THE TRIUMPH OF MUSIC

Fanyong Du, Anna Viemeister, Ricardo Rivera, Richard Owen, Megan Nielsen, Riad Ymeri, and Andrew Cummings in Camerata New York Gala

How well we remember last year's star-studded Camerata New York Gala! This year's version was equally thrilling. The theme was "The Triumph of Music" and the same successful formula that packed St. Jean Baptiste Church last year was again put into play. Favorite arias and duets from well known operas were performed by a cast of international opera stars; each piece was introduced by Maestro Richard Owen who gave the audience just a brief synopsis.

Once again, we had the notion that the audience was partly opera devotés and partly newcomers attracted by the stellar cast, the popularity of the pieces, and a modest ticket price--less than one would pay for a balcony seat at the Met. There were no titles and we didn't see many people reading the translations.  We got the impression that people were truly listening and feeling entertained.  And that's what opera is all about, isn't it?

Readers will recall how much we love duets and the program opened with a solo performed by two tenors!  After the wonderful Camerata New York Orchestra treated us to the Easter Morning Prelude to Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, not neglecting the underlying menace in this familiar melody, the "Siciliana" was sung by Fanyong Du and Riad Ymeri, both sounding tenorrific. Pardon our neologism!

Mr. Du appeared again with baritone Ricardo Rivera in the Act IV duet from Puccini's La Bohème in which the two Bohemians chat about their lost loves with seeming carefree nonchalance. Puccini's music gives the lie to their jolly chatter. Mr. Du's sweet tenor balanced beautifully with Mr. Rivera's substantial baritonal colors.

These two singers make a fine pair, as manifested in their "Au fond du temple saint" from Bizet's Pêcheur de Perles, in which their love/lust for the temple priestess Leïla threatens their friendship. By the end of the duet, they are affirming their amity.  But we know better that one of them is going to break that vow of friendship!

Yet another sensational duet was the final scene from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in which Tatiana, still in love with Onegin, dismisses him partly out of duty to her husband Prince Gremin, and partly out of suspicion that Onegin is only interested in her because she has a high position in society. The lovely soprano Megan Nielson made a fine ambivalent Tatiana and baritone Andrew Cummings excelled as the importuning Onegin who just won't take "nyet" for an answer.

The final duet on the program was the Act I finale of Puccini's Madama Butterfly in which Butterfly was performed by Ms.  Nielson with Mr. Ymeri as Pinkerton. Mr. Ymeri's voice is so sweet we could scarcely believe that he is such a heel who will abandon this Butterfly with whom he is so taken. Their two voices soared as they invoked nature and he distracted her from the rejection she suffered at the hands of her family. It was a lovely way to end this very special evening.

But we are not ending our review here because we have yet to mention the marvelous arias we heard. Mr. Ymeri got a huge round of bravos for his portrayal of the troubled Riccardo, Governor of Boston, in Verdi's Ballo in Maschera. He must send away his aide Renato because of his love for Amelia, Renato's wife. Mr. Ymeri gave this aria "Forse la solia" an emotional reading without any hint of tightness.

Renato's rage, as he believes Amelia to have been unfaithful, permeated Mr. Cummings' affecting performance of "Eri tu".

Mezzo-soprano Anna Viemeister did her best with Ulrica's aria "Re dell'abisso" but did not always penetrate the dense orchestration with the very low-lying tessitura. 

We enjoyed her much more in "Senta's Ballade" from Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, which is a soprano role.  Go figure! But she had the power and the top notes and the touch of madness needed to show us that Senta was a bit off-kilter. It was a splendid performance with the intervals of descending fourths particularly affecting.

We heard two popular arias from Gounod's Faust. Mr. Rivera's performance of Valentin's "Avant de quitter ces lieux" was particularly well handled with the prayerful part colored with tenderness and the patriotic part with resolve. Mr. Du did equally well with Faust's serenade of Marguerite "Salut! Demeure chaste et pure" which was filled with romantic longing, fine French phrasing, and a lovely messa di voce. 

Although opera was the major focus of the evening, the Camerata New York Orchestra was given their opportunity to shine, not only in the Easter morning prelude to Cavalleria Rusticana, but also in the "Polonaise" from Eugene Onegin. The lively ballet from Faust had a lovely lyrical central section. Similarly, the Prelude to the Madama Butterfly duet was filled with tenderness. Maestro Owen has wonderful command of his orchestral forces.

We found the harp accompaniment (Hannah Murphy) to the Mascagni particularly lovely and also heard a lovely flute solo in the Verdi.

The only downside to the evening was the overly resonant acoustics of the gorgeous St. Jean Baptiste church. This tended to smear the sound, but what can we do? Placing the orchestra at audience level with the singers behind is not a great solution but there seems to be no alternative. There are no suitable midsize theaters with an orchestra pit in Manhattan, although there are dozens of small opera companies that need one. To coin a phrase..."If you build it, they will come".

Let us call the evening "The Triumph of Music Over Acoustics"!

(c) meche kroop

OPERA INDEX COMPETITION WINNERS RECITAL

Lawson Anderson, Brittany Nickell, and Michael Fennelly

We have often written about the generous dispersal of funds by Opera Index, and the care with which the young singers are selected for awards. The excellence of last night's recital at the National Opera Center came as no surprise. Luminaries of Planet Opera gathered to hear the "stars of tomorrow"; but we call them "stars of right now". They were introduced by President Jane Shaulis.

Soprano Brittany Nickell impressed us as a graduate student at Manhattan School of Music with her large and stunning instrument. Bass-baritone Lawson Anderson burst onto our radar screen just two years ago and dazzled us with his Mozart and Wolf, Borodin and Gounod. We heard potential in his Wotan but he didn't sound quite ready.

Well, hello Wotan! What progress he has made recently, coached by Valentin Peytchinov! We haven't enjoyed a Wotan since James Morris retired the role and we are sure that Mr. Anderson has received some input from Mr. Morris.  Truth to tell, if his casting were announced today we would be first in line for tickets!

Mr. Anderson has a dark mature sound and did a fine job in "Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge", creating a mood of authority.  As he invited Fricka to join him in their new home at the end of Das Rheingold, we thought "We'd follow him anywhere". We did follow him all the way through "Wotans Abschied", observing his gorgeous German, fine phrasing, and smoky tone.  But what we admired most was his ability to create an entire panoply of moods by means of gesture and vocal coloration. 

Wotan has been out-argued by Fricka and must punish his favorite daughter Brunhilde by depriving her of immortality. He must convey anger, sorrow, love, regret, and everything in between. Personally we cannot enjoy The Ring Cycle unless we have come to care deeply for the all-too-human Wotan with all of his flaws.  Morris succeeded and so did Mr. Anderson.

We were very impressed by the orchestra! Well, it was "just" Michael Fennelly playing his own arrangements of Wagner's score on the piano but it sounded like the Full Monty!

We were glad Mr. Anderson also included a few selections from Schubert's Winterreise which we so enjoyed hearing him sing in toto just two weeks ago. He also reprised an aria from Borodin's Prince Igor--"Ni sna, ni otdyha" in enviably fluent Russian.

Mr. Anderson is magnificently versatile and gave the audience a good taste of his Mozart. He made a fine Figaro expressing his rebellion against the Count in "Se vuol ballare" from Le Nozze di Figaro, and a very seductive Don Giovanni in "La ci darem la mano". His Zerlina was Ms. Nickell.

We wrote about this compelling soprano when she was studying at Manhattan School of Music and also witnessed her performance in a Marilyn Horne master class. We love her brilliant upper register with a fine vibrato that seems to contribute overtones upon overtones. What is special is that there is no loss of power at the lower end of the register, but rather a seamless quality from top to bottom. 

We had previously heard her "Robert, toi que j'aime" from the Meyerbeer opera Robert le Diable and admired her facility with French; we were delighted to hear it again. We heard impressive Verdian inclinations in "Come in quest'ora bruna" from Simon Boccanegra. Recalling her fine performance in Conrad Susa's opera The Dangerous Liaisons, we formed the opinion that Ms. Nickell is more of an opera singer than a lieder singer, although that may come along later.

The three Duparc songs she offered last night were finely rendered with delicacy and sensitivity and a lovely pianissimo; but it seemed to be an effort to hold herself back to fit the Gallic model--like driving a Lamborghini in city traffic. Of the three chansons, we preferred "L'invitation au voyage" in which the composer had more text and more time to develop his compositional ideas with dynamic variety. And Mr. Fennelly's piano was again, a revelation.

We thought that the Strauss songs were a better fit for Ms. Nickell's sizable soprano. We heard the timely "Frühling" and "Beim Schlafengehen" with its lovely piano interludes, from Four Last Songs. We thought that sleep was used as a metaphor for death. Even better was "Wie umgibst du mich mit Frieden" from Die Liebe der Danae, an opera we have never heard.

There is one aspect of performance that we hope Ms. Nickell will work on, and that is acting.  Offstage she has a lovely warm smile but onstage there was a constant expression of distress on her face. Of course we do not know what she was thinking or feeling during the performance but we wanted more variety.

In the Duparc we wanted a more languorous interpretation and we wanted to see Zerlina's flirtatious side. We believe that holding different images in mind during the performance could only spill over to a better palette of vocal colors, something that Ms. Horne, if we remember correctly, also brought up in the master class. Now we just remembered something from Ms. Horne's wise advice which Ms. Nickell seems to have followed. She was advised to "enjoy the melisma". Listening to her Strauss, we surely did!

(c) meche kroop

NEW OPERA NYC

Keith Chambers, Mikhail Svetlov, and Kirsten Chambers

We know Maestro Chambers as the conductor of New Amsterdam Opera where he is putting on some wonderful opera, the latest of which was Verdi's La Forza del Destino. His lovely wife Kirsten was heard and enthusiastically reviewed in Fidelio. Mikhail Svetlov, however, is a basso previously unknown to us.

Last night at the Sheen Center, the three appeared for New Opera NYC which will be producing Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Golden Cockerel May 18th to the 21st and we have already put it on our calendar. What an opportunity to hear a work we've never heard! But last night's program comprised a varied program of opera, art song and Broadway favorites.

For us, the highlight of the evening was Ms. Chambers' performance of "Vissi d'Arte" from Puccini's Tosca. She showed all the conflicted emotions of Floria Tosca--the despair, the incredulity, the guilt.  Come to think of it, she did the same with Turandot's aria "In questa reggia" from the Puccini opera Turandot. One could feel the fear and vulnerability of the character underneath the icy exterior, which is important if we are to forgive the character for her brutality and to realize that she is worth Calaf's risking his life to win her.

Ms. Chambers has a sizable soprano which she utilized well in the "Liebestod" from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, a role she covered at the Metropolitan Opera, and also in Elizabeth's aria "Dich, teure Halle" from Tannhauser.

We also enjoyed a song by Sven Lekberg entitled "The Spring and the Fall'. Every word was clear and the song benefitted from the rhyming text.  Ms. Chamber's warmth here was engaging.

We didn't enjoy "La ci darem la mano" as much. Part of the problem was a mismatch between Ms. Chambers and Mr. Svetlov. Her elegant and glamorous appearance did not suggest a cute little peasant girl. However, it was a cute "wrinkle" to have her be rather overeager towards the seducing Don Giovanni.

The Russian basso is a fach which we usually enjoy but we found Mr. Svetlov's bass to be gravelly and not too pleasant. His best effort was in Rachmaninov's "Ves tabor spit" from Aleko, an opera we hope to hear someday. We generally love "Spring Waters" but his performance was too bombastic for our taste.  We prefer a lighter touch for that song.

He also sang "Come dal ciel precipita" from Verdi's Macbeth, in which Banco is warning his son to escape the assassins.

He sounded better in the lively aria "Fin ch'han dal vino" from Mozart's Don Giovanni and showed sufficient flexibility in "Le veau d'or" from Faust, which he also did in the wonderful aria "La calunnia" from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. 

We thought it was a grievous error to have this pair sing "Bess, you is my woman now" from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Hearing a Russian accent and an educated American accent trying to imitate the dialect of Catfish Row sounded almost funny. We are anything but "PC" but this smacked of cultural appropriation.

It also felt wrong to hear Mr. Svetlov singing Broadway tunes with his Russian accent. It didn't add anything to the program.

As always, Mr. Chambers' piano was elegant and supportive.

(c) meche kroop

WAGNER AND VERISMO

Brian Holman, Ruth Ann Cunningham, Emanuel Mora, and Anita Lyons

An opportunity to hear our two favorite scenes from Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle seemed like just the right thing to do on a Sunday evening. The two scenes are incredibly moving when performed the way Wagner intended, as a gesamtkunstwerk.  So, how would a piano reduction work, we wondered, with the scenes extracted from their respective operas and sung without costumes and sets?

In the hands of Brian Holman the piano part worked very well indeed.  His artistry brought out each leitmotif with clarity and fluency. We could not feel the same enthusiasm for the singing, largely due to the use of music stands; this condition impaired the singers' ability to connect with each other and thereby to draw the audience in.

When Sieglinde and Siegmund recognize one another as long lost twins, we want to feel that special shiver, just as we do when Siegfried awakens Brünnhilde with a kiss. We confess to being a romantic!
These two duets are quite difficult ones and we admire the artists for tackling them with such gusto, but it doesn't make the grade when we are distracted by singers glancing down and turning pages.

Soprano Anita Lyons did the best at acting the part of the newly aroused warrior maiden and sang as best she could under the circumstances. Everyone did the best they could but it wasn't good enough. Tenor Emanuel Mora's German was marred by his "icky" pronunciation of the final "ich".

The second half of the concert came across better as the three singers took on Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. There appeared to be less reliance on the scores placed on music stands. Ms. Lyons made a fine impassioned Santuzza, singing "Voi lo sapete, o Mamma", establishing sympathy for her "wronged woman". She evinced fine phrasing.

Everyone seemed more comfortable in the Italian and the catfight between Lola and Santuzza was more convincing. As the seductive Lola, soprano Ruth Ann Cunningham set up a character that we could dislike. As the faithless and duplicitous Turridu, Mr. Mora showed the anguish of being caught in the middle between the pregnant Santuzza and the married Lola. One couldn't help thinking that this snake deserves what he gets at the end of the opera!

This was the inaugural concert of the New York Verismo/Wagner Opera Guild. There are not many performance opportunities for this challenging repertoire. We wish them well, but we hold to our position that if you want to attract an audience you have to put the work in to commit to memory that which you are presenting.  Otherwise the audience feels as if they are at a sight-reading.

The concert was dedicated to the memory of Patricia Sage, the coach and music director of the Wagner Theater Program in which Ms. Cunningham and Mr. Mora participated.

(c) meche kroop

A PRE-VALENTINE TREAT FROM THE GERMAN FORUM

Michael Hey, Magda Gartner, Babette Hierholzer, Äneas Humm, Alexander Liebermann, and Henry Meyer-Oertel

Those who love German culture (count us in!) should be aware of the exciting events programmed by the German Forum, of which Henry Meyer-Oertel is President and Babette Hierholzer is Artistic Director. This worthwhile organization gives young German-speaking artists the opportunity to perform in New York City. We have attended several of their events and have always enjoyed them immensely.

Last night we were introduced to two excellent new singers, a highly talented organist, a 20th c. Swiss composer, and a contemporary composer whose work we actually loved (surprise!); we also enjoyed a lovely cocktail hour with German delicacies. Food for the spirit and food for the body!

Most astonishing of all is the 20-year-old lyric baritone Äneas Humm whose talent surpasses his youth by a huge factor. It is a beautiful instrument with lovely overtones; the manner in which he employs it indicates a great deal of serious study. A Züricher, he is already well known in Europe.  Last night was his New York debut.

He showed vocal expressiveness in two songs by Edvard Grieg and a trio of songs by the 20th c. Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck, a composer to whom we were thrilled to be introduced. Having gone online to amend our ignorance we discovered that he wrote several hundred songs. We can only hope that other singers will avail themselves of this vast collection. The three we heard were lovely, with our favorite being the melodic "Nachklang" with text by von Eichendorff.

Mr. Humm gave a tender performance of "O du mein holder Abendstern", from Wagner's Tannhaüser, exhibiting fine dynamic variety and coloring. Babette Hierholzer accompanied him beautifully on the piano. From Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore, he sang "Come Paride vezzoso" with substantial control of the phrases at the lower end of the register and a nice facility with the fioritura. He made a very good attempt at portraying the arrogant Belcore but his gentle nature kept poking through.

He also sang a pair of songs by the prolific Viktor Ullmann who died tragically during the Holocaust. This is another composer who merits more attention from singers. Mr. Humm sang two songs from The Songbook of Hafis, translated from Farsi and dealing with the jolly and tragic aspects of alcoholism.

As if this were not enough, we heard the world premier of "Le Fugitif" by the gifted young composer Alexander Liebermann. Readers may recall how much dissatisfaction we have expressed with contemporary songwriting and will be surprised to learn that we loved this song, not only the piano writing but the satisfying melodic vocal line. The French text was beautifully sung by Mr. Humm. We want to hear more from Mr. Liebermann!

French seemed to be the language of choice for mezzo-soprano Magda Gartner who excelled in her "Seguidilla" from Bizet's Carmen and also in "Nobles seigneurs" from Giacomo Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. Her French was superb.

We enjoyed "Sei wir wieder gut" from Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos and also two arias in Italian from this tri-lingual artist. She graciously introduced us to two of Mozart's ladies going off the deep end. We heard Donna Elvira's "Ah! Fuggi il traditor!" from Don Giovanni which showed off her bright upper register and then Dorabella's difficult aria "Smanie implacabili" from Cosi fan tutte, in which she captured the character's adolescent angst.

We do not consider ourself to be a fan of organ music but we were definitely dazzled by the artistry of Michael Hey who is establishing an impressive career since graduating from Juilliard last year.  He "let out all the stops" (sorry about that) in Léon Boëllmann's "Toccata" from Suite Gothique and in Max Reger's "Phantasy on chorale" which reminded us of Phantom of the Opera.  

He also gave a nuanced reading of J.S. Bach's "Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele".

We always enjoy Ms. Hierholzer's collaboration, giving each artist a fine partnership and being particularly attuned to the varying demands of the music.

This was an almost overwhelming recital, stuffed with delectable goodies. We always enjoy discovering new music and new artists. We are feeling grateful to the German Forum for providing this experience.

(c) meche kroop

AMERICAN FINE ARTS FESTIVAL

Carmine M. Alfiero and Marisan Corsino

We just spent over 2 1/2 hours (without intermission) listening to budding artists at Weill Recital Hall in a winner's recital produced by the American Fine Arts Festival, now in their twelfth year of providing performance opportunities by means of audition.

This is our first experience with AFAF and we are unable to find much information on their website and there is almost nothing in their program. Consequently we can say little about the performers, particularly since there were errors in the programming, not to mention misspelling of names. The young woman given the task of verbally announcing such changes was inaudible, even from the front row.  Never mind.  Let's get to the performances.

There were two standouts in the vocal area. Mezzo soprano Marisan Corsino, winner of the Russian Seasons Competition, demonstrated skills in both art song and opera. In what sounded to us like excellent Russian, she sang "The Soldier's Wife" by Rachmaninoff, a tale filled with grief. Ms. Corsino is a self-contained artist and used the colors of her voice, rather than gesture.  In Polina's aria from Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame, she employed her entire register all the way down to a deep affecting bottom.

Soprano Becca Conviser is a very different sort of singer, making ample use of facial expression and gesture. She has a big voice and tackled "Dich Teure Halle" from Richard Wagner's Tannhaüser. It was a rousing success. She also performed "Tutte nel cor vi sento" from Mozart's Idomeneo and did just fine negotiating the tortuous skips up from the very bottom to the upper register.

We also liked Shubhangi Amitkumar Das' coloratura in Händel's "Rejoice Greatly O Daughter of Zion", which she followed up with Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera.

There were several other singers on the program, most of them not really performance-ready. We do understand that such recitals as these are meant to provide such experience but there are certain basics that should had been taught, even how to smile at the audience and how to take a bow. These youngsters rushed on and off the stage. There was nothing in the program to tell what age group they belonged to but we suspect that most were far younger than they appeared. Lavish gowns and high heels lead an audience member to expect a more polished performance. Furthermore, the pieces chosen (by whom??) for them to sing were often beyond their capabilities.

There were lots of instrumentalists on the program (over two dozen budding artists and their accompanists) and some of them were quite wonderful. It seems as if the voice is the most difficult instrument to master, since some of the instrumentalists were quite young and yet quite accomplished. The program opened with Lauren Elizabeth Kim playing Four Tales by Medtner. She appeared to be under 10 years of age but played with admirable assurance.

Young violinist Rhys Evans played "Sicilienne and Rigaudon" by Fritz Kreisler.  Not only did he play beautifully but we suspect that his accompanist was his sister. She had a touching rapport with him. We wished the program had been more explicit.

Natalie Lin delighted us with her cello performance of selections from Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococco Theme.  Julia Angelov was poised on the violin, playing part 3 of  Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1. 

Jacob Katz excelled in a couple of Chopin's challenging Etudes. Evangeline Gao tacked Liszt's Etude No. 3 and played beautifully.  Evgeni Petrichev drew some wonderful colors from an Etude by Rachmaninoff. We also heard a guest artist from Russia--Nikita Galaktionov--who polished off a pair of Etudes by Scriabin and won our heart with Prelude #2 by Gershwin, filling it with jazzy styling.

Finally we wish to call attention to a pianist from Russia who captured all the anxiety of Prokofiev's Sonata #3 in A minor, and managed to come up smiling. No one else smiled all evening; these youngsters were all so serious! It was heartwarming to witness one who enjoyed performing.

(c) meche kroop

A TUCKER TRIUMVIRATE OF TALENT

Brian Zeger and Paul Appleby

Brian Zeger and Jamie Barton

Brian Zeger and Christine Goerke

What do these three artists have in common beside being Richard Tucker Award winners?


What sets them apart from the huge pool of excellent singers we have heard?

It would seem to be a combination of audience rapport and a deep understanding of the text. Singing is communication from the heart. If the singer understands on an emotional level what he/she is singing about and can get you to feel it too, you experience a connection that goes way beyond listening, way beyond hearing. The feeling borders on mystical.

Dramatic soprano Ms. Goerke, mezzo-soprano Ms. Barton, and tenor Mr. Appleby have all that and more. The technique of producing the sound totally disappears and one loses oneself in the song.  The listener becomes one with the singer. That's a rare gift.

Thanks to WQXR and their Greene Space we got to hear all three artists and to learn a bit about them as William Berger conducted interviews.  All three have exceptional personalities and were willing to share about themselves with candor.

Mr. Appleby's "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubern schön" from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, was given a most winning performance. "Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden" from Schumann's Liederkreis is a real heartbreaker in strophic form and Mr. Appleby completely captured the shades of regret in each verse. The joy of William Bolcom's "New York City Lights" was equally captured.

It was during the interview that we learned about the contributions made to Mr. Appleby's love of language by his university studies as an English major. His love of poetry and the words it comprises is unmistakably evident.

Ms. Barton, known as The Down Home Diva, hails from Georgia and has deep feelings for music with a Southern slant.  Her bubbly personality would be enough to win us over but when she opens her mouth to sing, great depth colors everything. She generously spoke of her nurturing at the hands of the Tucker Foundation and from Marilyn Horne.

A pair of songs by Jean Sibelius--"Var det en dröm" and "Svarta rosor"-- were given a passionate performance in Swedish.  Equally fine was an aria from Ponchielli's La Gioconda--"Stella del Marinar". Everything Ms. Barton sings is golden. In the interview she told of how she loves to try new things.  What a future this young woman has!

Ms. Goerke is another fascinating artist and related how her lyric soprano changed rather early to a different fach and now she is singing Wagner and Strauss. She sang Strauss' "Cäcelie" and proved her point. But it was her performance of the Immolation Scene from Wagner's Götterdämmerung that totally blew us away.

At first, we thought she was channeling our favorite Brünnhilde, Hildegard Behrens, but we soon realized she brought her own essence to the part. It was noteworthy (no pun intended) and memorable.

Her performance of this scene was greatly assisted by Brian Zeger who was the collaborative pianist for all three singers. In the Wagner his pianistic skills were so finely honed that we could see the flames dancing.

We have been home for hours but we think the walls of the Greene Space must still be vibrating!

(c) meche kroop

WAGNER & VERDI

Giuseppe Verdi

Richard Wagner

What an excellent idea to present a program of arias composed by two 19th c. titans born two centuries ago!  The feisty Chelsea Opera, helmed by Lynne Hayden-Findlay and Leonarda Priore, took on this bicentennial celebration.  Christ and St. Stephen's Church was bursting at the seems with loyal fans.

The first part of the program was devoted to the works of Richard Wagner, works we all know and love.  Wagner is notoriously difficult to sing and the performances came across as rather mixed.  Soprano Maria Russo tackled Brünnhilde's "Hojotojo!" with a great deal of gusto and volume and tenor Caleb Stokes performed "Winterstürme wichen dem wonnemond", one of our favorite Wagnerian arias.  Jennifer Behnke performed "Der Engel" from Wesendonck Lieder.  Soprano Elizabeth Beers Kataria was convincing as Senta in "Traft ihr das schiff im meere an" from Die Fliegende Holländer but did not seem to have much connection with bass Steven Fredericks in their duet "Wie aus die Ferne"

Caleb Stokes reappeared as Parsifal in "Nur eine waffe taugt" and Ms. Russo returned for Isolde's "Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde in which she failed to float her line successfully over the piano.  The best part of the Wagner program was the ensemble from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in which the voices blended and balanced well; the aforementioned singers were joined by Monica Hershenson Thuris and Shawn Thuris.

One would never call Verdi easy to sing but the singers in Part II, which was devoted to his works, managed considerably better.  Baritone Robert Kerr made a fine Falstaff in the eponymous opera, singing a rather touching "Va! Vecchio John".  In  "Reverenza", mezzo Leonarda Priore herself was quite amusing, enjoying her role as Mistress Quickly to the fullest, while tenor Jonathan Morales took the role of Bardolfo.  Mr. Kerr reappeared later in "Per me, giunto...O Carlo, ascolta!" from Don Carlo and impressed us with his Verdian legato and dramatic commitment.

We greatly enjoyed soprano Regina Grimaldi whose generous and expressive voice animated "Ernani, Ernani, involami" from Ernani.  She has a lovely vibrato and needs only a bit more support in her lower register.  She also did a fine job with "Morró, ma prima in grazia" from Un Ballo in Maschera. 

Mr. Morales reappeared as the Duke in Rigoletto.  The audience enjoyed his "Questa o quella".  Tenor David Kellett performed "Madre, non dormi?" as Manrico with the part of Azucena being taken by Ms. Priore.  Mr. Kellett reappeared later as Macduff from Macbeth in the deeply felt aria "O figli, figli miei".  To close the evening, the entire company sang the moving "Va pensiero" from Nabucco.  Accompanying the singers throughout the evening was Steven M. Crawford.

(c) meche kroop