Apr. 5th, 2009 12:11 pm
Rising Stars '09
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muckefuckQuick rundown of this year's Rising Stars in Concert at the Lyric.
Our seats: Just a little back and to the left from our usual seats at the front of the upper balcony. I think we might've been one row behind where e. and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bunj usually sit.
The audience: Appreciative and reasonably well-behaved, even I did end up moving up a row after Mr and Mrs Pocket Flashlight left to get away from Twisting His Programme By My Ear Man. Not much coughing either, so bonus.
The programme: At the halfway mark, Nuphy complained about being "bel cantoed to death". It was woefully short on Mitteleuropäer (one Mozart, two Strauss) and heavy on the Frenchies for my taste (which as y'all know is basically the less Frog music, the better)--if we ever get through one of these shows without hearing another half-hearted "Scintille, diamant", I think I'll die of shock. But, per Nuphy's lament, the real focus was on Italian bel canto--three Donizetti (Fille and Elisir), two Rossini (Barbiere and Comte Ory), three (early) Verdi, and one each Bellini and Puccini (mercifully Gianni Schicchi).
Low points: Sam Handley's "Veiller sans cesse..." from Ory was definitely the nadir. He sang it like he'd rather be doing anything else in the world (and we'd rather he was) and couldn't reach the low notes. We wondered if he'd been victimised by a sadistic vocal coach.
Paul Corona's bit from Ernani was as flaccid as forgotten courgette. I didn't even recognise he was singing Silva until it was pointed out in the text since instead of coming across murderously enraged, he sounded like an annoyed buffo at best.
Andriana Churchman's "C'en est donc fait..." et al. from Fille was nothing to write home about, but would've been tolerable if it had been shorter. She suffered by comparison with Angela Mannino, who started off the show with her "Au bruit de la guerre" from the same opera. (Mannino's diction was terrible, but her control was lovely.) On the other hand, we were really disappointed by Mannino and Katherine Lerner's Presentation of the Rose from Rosenkavalier for being cut short well before they got to the good stuff. They were doing so well, it couldn't be that they weren't capable of the close harmonies, so we surmised that perhaps they simply hadn't had time to learn the entire piece.
High points: Edward Mout's "Firenze è come un albero fiorito" from Gianni Schicchi. (Handley was so much better in their duet from Elisir that I credited it to Mout's sprightly influence.)
Kathryn Leemhuis' Cavatina from Act 1 of Barbiere was lovely, but her duet from Così ("Il core vi dono") with Daniel Billings was even better. Billings also did justice to Rodrigo's death scene in Don Carlo during the second half. Definitely watching these two.
Everything Amber Wagner did was great, but particularly her Arabella. Opposite her, Churchman sang better as Zdenka than she had as Marie. And Lerner killed as Dalila.
Our seats: Just a little back and to the left from our usual seats at the front of the upper balcony. I think we might've been one row behind where e. and
bunj usually sit.The audience: Appreciative and reasonably well-behaved, even I did end up moving up a row after Mr and Mrs Pocket Flashlight left to get away from Twisting His Programme By My Ear Man. Not much coughing either, so bonus.
The programme: At the halfway mark, Nuphy complained about being "bel cantoed to death". It was woefully short on Mitteleuropäer (one Mozart, two Strauss) and heavy on the Frenchies for my taste (which as y'all know is basically the less Frog music, the better)--if we ever get through one of these shows without hearing another half-hearted "Scintille, diamant", I think I'll die of shock. But, per Nuphy's lament, the real focus was on Italian bel canto--three Donizetti (Fille and Elisir), two Rossini (Barbiere and Comte Ory), three (early) Verdi, and one each Bellini and Puccini (mercifully Gianni Schicchi).
Low points: Sam Handley's "Veiller sans cesse..." from Ory was definitely the nadir. He sang it like he'd rather be doing anything else in the world (and we'd rather he was) and couldn't reach the low notes. We wondered if he'd been victimised by a sadistic vocal coach.
Paul Corona's bit from Ernani was as flaccid as forgotten courgette. I didn't even recognise he was singing Silva until it was pointed out in the text since instead of coming across murderously enraged, he sounded like an annoyed buffo at best.
Andriana Churchman's "C'en est donc fait..." et al. from Fille was nothing to write home about, but would've been tolerable if it had been shorter. She suffered by comparison with Angela Mannino, who started off the show with her "Au bruit de la guerre" from the same opera. (Mannino's diction was terrible, but her control was lovely.) On the other hand, we were really disappointed by Mannino and Katherine Lerner's Presentation of the Rose from Rosenkavalier for being cut short well before they got to the good stuff. They were doing so well, it couldn't be that they weren't capable of the close harmonies, so we surmised that perhaps they simply hadn't had time to learn the entire piece.
High points: Edward Mout's "Firenze è come un albero fiorito" from Gianni Schicchi. (Handley was so much better in their duet from Elisir that I credited it to Mout's sprightly influence.)
Kathryn Leemhuis' Cavatina from Act 1 of Barbiere was lovely, but her duet from Così ("Il core vi dono") with Daniel Billings was even better. Billings also did justice to Rodrigo's death scene in Don Carlo during the second half. Definitely watching these two.
Everything Amber Wagner did was great, but particularly her Arabella. Opposite her, Churchman sang better as Zdenka than she had as Marie. And Lerner killed as Dalila.