Sunday double-header

It was the right decision to forego the Met National Council Awards this afternoon in favor of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation Recital at the intimate Christ and St. Stephen’s Church. Maestro Thomas Bagwell has a knack for finding wonderful singers and pairing them with works that fit them like custom-tailored suits. The hardness of the pews became irrelevant, so outstanding was the singing. Although most of the recital was devoted to art songs, the two opening selections were operatic in nature. An aria from Handel’s Giulio Cesare was brilliantly and excitingly sung by the ample-voiced (and ample-bodied) dramatic soprano Tami Petty. We forecast a Wagnerian future for this gal! Booming bass Matt Boehler equalled this with a nuanced and humorous delivery of “Il faut passer” from Lully’s “Alceste”. We see a grand Sparafucile in his future and a very funny Don Basilio.

The art songs sung by Ms. Petty gave her the opportunity to demonstrate her excellent German and formidable dramatic skills. She showed a wide emotional range without any artifice whatsoever; it seemed as if every gesture came from a deep inner place. The often heard and always appreciated Maestro was with her every step of the way and gave a particularly light and lively rendition of “Ganymed”. She was absolutely adorable singing “There are Fairies at the Bottom of our Garden” and charmingly sly in her encore, Granados’ “El Majo Discreto”.

Mr. Boehler had such a superb connection with the Shostakovich songs, creating four very different satirical characters that made their complaints obvious, even to a non-speaker of Russian. His acting is equal to his singing. We always love William Bolcom’s song “Black Max” and also enjoyed “The Man in the Starched White Shirt” by Lance Horne and Mark Campbell.

The second part of this Sunday Double Header was a Verismo recital by members of the Chelsea Opera Company, honoring American baritone Mark Rucker and enjoyed by a packed house (same church). Maestro Carmine Aufiero was on hand to conduct and piano accompaniment was by Audrey Saint-Gil and Sadie Rucker (Mark’s wife). Most remarkable was Michelle Trovato’s Gilda, La Toya Lewis’ Medora from Verdi’s “Il Corsaro” and Rachel Arky’s Suzel from Mascagni’s “L’Amico Fritz”, not recently seen in New York. Viva Verismo!

--meche kroop for The Opera Insider