The International Festival of Arts and Ideas: The Highs and Lows

I am lucky enough to live in New Haven so for the two weeks each summer that The International Festival of Arts and Ideas takes over downtown, I have a (figurative) front row seat to the action. I try to go to as many events as possible but miss out on the weekday action due to the whole workaday world. In no particular order, here are my picks for the musical highs and lows of the festival with many more highs than lows (but the low was Marianas Trench low.)

HIGHS:Vijay Iyer – The New York based pianist, and Yale alum, and his band (alto sax, bass, drums) meld jazz with world music, relying heavily on Indian (sub-continent not American) influences. His compositions are not traditional bop or swing but they certainly are fully composed with strong tonal centers. At the same time, they weren’t at all constraining; this was no head, chorus, solos, repeat the head and out. As an example of the fluidity of the pieces, at one point, Iyer shifted the feel with his left hand to a steady upbeat, leading to an unmistakable reggae/dub feel against a bass ostinato that had been established earlier in the piece. Very difficult to categorize, which made the set even more engaging.

Orchestra Baobab – For those of you unfamiliar with this Senegalese group that plays Afro-Cuban mixed with West African high-life, go to I-Tunes right now, do not pass go, and download everything you can get your mouse on. It was quite a coup to get them at the festival to begin with, especially to play a small venue instead of the main outdoor stage on the green. Unfortunately, for some of us who weren’t on the ball, the show sold out and no matter the begging and pleading (and even some tears) the volunteers at the door were unmoved and we were left out on the street. They sounded great from there!

Pistolera / Grupo Fantasma – The threat of rain moved this show from the green to Woolsey Hall. Despite the fact that Woolsey sounds muddy when the symphony plays there (you can imagine what it sounded like when there were amplifiers, drums and a PA system) it was a great evening of music. The Brooklyn based Pistolera play ranchero and nortena as if they are rock and roll songs; high energy, high volume and a steady rock beat. The fact that they are a four piece where three of the members are women is a pretty revolutionary idea in Mexican music where usually it’s big fat guys wearing sombreros playing the tunes. Grupo Fantasma, hailing from Austin Texas, is an eleven piece band that is equal parts Willie Bobo and James Brown. Funky horn lines over a timbale fronted percussion section; I can’t imagine that there has ever been that much dancing in the aisles at Woolsey Hall. I only wish that the show had been on the green where the sound would have been better and the crowd would have been bigger.

Denyce Graves – Absolutely exquisite. Her sensitivity and control is simply astonishing. I have been lucky enough to see her twice; once as Carmen and once as Margaret Garner and she never ceases to amaze me. Her Delilah was gorgeous and the choice of Danse Macabre by Saint-Saen was perfect. During her set of American pieces and her encores, she showed everyone that opera stars are gracious and fun with a sense of humor.

LOWS: East Village Opera Company – There is only one “Low” listed here because I try to find something redeeming (I really do, despite what others might say!) There was nothing redeeming about this company, other than they are proficient players. The company bills itself as a melding of opera and rock. It fails on both counts. Lame, over the top arrangements, had none of the raw energy of great rock and roll. With the male singer the songs were like second-rate Queen and with the female singer, it came off as third-rate Celine Dion (which is amazing since Celine Dion is a second rate Cher.) I am certainly not an opera traditionalist. Aretha singing Nessum Dorma? Go for it! Non-traditional casting and settings? I’m all for it. There has to be a point to it, though. If all you’re doing is trying to make a niche for yourself and have nothing to add artistically then why bother? There were several bits of inadvertent humor, though, such as when they went into an extended quote of Eminem’s Lose Yourself. On a positive note, we went for Margaritas after the show and those were quite good.

And the Winner is...

It’s better than American Idol: the singing is superior; you don’t have to put up with a snarky Simon, a ditzy Paula, and noone gets called “dawg”; there are no commercials; the audience still gets to vote; and there are snacks! It was the Connecticut Opera guild’s 54^th Annual Young Artist Scholarship Competition where twenty-nine young singers competed for fifteen different awards totaling $28,500.

The most surprising performance of the afternoon was definitely David Korn, male soprano. I had never heard a male soprano before and it was rather disconcerting at first. But the initial shock gave way to an appreciation of wonderful technique and command. The judges agreed bestowing upon him the Zieman Award. I’m sure every mezzo-soprano would like to put him in his place - especially after he sang Cherubino – but they’ll just have to learn to live with the extra competition.

The day, however, belonged to soprano Rachele Gilmore. She began with an aria from Daughter of the Regiment which was followed up by the judges’ request of an aria from Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix. She was dynamite, winning both the grand prize awarded by the judges and the People’s Choice award, voted on by the audience. For those of you who missed her, or for those of you who were left wanting more, you are in luck. Rachele will be singing Zerlina in Connecticut Opera’s Don Giovanni, which kicks off next season. (Insert commercial here to subscribe today! Call me at 860.527.0713 for your tickets!)

It is always interesting to see who the judges give awards to and how they rank them. For the most part, I agreed with award recipients (although one of my favorites, bass Eui Jin Kim, who was very animated and entertaining with a nice full sound, did not) it tends to be the order that I think most people would disagree with. While “easy” may not be quite right to describe the choices for the top one or two prizes, the top singers will tend to separate themselves from the rest. Rachele and Elizabeth Baldwin, winner of the second prize, certainly did that at the competition. Of course, as in a professional football or baseball game, on a different day, the results could have been much different.

The difficulty is weighing the rest of the field. Let’s face it, this isn’t the Gong Show; these are all highly trained and talented singers. How do you compare Kelli Butler, who, to my surprise, followed up an aria from Rigoletto with a stunningly clean version of the Queen of the Night aria, with Katrina Thurman’s Rake’s Progress and Rosenkavalier? (Speaking of Rake’s Progress, is there some sort of Stravinsky centennial that I missed? Every other aria seemed to be from Rake’s.) At least they were of the same voice type. How do you compare mezzo Brandy Lynn Hawkins, an absolute revelation and winner of the June Miller Rosenblatt Award, with tenor JinHwan Byun, winner of the D’Esopo Award. The judges, who certainly have much greater knowledge of opera than I do (I kept having to lean over to Linda and ask, “What is this aria from?”) and know how they should sound. Even then, there is a lot of latitude – just look at the comments on You Tube when you look up videos of Natalie Dessay or Maria Callas. Everyone has an opinion on what the definitive approach is to every aria. When you get judges together to reach some sort of consensus there is bound to be some compromises and horse trading – there probably aren’t any “aha” moments a la Nine Angry Men.

With all that said, here is the link to the complete list of winners.

Things we Learned at Inside the Opera Studio - Abduction from the Seraglio Edition

1. Man, this is one good looking cast!
2. Chris Devlin (Assistant conductor and moderator for the evening) believes that Mozart had it out for the singers as shown by the difficulty of this piece.
3. Matthew Garrett (Belmonte) has a pet peeve about operatic stereotypes – especially the one about strange facial hair.
4. Heather Buck (Constanza) would sing upside down if a director asked her to and it didn’t compromise the aria.
5. Ellen Douglas Schlaffer (Director) has directed so many Connecticut Opera performances over the years she is going to apply for honorary Hartford citizenship.
6. Ashley Howard Wilkinson (Osmin) believes in physical fitness (which may be the understatement of the year – come to see the show and you’ll see why).
7. Sarah Callinan (Blonda) will have no trouble doing a 2:00pm matinee. In fact, if it were at 10:00am it would still be two hours later than many of the performances she had to do as a Resident Artist with Connecticut Opera.
8. Maestro Waters is using his Abduction conducting, both here and when he was in Boston last month, as aerobic training for the marathon Porgy & Bess run that he will be conducting in Berlin this summer.
9. Michael-Paul Krubitzer (Pedrillo) will have to remember to sing the correct words for Abduction since the children’s opera, The Billy Goats Gruff, which he sang as part of Connecticut Opera’s education and outreach program, is based on Mozart’s music.
10. Christopher Dickerson (Pasha Selim) loves coming to Hartford. Since this is a speaking part he gets to play golf and go to the pub without feeling guilty.
11. Did I mention that this is one good looking cast!

Audra McDonald Calls Out CT Opera Chorister

I had the pleasure of attending the Audra McDonald concert at the Jorgensen Center on the campus of UConn on Saturday evening. I was pleased to see that sharing the experience with me were several members of the Connecticut Opera chorus. Ms. McDonald was wonderful, covering a wide range of Broadway favorites and obscurities from the 1920’s to the present day. One of the songs she performed was I Could Have Danced All Night; a song which she said she was reluctant to put in her repertoire since everyone sings it – “From Julie Andrews to Nathan Lane in drag!” After the first refrain, Ms. McDonald remarked, “See, everyone sings it. You’re humming along with it now!” She then turned it into a sing-along with a special exhortation to all the sopranos.

After the song was over, she walked to the lip of the stage, shaded her eyes so she could see into the crowd and remarked, “You were all great especially this one over there,” and she proceeded to point out Connecticut Opera Chorus’ own Kalia Kellogg out of the crowd of several hundred people. After some questions from the stage (‘Are you an opera singer” – “Yes”; “Are you a Fiordiligi? What’s your favorite role?” – “Violetta.”) Ms. McDonald remarked, “You have a beautiful voice,” then jokingly added, “Stay down there in the audience.”

You can take the advice of Audra McDonald and come hear Kalia’s beautiful voice when she sings in the chorus of our upcoming Abduction from the Seraglio.

A Masterclass with Martina Arroyo

Last night was our Masterclass, led by Metropolitan Opera soprano Martina Arroyo, held at the Wilde Auditorium at the University of Hartford. The purpose of a Masterclass is to give singers a chance to give a working performance of an aria and receive feedback from the leader of the class, who will give them suggestions for ways to enhance their performance. Last night’s Masterclass was also an opportunity for the audience to learn more about what goes into preparing a role or aria for performance.

There are various approaches taken by those who lead Masterclasses. Some work with the singers on their technique, other focus more on the acting/portrayal of the character, and some do a combination of the two. Ms. Arroyo’s approach last night focused solely on character development and acing. Although she is a voice teacher, she feels that a Masterclass is not an appropriate setting for her to work on vocal technique with singers. She explained that vocal technique is something that has to be worked on and coached over a long period of time, preferably with the same teacher.

Our four Resident Artists, Jeffrey McAvoy, La’Tarsha Long, Toby Newman, and Allen Pinkney each sang for Ms. Arroyo last night. They were each at different points in the preparation process for the arias they sang – some were just beginning to explore the characters, while others had performed the aria and/or character many times before. This worked out well because the audience could see the kinds of things that are worked on at each stage of the process. Even if you have performed an aria a hundred times, there is always something that you can change or add, or another interpretation or way of looking at the character. The singers all did a great job – it’s not easy to be coached in front of an audience, and you never know what the person coaching you is going to ask you to do! For example, while Allen was singing Rodolfo (from La Bohéme), Ms. Arroyo asked Toby to come onstage and “be his Mimi”. I’m sure that as a mezzo, Toby never thought she would be asked to be Mimi!

Throughout the evening, Ms. Arroyo invited audience members to make comments or ask questions. Ms. Arroyo addressed a question about how a singer keeps so much in mind while performing – technique, the characters personality and feelings, how the character moves, etc. She explained that it takes lots of practice and preparation, and having a clear sense of EVERYTHING about the character, including how many time a day they burp!

There were several college voice students who attended the Masterclass, which is great. You can learn just as much (if not more) from watching other singers being coached as when you yourself are being coached. One of the students asked Ms. Arroyo about the amount of time a voice student should be spending working on their music, citing concerns about having only one hour-long lesson a week, and at the most one coaching a week. Ms. Arroyo responded that indeed, that is not enough time to be spending, and that singers need to spend just about as much time as they can afford to working on their voice and performance techniques. She firmly stated that singers who do this are not being selfish – they are just doing what needs to be done.

It was a wonderful evening for all involved. The Resident Artists were given some great ideas to think about as they continue preparing the roles they sang in the Masterclass, and the audience was able to learn right along with them. It was a delight to have Martina Arroyo here!

A very Special Family Day

The Boys and Girls Club dresses up in Opera Costumes before the performance.

On Sunday May 20^th we had the privilege to host a special Family Day at the Opera for children from the Parkville branch of the Boys and Girls Club and the South Park Inn Shelter. The performance of Little Red Riding Hood at the opera’s studio and the transportation for the attendees was sponsored by The Circle of Hands Foundation and Connecticut Opera Board Member, Dr. Marcia Satlow. In addition to the performance the children participated in costume dress-up, a coloring contest and received goody bags.

Also in attendance was Councilwoman Veronica Airey-Wilson who presented proclamations of appreciation from Mayor Eddie Perez to both Connecticut Opera, which was accepted by Managing Director Linda Jackson, and to the Circle of Hands Foundation, accepted by Dr. Satlow.

Family Day at the Opera

Did you see a mother, a grandmother, a little girl, a woodsman & a big bad wolf in Hartford this past Sunday afternoon? They were celebrating Family Day at Connecticut Opera, and everyone had an enjoyable, exciting time.

How far did you travel to attend the event? My journey was the longest - all the way from England - and it certainly was worthwhile. There were two performances of 'Little Red Riding Hood', a charming opera with familiar tunes; did you hum along, under your breath, perhaps remembering your own introduction to opera as a child when you were too young to realise what opera was all about? Based on Sunday's response to the performances, I'd say that everyone loved the drama, the beautiful singing, the bright costumes and the treats.

Aric asked me to help out by giving programmes to the young guests on arrival; the children then moved quickly to the far end of the room where costumes were available for trying on, helped by Lavell Thompson. Conveniently placed mirrors were popular, as bears, a sea captain, princesses and imaginary beings gazed at the transformation.

The program began with a warm welcome from Willie Anthony Waters, the popular Maestro of Connecticut Opera, and then the magical story unfolded. With brilliant sets and costumes, the mesmerizing music played by Christopher Devlin, and the outstanding singing of the young Resident Artists, we were transported to a world of make-believe that seemed real to us.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was a Question Time following each performance; children were eager to know about the story, the costumes, the Woodsman's axe, and other probing issues. The Resident Artists were approachable and happy to share their ideas with the audience, posing for photographs and signing the programmes.

Refreshments were served to everyone, with homemade cookies, fresh popcorn, juice and water. There were goodie bags for the young guests, and we laughed at the marvelous wolf masks that soon appeared; eating a cookie while wearing a mask is a bit of a challenge.

The success of Family Day depended also on the enthusiasm of the student volunteers from the University of Hartford; along with the Connecticut Opera Staff and Board members, they ensured a memorable experience for all of us, whether tiny tots, school-age boys and girls, parents or grandparents.

It was a brilliant afternoon. Be sure to watch out for the next Family Day.

Margaret Mary Cochrane