Many thanks to Mr. Signorello for introducing us!

There were two curiosities on the program--from Meyerbeer's L'africaine, which we have never seen, we heard "O paradis", sung in French.  And from Franz Lehar's 1929 operetta Das Land des Lächelns we heard "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz"--in Italian! Well, that was really something!

From the world of opera, we heard arias from Verdi's La forza del destino and from Puccini's La fanciula del West and Manon Lescaut. We found Mr. Signorello's delivery to involve more "grandstanding" than that to which we are accustomed. "Money notes" were held just a bit too long with some distracting grimaces.

On a positive note, we always admire an Italianate sound and Mr. Signorello has an embouchure that any American singer would do well to emulate.  He has a darker sound than we had anticipated and he has plenty of depth in the lower register.

We had heard him sing previously ("Vesti la giubba") and he was sufficiently intense at that time. We believe he would do well to "pull it back a notch". A variety of color and intensity would be welcome. So...more color in the sound and less in the fabric!

(c) meche kroop

PARODI AND MOZART

Kneeling: Luke Scott and Alejandra Ruiz (photo courtesy of NY Lyric Opera)

We always want to be in the audience when the versatile Argentinian conductor Jorge Parodi wields his magic. Friday night at Weill Recital Hall he showed a special affinity for Mozart. The froth of the melodies was all there but full attention was paid to the depths of characterization in Nozze di Figaro. The Metamorphsis Chamber Orchestra gleamed under his guidance.  The Artistic Director of the Orchestra is bassoonist Pierre Lidar.

Able assistance in interpretation was contributed by the singers, directed by Isabel Milenski, who directed the same opera at Juilliard. Her touch is unmistakable. The singers sang well and acted with conviction in this semi-staged production by New York Lyric Opera whose Artistic Director Elizabeth Heuermann can be counted on to put on a good show.  We have no idea who condensed Mozart's long opera into an hour performance but it was long enough and well enough staged that one could understand the story and the relationship between the characters. Effective costumes by Brenna McShane made up for the lack of scenery.

Although the superb chamber orchestra occupied half the stage, the singers had no problem singing above the sound. Luke Scott cut a fine figure as the eponymous hero and we particularly enjoyed his "Non vedrai" in which he employed a falsetto voice for some of the lines. The role fit him like a glove. As his bride, Alejandra Ruiz was winsome and won our heart. She was particularly fine in "Giunse al fin...Deh vieni non tardar".

In the roles of the aristocrats, Boris Mitchell sang and acted successfully as Count Almaviva and Jennifer Noel, as his Countess, did a lovely job with "Dove Sono", such that we mourned the missing "Porgi Amor". Her duet with Ms. Ruiz delighted the ear.

It is a small role but we were enchanted by Joseph Andrew Yu's gossipy Don Basilio. How surprising it was to learn that he is still an undergraduate at Manhattan School of Music. We predict a good future for this young man. We also liked another young artist, Matthew Hutcheson-Bleiberg whose lanky appearance added to his success as Antonio.

Kaitlin Hatchett as Cherubino, Courtney Wilson as Marcellina, and James williams as Bartolo all contributed to the fun onstage and sang well.

The first half of the evening was given over to a succession of arias, each sung by a different singer.  It was a great opportunity to hear a lot of different artists, among whom several stood out.  Giovanni Longo's accompaniment was unusually sensitive and supportive.

Tenor Percy Martinez sounded more impressive than he has on prior hearings in smaller rooms.  His voice was just the right size and timbre for "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini's Tosca.

We liked the intensity of tenor Antonio Signorello in "Vesti la giubba" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. We were impressed by the harmonization of Kaitlin Hatchett and Sangying Li in "The Prayer Duet" from Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel". Their English diction was so excellent that we missed not a single word. Any singers who have tried to make themselves understood in English will understand how difficult that is.

Danielle Davis sang "Elsa's Dream" from Wagner's Lohengrin with authority and good dynamic control. She started sweetly but built to an heroic climax.

Although we are in the dog days of summer, New York Lyric Opera had no problem packing the house. Opera lovers are always thirsting for talent and there was plenty of that onstage!

(c) meche kroop