One for the ages

Heggie and Clare

I heard Great Scott Sunday afternoon at Dallas Opera. Throughout the opera, I kept thinking, this is an aria that I'm going to hear in recital, that singers are going to take up (much like one hears Nessun Dorma or O Mio Babbino Caro from Turnadot or Gianni Schicchi) - but it wasn't just one tune, it was almost all of them! That's not a big surprise from a composer like Jake Heggie.
Great Scott is personal, and affable. The comedy has drama, and flair. Not only does this come from the original libretto by Terrance McNally, but from the music, and the stellar cast. It is also funny and witty. Stereotypes abound throughout the two acts, from the two male leads as bari-hunk and narcissistic tenor, to an overeager, young understudy who "would kill" to make it. There's also love: a star and her mentor, a conductor and stage manager, an old flame and the one that got away, as well as the heartstring pulling demonstration for the love of music/opera.
Joyce DiDonato goes beyond the role of Arden Scott. She is Great Scott. Here's a star that returned to her home town Symphony garnering national attention, and then a few years later sang at Game Seven of the World Series with her hometown team...and the singing? The role requires the juxtaposition of modern and Bel Canto opera singing - just two of her signature traits - seamlessly throughout the opera.
I mentioned Puccini as examples earlier, but the only real comparison I can make of Great Scott is with Richard Strauss. The opera within an opera, Rosa Dolorosa, Figlia di Pompeia isn't the first fictional work complete with a Composer role, that would be Ariadne auf Naxos. Here though, Heggie and McNally make use of a rehearsal, and then a performance of Rosa in the second act, to great use in both the story line and for DiDonato's impeccable singing. A final quartet also mirrors (in the best sense) the famous Trio in Der Rosenkavalier.
There is so much to love about Great Scott, and this performance was outstanding. It could be called a "perfect storm" of talent and accomplishment of the part of all. Go see it in Dallas now, or put it on your calendar for May in San Diego!
Hear an interview with John and Jake here: http://www.kmfa.org/pages/807-texas-grand-opera-composer-jake-heggie

DiDonato's Debut Delightful

Bravo! Before two encores at Harris Concert Hall 

Joyce DiDonato is a shining star in the operatic world. She has won awards from the Grammys to Richard Tucker, Operalia, Beverly Sills, and an Echo Klassik Award.
She's sung from La Scala to Santa Fe, Covent Garden to Houston Grand, and everywhere in between! So Tuesday, it was a great delight to hear Joyce's debut at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Harris Concert Hall in Colorado.
The program was "something I wanted to share with you," said DiDonato from the stage. "Since this is my first time here, I wanted to show you want I do." What a program it was, including Mozart, Rossini, and gorgeous Spanish songs.
It started with a joke actually. DiDonato and pianist David Zobel were welcomed by enthusiastic audience with cheers and applause. DiDonato quipped after her curtsy, "I'm out of breath already!" (no doubt from the 7900ft elevation of Aspen.) The Obradors songs followed with sumptuousness, something I had heard at her Senior recital at WSU oh so many years ago, but was reminded of when she came back on stage, and asked, "No really, does anyone have any oxygen?!" She then entertained a bit about the program and sang from Drama Queens, Sposa son disprezzata by Giacomelli.
The first half rounded out with a "Beaumarchais trio", two arias from The Marriage of Figaro, and one from the Barber of Seville, perhaps Joyce's calling card, Una voce poco fa.
The second half was stunning, running with an aria from Rossini's Otello, followed by my favorite on the program, Reynaldo Hahn's Venezia.

Clare and DiDonato afterwards

(There was also a costume change, noting only because the gorgeous red gown that DiDonato wore in the first half was replaced by a fetching rainbow dress for the second half.) Joyce spoke about the premiere of the Hahn before she sang them, only to stop before Che peca and give the audience the image that she thinks about when performing it (a heavy set man in a white t-shirt above the canals, smoking a cigar from the balcony/window!)
Two more early 20th century songs rounded out the debut in Aspen.
But the audience was given two more gifts, an encore of Alberto Ginastera's Cancion del arbol del olvido, and what DiDonato is singing currently in Santa Fe, Rossini's La Donna Del Lago.
The sound at Harris was exquisite, no doubt benefitting from Zobel's sensitive interpretations, and DiDonato's incredible range of dynamics. Personality from both, with smiles, acting, anecdotes and supreme musicality made the night magical. This was the recital debut, but hopefully there will be more with Joyce DiDonato on stage and in concert at the Aspen Music Festival!

My grammy luck

Seems I have talked to a few nominees about their albums!

Joyce DiDonato about Diva/Divo: http://www.tpr.org/classicalspotlight/2011/01/cs1101202.html

Eric Whitacre about Light and Gold: http://www.tpr.org/classicalspotlight/2010/11/cs1011182.html

Yuja Wang about Rachmaninoff: http://www.tpr.org/classicalspotlight/2011/04/cs1104142.html

Glorious

It was spectacular to hear Joyce DiDonato Sunday in Philadelphia. She sang with everything in her power, not just the notes with beautiful color and phrasing but with her heart and soul.

We go way back, to August 1988 when we were at Wichita State University! Joyce and Katie (her roommate) were in Brennan 2 and I lived in Brennan 3. We also were in Benson Headley's sight singing class 3 (I had skipped 1 and 2 the summers before, along with theory and violin lessons!) - which was interesting to say the least. We later were in Bertil H. Van Boer's Music History classes together, sang in Concert Chorale under Bob Glasmann, and in lots of operas - I in the pit and Joyce either in the chorus or with a role, often directed by George Gibson.

But that was many years ago!

We've stayed in touch, and even run across each other - once in Richmond, VA where she was a soloist for the Messiah, and I at National Public Radio, and another friend, Sara Avery, the principal 2nd violinist. Last time I saw her I had been engaged and just back from New York City to hear a friend's Carnegie Hall debut (this was 1999 - and I never got married, long story, ask me sometime!) and my then fiancee and I stopped to visit Joyce at her home in Kansas City.

Yesterday it was like no time had passed - in fact, Joyce came out on stage smiling, but as she saw me in the 2nd row (I was in her line of sight off to the right) she smiled even bigger - later I got a wink, and when she mentioned singing Copland at WSU, gestered towards me with her left hand. It was sweet. Her husband, Leo, teased me afterwards about being jealous, mentioning the smiles and wink, and even the WSU nod. It was awesome to meet him, and spend a brief few minutes reconnecting. I took five friends from around the area (and even my ex-fiancee!), who all just flipped over Joyce.

She has a link up on her blog (for ClassicallyHip) for one of my posts about performing Rossini back in Wichita, oh so many years ago. Take a look, she has wonderful insights and photos on YankeeDiva!

Joycee in the news

From Gramophone:


EMI Classics signs Joyce DiDonato
June 25 2007
The accolades continue to roll in for mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. April saw her named the Metropolitan Opera's second recipient of the Beverly Sills Artist Award, worth $50,000. Now the American singer has signed an exclusive contract with EMI Classics and is due to release a selection of Handel Arias with Les Talens Lyriques conducted by Christophe Rousset in Autumn 2008.
"To be invited to join the EMI Classics recording label is a genuine honour for me," said DiDonato. “The legendary recordings of Callas and Baker continue to influence and inspire me in a myriad of ways, so, to be given the privilege of joining their ranks is a responsibility I embrace and celebrate. I plan on doing all I can to continue the legacy of excellence”. In addition to the Beverly Sills Award DiDonato was the winner of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Award in 2002, New York City Opera's Richard Gold Debut Award in 2003, and the Royal Philharmonic Society Singer of the Year Award in 2006 for her role as Rosina in the Covent Garden production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. DiDonato's first solo CD was “The Deepest Desire”, a selection of songs by Bernstein, Copland and Heggie released on the Eloquentia label in 2006 and named winner of the Diapason d'or de l'année. This was followed in the same year by a live Wigmore Hall recording of songs and arias by Fauré, Hahn, Handel and Rossini with pianist Julius Drake.

Charlotte Smith, Gramophone

Some good news

About my friend Joyce! Congrats!!!! Two timer, you ;)

Past & Future Saturdays

Last Saturday the Met broadcast Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin in theaters. One audience member was Garrison Keillor, who has written about it here.
Friends I saw at a concert later that night also raved about it. I'm looking forward to the next one, Rossini's Barber of Seville, which will feature a friend of mine up on the big screen, Joyce DiDonato.

The concert I did attend last Saturday night was a real let down. The only thing I can say is that the best thing about the program is that the group did NOT play Beethoven's Quartet Opus 135.

5 Things about Cellist Efe Baltacigil

The "Distinctive Debut" at Carnegie Hall of Cellist Efe Baltacigil and Pianist Anna Polonsky was Friday night at Weill Recital Hall.


1. The program consisted of four sonatas ranging almost 200 years in music (1741 for the Bach and 1936 for the Saygun) and certainly each were treated with stylistic skill by both performers.


2. Efe uses the cello for a wide range of colors and emotions - I'm stunned as a fellow string player at his wide palette. I'm less thrilled with his way too audible breaths - mind you the audience was a bit noisy with coughing and sniffles too. But seriously at one point early on, I thought there was something wrong with his bow, when I realized, no that is his breath. (Some fine tennis players too make a bit too much noise when returning a serve [think Maria Sharapova] and you get over it...)



3. The choice of an encore - which the audience clearly wanted - was quite touching, the Andante movement of the Bach sonata in memory of a past professor at Curtis, Edward Aldwell. Aldwell was well respected for his scholarship of Bach and this was spot on.



4. Anna Polonsky was stunning and near perfect in the recital - especially moving was the Fantasia of Franck's sonata.



5. Most revealing was the musicality Baltacigil exuded in Ahmet Saygun's Sonata, opus 12. It's not a well known or great work, but in the hands of Efe and Anna, it sparkled like a diamond - with moments of pure joy and passion. I'd liken this particular work to a "Turkish" Debussy.



I'm looking forward to another recital this spring at Carnegie's Weill Hall when Joyce DiDonato makes her debut in Great Singers in Weill: Evenings of Song. You'll remember Joyce is a WSU grad and we had way too much fun in school. It's Thursday March 1st, 2007. One not to miss!