GALLIC GLORY AT MSM

Bryn Holdsworth as Andromède

Yeon Jung Lee as Le Feu and Amy Yarham as L'Enfant

It was a night of sheer delight spent with Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater. Credit for this extraordinary success must be attributed to the clever direction of renowned James Robinson, who told the tales with originality that was still true to the origins of the two works; to the beautifully balanced sound of the conservatory's orchestra under the baton of Pierre Vallet; and, above all, to the superb singing and acting of the young artists, mainly graduate level students.

The wisely chosen program comprised two French works of note, the first of which, Jacques Ibert's 1924 Persée et Andromède, has never before been performed in the United States, and the second of which, Maurice Ravel's 1925 L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, we have enjoyed on several prior occasions.

Ibert's librettist "Nino" (a pen name for his brother-in-law Michel Veber) turned the tale of Perseus' rescue of Andromeda on its head. In the myth, she has been chained to a rock as a sacrifice (long story!) and dreams of being rescued from the monster Cathos by a great hero.  Perseus arrives on a winged horse (Pegasus), slays the monster, and carries her off to live happily ever after (sort of).

In Nino's libretto, Perseus is so arrogant when he kills Cathos that Andromeda realizes that she has loved the monster all along and declines to leave with Perseus. Pining over Cathos, her grief brings him back to life as a handsome prince.

But wait! Mr. Robinson's concept is that this all takes place in a French museum with a reproduction of Cesari's 1596 painting of the legend occupying pride of place, flanked by supposed studies for the work. The museum guard must ride herd on a group of uniformed schoolgirls who get too close to the velvet rope and a mother with her two obstreperous children.

A beautiful redhead enters and lies writhing on a bench as she dreams of, what else, a romantic encounter. Soprano Bryn Holdsworth, whom we have written about before, sang with terrific tone and acted with conviction. She even convinced us that she was a natural redhead, so well did she embody her character.  And that's acting! It was a stellar performance, marked by some fine French diction, coached by Bénédicte Jourdois.

The superbly coached schoolgirls acted as Greek chorus, commenting on and giggling over the sleeping Andromeda, just as schoolgirls would. What an inspired concept! Chorus Master Daniela Candillari must have worked very hard to achieve this success.

As the museum guard, bass Hidenori Inoue, was peevish but far from a monster. He serenaded Andromeda with full round tone and tried to ease her boredom with stories and symbolic chess games.

Tenor Taehwan Ku made a humorously arrogant Perseus, waving a silk scarf with an image of Medusa imprinted, in place of the Gorgon's head. The "monster" was not intimidated.

Allen Moyer's set was a fine recreation of a museum while Paul Palazzo's lighting contributed a great deal, adding glowing warmth to the arrival of Perseus. James Schuette's costumes were consistently mid-20th c. and Tom Watson's hair and makeup design was apt.

And oh, that music! Much of it was impressionistic and shimmered with painterly colors, sounding just right for the setting. That made the climactic moment of crescendo all that more affecting. We were curious about the placement of the harps off to one side, and the percussion off to the other. Whatever the reason, it sounded sensational.

Ravel's charming work L'Enfant et Les Sortilèges started life as a ballet with a book by Colette; but this baby had a decade long gestation, finally achieving the stage in Monte Carlo in 1925. It is a favorite of music conservatories since it employs a large cast. It tells the tale of a naughty boy who treats people, animals, and furniture with equal contempt.

When the aforementioned furniture comes to life and turns against him, and the animals speak to him of their suffering, he learns compassion. It is a wonderful lesson for children, but also for adults. Behavior has consequences!

As the eponymous child, Australian mezzo-soprano Amy Yarham sang with beautiful inflected phrasing and easily understood French; moreover she created a most believable little boy bored with his homework, throwing a tantrum of destruction to retaliate against his mother.

The entire cast was excellent and we hesitate to single out only a few but we were struck by the precise coloratura of soprano Yeon Jung Lee who created a lot of heat with her red-sequined gown as well as her singing.

The audience loved the pair of fighting cats--mezzo Rachel Stewart and Christopher Stockslager and the linguistic hijinks of Emma Mansell's Chinese Cup and Gregory Giovine's Teapot.

We have always enjoyed Noragh Devlin who enacted a matronly looking mother, in high mid-20th c. style.  And Michael Gracco's Grandfather Clock created a striking image.

 Again, the sets and costumes were terrific.

Ravel's music for this work is highly eclectic and benefits enormously from a most colorful orchestration. The MSM Orchestra captured every nuance.

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OUR THIRD DIDO

Kelli O'Hara and Victoria Clark (photo by Erin Baiano)

Henry Purcell's first opera, first performed in 1689 by students in a school for young ladies, lay dormant for two centuries, but we have seen three performances of this seminal work this season. The one we saw last night at New York City Center had the largest audience by far. The large theater was packed and the audience enthusiastic. Much of the credit lay at the feet of Master Voices, the group formerly known as The Collegiate Chorale. They have, apparently, a huge following and tackle a wide variety of genres.

Not for nothing did they cast the major female roles with famous Broadway stars who were lavishly costumed by the designer Christian Siriano, whose fame was flaunted in the press. We say "Anything goes if it brings people to the opera!"

The glamour took nothing away from the musical values. Kelli O'Hara  made a sympathetic Dido and Victoria Clark's star turn as the Sorceress brought shivers of wicked delight. They both sounded terrific and if their voices were amplified it was done with subtlety.

Canadian baritone Elliot Madore sang with honeyed tone and created a fine believable Aeneas such that we wanted to shout out "Don't fall for that false Mercury!" In Nahum Tate's libretto, which does not completely follow the story as told in Virgil's Aeneid, poor Trojan Aeneas is tricked into abandoning Dido, Princess of Carthage, in order to found Rome. Or so he is told by the false Mercury, enlisted by the Sorceress. No reason is given for the Sorceress to have such enmity toward Dido. We have missed Mr. Madore since he graduated from the Lindemann Young Artists Program and were very very happy to see him onstage once more.

Dido has two handmaidens--one is her sister Belinda who encourages her to consider Aeneas as a suitor. In this role, soprano Anna Christy, a favorite of the Santa Fe Opera where we have thrilled to her performances, has a gorgeous high clear voice with a beautiful timbre. The second handmaiden was performed by Sarah Mesko, whose lovely chocolatey mezzo voice graced the stage of the Santa Fe Opera as well.

Tenor Nathaniel Dolquist was given the role of the First Sailor; his aria was the one spot of humor in this very sad opera. Aside from singing it well, we might add that his every word was understood. The same can be said for Mr. Madore. We realize that higher voices are more difficult to understand and for this reason we feel justified in our sole complaint of this excellent evening--titles were badly needed. One tends to feel the way one does when listening to an opera in a language that one only half knows. One catches a word here and there and figures out the essence of the meaning but one wishes to hear and understand the entire thing.

There was a surprisingly delightful addition to the program. Since the prologue to the opera was lost long long ago, the task of writing one was given to Michael John LaChiusa who wrote both music and lyrics for "The Daughters of Necessity: a Prologue". He used every skill he possesses from his Broadway experience to write something that was both artistic and accessible.

He created a scene that reminded us of the Three Norns in The Ring Cycle. Three very funny Norns, as a matter of fact. He calls them Fates. The first, Nona, sung by Ms. Mesko, spins the thread of life and is focused on the past. The second, Decima, sung by Anna Christy, measures the thread and concerns herself with the present.  The third, Morta, sung by Victoria Clark, cuts the thread at the time of death and is, therefore, the one determining the future.

The punchy dialogue about life, love, and death worked extremely well with the music written by LaChiusa, which was interspersed with baroque music. Much of the humor came from the Fates' interaction with the Master Voices, arranged upstage in tiers. There was a running joke of Morta and her scissors ending the lives of various choristers who fell from the ranks and collapsed on the floor, to be hauled away. One of them, trying to avoid the deadly scissors, fled upstage. Ms. Clark's flair for comedy was impressive.

The singing of the chorus was exemplary and much of it employed such good diction that we got most of what they were singing. They seemed like a true Greek Chorus, commenting on the action and interacting with the singers.

No less could be said of The Orchestra of St. Luke's who performed superbly under the baton of Ted Sperling. Purcell's music has never sounded so fine!

If we did not have such antipathy toward barefoot modern dance, we might have found more to enjoy in the choreography by Doug Varone. His athletic dancers lept and spun and rolled around on the floor. They also moved the minimal furniture and interacted with the singers. Clad in black, they mostly moved as a unit. Our companion thought they added something to the performance.

It is not necessary to know the political atmosphere of the 17th c. but it is interesting. Purcell was born at the time of the Restoration and scholars have "found" an allegory in the story. Dido is said to represent the British people while Aeneas represents James II. The Sorceress is said to represent the repressive Catholic church, luring James to abandon his subjects by denying them secular entertainment.  Welcome Charles!!

This makes us wonder what is going on today that makes this story of deceit of a ruler by evil forces so relevant.  Hmmm.

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HALF A TREAT IS BETTER THAN NONE

J.J. Penna and Kelsey Lauritano

Due to a prior reviewing commitment, we were only able to hear half of Kelsey Lauritano's graduation recital--from the Juilliard Vocal Arts Department--but it would be an understatement to say that it was well worth the mad dash to Juilliard followed by an equally mad dash to New York City Center.

By all measures, this mezzo-soprano has a wonderful future ahead of her. We have heard her sing cabaret music with New York Festival of Song; we have heard her sing Hugo Wolf songs in recital, and we have seen her performance as one of Mozart's "Three Spirits" last week at Juilliard in Die Zauberflöte.  We have even seen her sing and dance with fruit on her head.

So...we were not a bit surprised to hear her dazzle the audience at her recital.  She began with "Presti Omai" from Händel's Giulio Cesare--a difficult aria filled with long phrases requiring excellent breath control and flights of fioritura requiring flexibility. She succeeded admirably on both counts.

She has an engaging stage presence that invites the audience to share her pleasure. She exhibits consummate self confidence and never hangs onto the piano. She graciously shared with the audience her love for Debussy both in her introductory words and in her singing. In Trois Chansons de Bilitis she put her emphasis on the erotic, using her voice and gesture.

Learning about the three stages of the life of Bilitis, as expressed in the original poetry by Pierre Louÿs, added to our appreciation. In "La flûte de Pan", Bilitis achieves her sensual initiation. In "La  chevelure", she exhibits mature sexuality through her lover's dream. In "Le tombeau des Naïades", she is an older woman examining her youthful years. We have never enjoyed the songs more.

There were only two songs by Hugo Wolf in the next set, both from his Spanisches Liederbuch. First we heard  "Klinge, klinge, mein Pandero"; the text expresses both the joy of the dance and the anguish in the poet's heart. The original text by Alvaro Fernandez de Almeida was translated into German by Emanuel von Geibel, who also translated an anonymous text for the charming "Wer tat deinem Füsslein weh?"in which the singer gets to color her voice differently for the footsore woman and the man who wants to heal her pain.

We were obliged to miss Dominick Argento's setting of From the Diary of Virginia Woolf. 

We would like to highlight Ms. Lauritano's facility with languages. French and German are both difficult in different ways but she nailed them both. The fine collaborative pianist J.J. Penna accompanied in his customary fine style.

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SERENADE ME!

Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live!

We wish more opera lovers were aware of the joys of operetta. The art form is part of American musical history and laid the foundation for the American Musical. They provided grand theatrical entertainment for both Americans and Austrians of la belle époque. Their plots are delightfully silly and their music is gloriously tuneful.

King of the composers of operetta was Victor Herbert, who was born in Ireland and raised in Germany; he composed his great hits in the USA around the turn of the 20th c.  For bringing his works to the attention of New Yorkers, we have Alyce Mott to thank; her visionary stewardship of the Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live! has resulted in an ever-growing audience.  Last night, Christ and St. Stephen's church was packed to the very last pew with adoring fans.

Last night's production of The Serenade, Herbert's second big Broadway success, employed the original libretto from 1897 by Harry B. Smith. The preposterous situation involves a Duke (the wildly funny David Seatter) who is so possessive of his flirtatious ward Dolores (the stunning Vira Slywotzky) that he is ready to murder anyone of whom he is suspicious.  The running joke is that the beautiful "serenade" is sung by almost everyone in the show at one time or another.

Dolores is in love with Alvarado (the wonderful Bray Wilkins), a star of the Madrid Opera who has won her with his "serenade". Also in love with her is the tone-deaf tailor Gomez (the effective Brian Kilday) who gets a singing lesson from the retired tenor Colombo (the hilarious Glenn Seven Allen). With three characters like this, one can just imagine the hilarity of the has-been teaching the never-will-make-it!

Colombo has a beautiful daughter Yvonne (performed by coloratura Natalie Ballenger, who IS beautiful, both in appearance and voice). We don't get to find out whom she will marry until the very end.

Meanwhile we get exposed to the Royal Madrid Brigands Association with their pop-guns. In a move worthy of W.S. Gilbert, they become politicians at the end. As a matter of fact, in his skill with wordplay and rhyming, Mr. Smith comes close to Mr. Gilbert. But Mr. Herbert's music owes no debt to any other composer.

Our funny bone was tickled by the hijinks of hiding in cloister and monastery and by the changing of costumes between Yvonne and Dolores, which fools the near-sighted Duke. Our ears were tickled by the gorgeous singing.

Led by Stephen Faulk (who had a stunning ballad toward the end-- "I Envy the Bird") and by Matthew Wages, the group of brigands included Daniel Greenwood, Drew Bolander, Jovani McCleary, and Seph Stanek. Their choral numbers were finely handled and exhibited good English diction. We particularly enjoyed their rendition of the "serenade".

The female chorus was also fine--Angela Christine Smith, Sarah Caldwell Smith, and Chelsea Friedlander--all nuns led by Mother Superior Katherine Corle. It was a bit more difficult to understand their words, as it usually is with higher voices.

Some highlights of the evening included Mr. Seatter's patter song "A Duke of High Degree", the female chorus' number "In Our Quiet Cloister" (which was rhymed with "oyster"), and Dolores and Alvarado's duet "Don Jose of Seville". One very special aspect of VHRPLive! is that they are an ensemble company and one gets to enjoy the same wonderful artists in different roles.

Alyce Mott did a swell job as Stage Director and Music Director Michael Thomas not only conducted but sounded the chimes, as William Hicks played the piano score, which was compiled by Dino Anagnost.

We are already planning to enjoy more of VHRPLive! next year but you can still catch them this year since The Serenade has one more performance tonight at 8:00.

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THE LADIES OF LATIN AMERICA AND THEIR MUSIC

Compositora: Songs by Latin American Women

We love the sound of Spanish with its pure vowels and were glad to hear that Maestro Steven Blier was programming a New York Festival of Song evening of songs by Latin American women. All the music was fine but we never got to hear a single canción from a zarzuela, the Latin American equivalent of operetta. It suddenly dawned on us that perhaps there are no zarzuelas written by women. Let's put that on our wish list, if we are not a century too late!

We did get to hear some fine artists including two excellent singers recently graduated from the San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship program, a world class guitarist, a guitarist making his New York recital debut, as well as two excellent percussionists. We even witnessed pianist Michael Barrett playing a gourd shaped Latin American percussion instrument that we cannot name. 

These women composers led interesting lives, overcoming barriers both political and social to achieve fame. They were born all over Central and South America but many of them received their musical education in diverse countries. The program notes were fascinating.  

Some of the music was of a serious nature, utilizing the poetry of Garcia Lorca, for example. But the music we most enjoyed comprised settings of simple romantic poetry that rhymed and scanned. We loved the tuneful "La Casita" by Dolores Castegnaro, who wrote both words and music; soprano Maria Valdés turned the simple ditty into an operatic aria. Ms. Valdés has a fine instrument and a most expressive way of telling a story.

Baritone Efrain Solis used his mellow voice and impassioned delivery in Maria Grever's "Júrame", one of the few songs that we have heard before. Ms. Grever also wrote both lyrics and music.  Similarly, Ernestina Lecuona (sister of the famous Ernesto Lecuona) wrote both lyrics and music to the wonderful "Sólo a ti te quiero"; for this piece, Mr. Solis was accompanied by the renowned Pancho Navarro, whose guitar playing showed evidence of serious study of many genres.

We always enjoy duets and particularly enjoyed the harmonies of "Como la cigarra" in which the composer Maria Elena Walsh, also writing both text and music, describes the life of a survivor. We are noticing a pattern here of favoring composers who wrote their own lyrics. Hmmm.

Percussion for the evening was provided by Leonardo Granados and Jeremy Smith. Guitarist Brendan Cowan made a most auspicious debut on the stage of Merkin Hall, accompanying Mr. Solis'performance of the beautiful song "Enquanto a noite durar"

by Brazilian composer Clarice Assad who was present for the performance.

We were delighted with the encore--Maria Grever's "Tipitipitin".

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SANJUKTA WAGH

Sanjukta Wagh

Every culture has its creation myth and India's epic poem, the Mahabharata dates back about three millennia. At the heart of the tale is a dynastic war; since history is told by the victors, it can always be questioned with reference to which are the bad guys and which are the good guys.

A 20th c. scholar/anthropologist/educator, Irawati Karve, undertook to re-examine the story of Gandhari, the mother of 100 sons lost in battle. She was married off to a prince and felt betrayed when she learned that he was blind; she blindfolded herself for life. Karve re-interpreted the act as not a sacrifice but rather an act of rage. In the story, she gives birth to a stone that she hacks into 100 pieces and all of them were her sons.

Celebrated dancer/choreographer/writer/director Sanjukta Wagh created this award-winning piece "Rage and Beyond: Irawati's Gandhari" which was presented last night at Symphony Space as part of World Music Institute's "Dancing the Gods".

Ms. Wagh is an absorbing artist whose performance entranced us for the full hour and a half. Her dancing was eloquent. Every small gesture was replete with meaning. We particularly enjoyed and completely understood the part where she prepared for her wedding--washing, styling her hair, and applying cosmetics. After all those preparations, of course she was distressed that her husband could not see her!

The part in which she shows her pregnancy and delivery and the hacking up of the stone was similarly effective. We also liked the ending when she removes the blindfold, joins hands with the mother of the winning dynasty, and leads her blind husband into the mountains where they would all die in a forest fire.

Her chanting had a marvelous sound, especially when the syllables she chanted mimicked the sound of her stamping feet, which was augmented by the bells she wore around her ankles.

She also sat in a chair and related the words of Ms. Karve. We thought this interrupted the flow of the piece and might have been better presented in one chunk, either at the beginning or the end.

Obviously, there are socio-cultural and politico-historical aspects to the story which seemed academic and unnecessary. The piece could stand alone as dance/theater art, since Ms. Wagh is such a superb storyteller.

Musical accompaniment was performed by Hitesh Dhutia  who also was responsible for the sound design. We had expected traditional Indian instruments--sitar, tabla, harmonium and such and were surprised that he played the guitar. The music was very lovely, even so, and sustained the mood perfectly. However, we did not care for the sound design which involved unattractive amplification both for his guitar and for Ms. Wagh's vocalizing.

In sum, we had a fascinating glimpse into another culture and an exposure to a work that left us feeling both enlightened and entertained.

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TAL HELLER HAS GRADUATED!

Lochlan Brown and Tal Heller

It's been a year and a half since we heard mezzo-soprano Tal Haller sing at the Classic Lyric Arts gala.  My how her talent has grown under the tutelage of Arthur Levy!  The only flaw we could find in her splendid graduation recital at the National Opera Center was the brevity. Not that we were disappointed; although she gave an excellent sampler of her skills, we could have happily listened to her for another hour.

Ms. Heller has a pleasingly bright instrument that has a lovely soprano-y sound in the upper register. The vibrato is just about right and the overtones are most agreeable. She scored well in the expressive department and we found ourselves pulled into the songs.

Mozart's concert aria "Vado, Ma Dove?" opened the program in true Italianate style.  But it was the set of Reynaldo Hahn songs that impressed us with their excellent French. Ms. Taller's sojourn with CLA in France served her well. "L'Heure Exquise" was quite romantic and the large upward skips were perfectly negotiated.

From Hector Berlioz's Les Nuits D'Été, we heard a lovely performance of "Sur Les Lagunes", a sorrowful chanson with some very low notes. Ms. Taller performed it with great commitment to the text.

We love Brahms' settings of German folk songs and "Von Ewiger Liebe" is one of our favorites.  It requires the singer to color differentially the voices of the young man concerned about the reputation of his sweetheart and the sweetheart's firmness in her unshakeable love. This Ms. Taller accomplished most effectively.

The second half of the program comprised two Tosti songs.  "Ridonami La Calma" was sung with prayerful feelings and successful dynamic variety.

We also heard a pair of Mahler songs with which we were strangely unfamiliar.  We could not fathom what the text had to do with Don Juan but "Serenade" and "Phantasie" were well done and gave the artist another opportunity to hit those very low notes.

We noticed one little thing about Ms. Taller's German that could be improved. Often the final "ich" was glossed over as if she were afraid to "do it wrong". That being said, she had no problem with words like "nicht" and "nacht".  It would be a simple matter to borrow the "ch" from those words.

Closing the program were two songs by Ricky Ian Gordon, a contemporary American composer. The most important facet was the excellent English diction that made the words completely comprehensible. And the words to "My Mother is a Singer" are critical. The melody of "A Horse with Wings" was more interesting and the words made us think that Ms. Taller herself is the one with wings, ready to fly.

What happy news that she is staying on at Mannes College for Music to get her Master's Degree! But the summer break will take her to Chicago to sing the role of Mrs. Herring in Britten's Albert Herring. That should be a fine opportunity for her and a delight for the Chicago audience.

Collaborative pianist Lochlan Brown made a perfect partner for her fine singing. We particularly enjoyed his playing in the Berlioz.

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