The Gerda Lissner Foundation Vocal Competition Winners Concert 2023/2024 (5/2/24)

First off, I was thrilled to be in a Carnegie Hall free concert. I didn't even have to practice! That said, I'm not a huge fan of vocal competitions (or Tonys, Oscars, etc.). I understand how they work, but the inherent ranking rubs me slightly the wrong way. Off my soap box, now.

The Lissner Foundation Concert presents Lieder/Song, Opera, Operetta, and Zarzuela winners. The program also honored Metropolitan Opera star countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo—and he performed. And we did, too. More on that later.

There were ten prize winners who performed, so I will not name them all. I know you good folks are great at internet searches. I will say that Midge Woolsey (formerly of WQXR) was a wonderful host and that Arlene Shrut was a fabulous accompanist/partner who played for every performer on the stage.

Tops for me was Maire Therese Carmack (Mezzo-Soprano) who sang Love Let the Wind Cry by Undine Smith Moore, "Lyubasha's Aria" from The Tsar's Bride, and "Du bist der Lenz" from Die Walkure.

Quite the show piece was "Al pensar en el dueño de mis amores" from Las Hijas del Zebedo, sung by Rosaria Armas. Have you guessed yet that this was the Zarzuela winner? Zarzuela is sort of like Spanish-language operetta.

The operetta winner "If I Were on the Stage (Kiss Me Again)" from Mlle. Modiste, by Victor Herbert, tugged at my heartstrings because I performed in the chorus of the operetta in the late 1970s here in NYC. Shelén Hughes (Soprano) did a great job.

Karoline Podolak (Soprano) did very well with "Je suis Tiania" from Mignon and slightly less than successful with "Glitter and Be Gay" from Candide.

My other favorite was Yeongtaek Yang (Baritone) performing "Si può? ... Si può?" from I Pagliacci.

Anthony Roth Costanzo re-created part of his Met Opera Orpheus. In the opera, the chorus shouts/sings "No" several times. He had us rehearse it and then perform it when he performed. It was effective, but wore a little bit thin. I'm not big on audience participation.

All in all, a wonderful free concert in a wonderfully historic hall. I even changed my seat before the concert began, and the staff members were extremely helpful.

ConcertMeister

Centennial Celebration Concert (4/28/24)

New York Mandolin Orchestra

What the what? Yes, there is a New York Mandolin Orchestra. Yes, it was founded in 1924. Yes, there was a free concert (I gave a modest donation) at the Church of the Holy Trinity, about a block and a half away from my apartment on a lovely Sunday afternoon.

For the record, a mandolin orchestra has first mandolins, second mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, and, in this case, a mandobass (I'm not making this up, you know). Additionally, two of the mandolinists played guitar in the concert, but I have no idea where or when.

There were nineteen pieces on the program so I am not listing all nineteen. My first takeaway was that a lot of the pieces sounded very similar to one another. Mandolins have a limited volume range, and there is not a lot of sostenuto (sustained writing) for mandolins. They require a lot of strumming (think frantic Vivaldi violin bowing) to imitate a sustained sound. That said, I enjoyed the concert quite a bit.

My favorites included an arrangement of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (appropriately written in 1924) and Rachmaninoff's Vocalise (I've pretty much given up on hearing the original version).

Passage Work (Catherine Hawkes) was commissioned for this performance, and the composer was in attendance. Always a great feature of a concert. It had a contemporary feel while also mixing calm and energetic. It was appropriately festive.

The final work on the program was Palladio by Karl Jenkins. You may know it better as Exsultate Jubilate. (Not one of my favorites.) Surprisingly, I liked the mandolin orchestra arrangement a lot.

Now, a few words about audience comportment. When they make an announcement about turning your phone off, please heed it. Yes, a phone went off during the concert.

Please turn your phone off during the concert. A patron in the row in front of me was so busy scrolling through photos that no applause was offered. Zero. One patron was so busy with the me-machine that it was dropped to the floor. One patron was so busy chatting with a person in the row in front that shushing was warranted. No, it was not me, but I sure was thinking about it. Yes, it was a free concert. No, that does not allow boorish behavior.

That said, explore the opportunities available to you.

ConcertMeister

Partimenti (4/25/24)

From Court to Country

Adrienne Lotto ~ soprano; Rhianna Cockrell ~ mezzo soprano; Corey Shotwell ~ tenor; Christopher Talbot ~ bass baritone; Adam Cockerham ~ theorbo; Jonathan Luik ~ viola da gamba

This was a free concert sponsored by Gotham Early Music Scene—I have attended many of their concerts. About the Program (from their program notes)—From Court to Country explores the threads of connection between courtly and pastoral music in France, Italy, and England from the late Medieval to the early Baroque. I only sort of got the concept.

On to the the music, or at least the concert. With fifteen short pieces by thirteen composers, I won't give you a blow-by-blow description. Suffice it to say that all six musicians performed admirably. Yes, I consider the vocalist musicians on the same level as the instrumentalists.

The concert gave each vocalist a solo piece, a cappella in the case of the bass baritone, and accompanied by either the theorbo or the viola da gamba for the the other three vocal soloists. There were also tutti (all six musicians) entries as well as duets and a cappella vocal quartets, plus a viola da gamba and theorbo duet (do we all remember what a theorbo is?). Alas, the actual compositions had a bit of a sameness—somber, low-level energy, with only occasional bursts of quickness in terms of tempo and interest. Two of the fifteen were sung in English, including the only one (April is in my mistress' face) I've performed. And we're talking mid-1970s.

Composers that I was familiar with included Henry Purcell (ca. 1659–1695); Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643); Orazio Vecchi (1550–1605); and Thomas Morley (1557– 1602). No, I did not work with any of them. Ask about other composers, if you're interested.

I enjoyed the concert, and I enjoyed learning about composers I'd never heard of. A win-win for me.

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STREB SLAM Open Rehearsal (2/16/24)
I am woefully behind—apologies.

This was a STREB SLAM Open Rehearsal. Checking in was a bit problematic. The event was sponsored by Open House New York, and there were OHNY volunteers when I arrived. Unfortunately, they couldn't check us in as attendees; they finally resorted to writing our names down on a paper pad. Mind you, I had already gone to the library to print out my reservation with the requisite QR code, which was completely unnecessary. But on to STREB SLAM.

What is STREB? Good question. I can't find a good answer online, so I'm going make up my own. STREB seems to be a person (Elizabeth Streb) who teaches a technique incorporating dance/gymnastics/tumbling/circus performing.

The open rehearsal I attended had a crew of 12 or 13 performers bouncing on trampolines one, two, and three at a time. They would leave the trampoline and appear to splat face down on gym mats. This was a recurring theme throughout the morning. Since this was a rehearsal, the performers were in warm-up clothes (i.e., not in costumes), and they essentially did a mark through of the performance piece—talking, describing, doing a few moves—but not really doing a performance. Then they would go back and do it as though it were a performance. Seeing the juxtaposition was quite interesting. They did this pairing with two more set pieces.

They moved on, after replacing the thick mats with thinner mats, to what appeared to be more like a team gymnastic floor routine. The performers brought out props (wooden doors/walls) that some of the members crashed against before bouncing off. Sometimes the wooden partitions were manipulated to twirl so that a performer would be propelled from one side of the space to the other. Fun fact: The performers did all of the set changes themselves, since they'd figured out that they could do them in half the time than stagehands could.

The Gizmo. 

For the finale, they brought forward a metal contraption (The Gizmo) that was triangular at the bottom (but very tall) with a metal wheel that could be rotated and walked atop (carefully) or ridden/walked upon on the interior. The permutations were intriguing. At times, performers would launch themselves off The Gizmo into an aforementioned faceplant. At one point, there were two people in the inner wheel with one person on the outer wheel, and two people on the triangular base. Where to look? Who to watch? It was intriguing theater/dance.

The cool thing was that they were introducing this new program to take to a festival in Los Angeles for a week before going to a festival in Australia. Having performed in an Australian music festival many years ago, I hope they had a great time and created many wonderful memories.

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A West Side Story Burlesque Show (2/10/24)

Hmm, from Baroque dance to Broadway. Sort of.

My ticket had ‘from 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM (EST)’. So, I dutifully showed up at 12:15 PM and joined a short line. And waited. And waited. Long story short, this was an ‘event’ where we were let into the lobby at about 12:40 PM and were told that we could mill about (swag tables, hot dogs for sale, bar available) until they opened the house at 1:30 PM. Odd, my ticket didn’t mention any of that. Today, I finally found an online description of the event – “A West Side Story Burlesque Show, AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s (AHF) original take on the classic Broadway musical, is … [a] free, hour-long dance celebration of safer sex featur[ing] international burlesque …”

I can’t tell you who performed, because the cast list was only available via a QR code. That said, the fifteen or so dancers presented a high-energy production of a lot of the music (canned) from West Side Story. All of the dancers were great, including most of the male ensemble who were bare chested at times. There were three stately drag queens, who also strutted and danced quite well. The real gals were not too shabby either.

I have never seen a one-hour presentation with as much energy as I saw that Saturday afternoon. But I'm not sure I'd call it burlesque. Yes, there were some wink-wink moments. And some of the dance moves were suggestive/risqué. I'm just not sure that added up to burlesque.

Am I glad I went? Yes. Do I wish they had presented more info ahead of time? Definitely, yes. Would I go again? Maybe, if the schedule were announced ahead of time.

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The Grand Tour – Dances from England, France, Italy and Spain (2/8/24)

Julia Bengtsson – dance & reconstruction; Patrick Pride – dance; Paul Shipper – music direction, recorder & Baroque guitar; Dongmyung Ahn – violin; Jason Priset – Baroque guitar & theorbo

Here’s the cool low-down. The dances were Baroque dances, which I had never seen before. The steps involved fairly intricate hops, skips and twirls. Alas, I could not see many of the intricate hops and skips footwork because of the single-level seating in the venue.

There was a combination of instrumental works, and instrumentals accompanying dance works. All were very interesting. I won’t bore you with all of the details, but the composers included Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687). Oh, did I mention that this was a Gotham Early Music Scene concert? Other composers, many of whom were new to me, were André Campra (1660–1744), Theobaldi di Gatti (ca. 1650–1727), Andrea Falconieri (1585–1656), Anonymous (two pieces), Henry Desmaret (1661–1741), François Le Cocq (1685–1729), and Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713). How many did you know?

Since the focus was on dance, I’ll focus there, too. Of the eleven works on the program, there was a Marche, an Entrée, a Gigue, a Ciaccona, a Menuet, a Scaramouche, a Passacaglia, a Chacone (see Ciaconna, above), and a Folie. Do I know what they all are? I do not. Did I like them all? I did.

On to the pieces that were actually danced. The Entrée was a solo for female dancer, accompanied by recorder, theorbo, and violin. Stylized hops and skips abounded. A duet, La Bretagne, was interesting in that the female and male were dancing together, sort of. There was interaction but there was no touching or partnering. This was the case in most of the duets.

The Menuet was, oddly, a lengthy solo female dance with violin, guitar and theorbo accompaniment.

The Scaramouche was a very clever male solo danced to solo recorder that included much humor, with an emphasis on mime and exaggerated dance steps.

The Passacaglia was danced by the masked female, which strangely gave her movements more expression.

The closing work, Folie d’Espagne, was a lengthy dance duet accompanied by violin, guitar, and theorbo. The duet included pageantry and humor, and the female dancer also played the castanets. What’s not to like?

I really enjoyed the performance, and I’m lucky enough to have worked with the music director, Paul Shipper, a lifetime ago with a different early music group. It’s a small world after all.

ConcertMeister

Across a Crowded Room (1/6/2024)

This is a New York Public Library–sponsored writing program for budding composers, lyricists, and librettists. The attendees get assigned, randomly, with each other and tasked with writing a 20-minute music theater piece (standalone, part of a larger work, or something that may bridge that gap). It’s a summer program, with the fruits of their labors presented in autumn. Alas, I missed the November 2023 presentation. But there were extras. The program leaders build in the fact that some pairs/trios will fall by the wayside. Guess what? That didn’t happen in 2023, so we were gifted with five new works in early 2024. And I’m glad.

The five works were (and I’m not making this up, you know) – that’s like saying, I vomited your dinner or the I still love you short; Polar Excess; Helen & Cassandra, Gifts of the Gods; CURSES!; and “The Bees”.

The good news is that after each presentation, a panel of two offered constructive criticism to the authors. Sometimes I agreed with the panelists, sometimes not. I tended to be a bit more critical while they tended to be more nurturing, which is only natural. These are budding writers—we don’t want to scare them away.

The first work was my least favorite, and that seemed to be the same with the panelists. Here are my notes: “The breakup of a relationship between two women. Fairly static, dramatically and musically.” The title was almost longer than the finished product.

The second (with the composer at the piano) was a political musical with much more fun music. The characters included two US Senators with opposing views of global warming/climate change. Oh, and they used to be married to each other. Here are my notes: “<Sound effects> Musical motifs included Up, Up, and Away (all five characters got a crack at the motif), and Running Away from a Polar Bear.” The composing included actual harmony while the minimal staging included a kick line. Did I mention fun?

The third was a two-hander (though the composer/pianist had minimal spoken/sung text). The opening number tried to cram too much text into too small phrases. Also (and I’ve noticed this before with composer/pianists) the piano was often too loud. I think they might like their music too much to the detriment of the overall performance. The vocal writing for Helen and Cassandra was a bit too uneven to my ear.

CURSES! had a few interesting twists and turns involving the two characters. The music was a nice mix of sad (which worked well), lovely (a song about seeds, of all things), and hope (which included a deftly done combination of harmony and unison lines).

“The Bees” was a lot of fun and also gave us lots of information about the hive mentality as well as human family relationships. It had simple but effective tunes, leading us to the conclusion that it was sweet and the honey didn’t dry up.

There were no clunkers. Here’s my minor quibble. I know that this is a writing program, but it’s also a performance program. Perhaps the folks in charge could stress to the performers that it’s very important to take a bow. That is their way of thanking us for our applause. OK, off my soap box now. I’ll be sure to keep my eyes peeled for future editions of Across a Crowded Room.

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