Elizabeth de Trejo, soprano; Jennifer Gliere, mezzo; Joan Peitscher, mezzo; David Robinson, baritone; Israel Lozano, tenor; Pablo Zinger, piano; Tarumi Violinists
This was one of those feel-good events that looked really great on paper. An outdoor concert sponsored by the New York Financial District Lions Club, with the Statue of Liberty as the backdrop, and a very nicely printed program that listed Welcome Remarks, Interfaith Invocation, God Bless America, Introduction of VIP, Tarumi Violinists, Musical Program, Intermission, etc. What we got was a late start, microphone problems, the violinists as the first entertainment segment, and then opera arias and duets. After the third or fourth operatic performance, the VIP made a few announcements, the assembled musicians got around to God Bless America (it did say tutti, so a few of us joined in halfheartedly), and then more opera selections followed.
The violinists were a student group with ages ranging from nine or ten to nineteen. No attempt was made to let us know what they were playing. The playing was good, and it’s always nice to see arts education in effect.
Opera outdoors with no type of a sound shell is not easy to pull off. And this was no exception. For the most part, the women fared better than the men. It was a little hard to follow, since the ten selections of Musical Program (Part I) were not sung in order. In fact, four pieces from Musical Program (Part II) were interspersed with the Part I selections. And for good measure, one of the four from the Finale was also included in Part I.
Selections included Habanera (Carmen), Una voce poco fa (Il barbiere di Siviglia), an aria and a duet from La bohème, O mio babbino caro (Gianni Schicchi) and, from the non-operatic world, Memory (Cats), and Granada.
When they announced that they would take a short break to give the pianist and vocalists a little breather, I took a longer break. As in, I left. Getting back to that printed program, there were rather lengthy bios for the vocalists. But only for two of them. Good intention, bad execution all the way around.
ConcertMeister
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