Albert Roussel “Le Bachelier de Salamanque” op. 20 (Deux mélodies) – 1919

Performed by English soprano Dame Felicity Lott (b. 8 May 1947)

Où vas-tu, toi qui passes si tard
Dans les rues désertes de Salamanque
Avec ta toque noire et ta guitare
Que tu dissimules sous ta mante?
Le couvre-feu est déjà sonné
Et depuis longtemps, dans leurs paisibles maisons,
Les bourgeois dorment à poings fermés.
Ne sais-tu pas qu'un édit de l'alcade
Ordonne de jeter en prison
Tous les donneurs de sérénade,
Que les malandrins couperont ta chaîne d'or
Et que la fille de l'Almirante
Pour qui vainement tu te tourmentes
Se moque de toi derrière son mirador?
Text by  René Chalupt (1885-1957)

Ernest Chausson “Le Colibri” from op. 2 (Sept mélodies) – 1882

Performed by Irish mezzo-soprano Ann Murray (b. 27 August 1949)

Le vert colibri, le roi des collines,
Voyant la rosée et le soleil clair,
Luire dans son nid tissé d'herbes fines,
Comme un frais rayon s'échappe dans l'air.

Il se hâte et vole aux sources voisines,
Où les bambous font le bruit de la mer,
Où l'açoka rouge aux odeurs divines
S'ouvre et porte au coeur un humide éclair.

Vers la fleur dorée, il descend, se pose,
Et boit tant d'amour dans la coupe rose,
Qu'il meurt, ne sachant s'il l'a pu tarir! Sur ta lèvre pure, ô ma bien-aimée,
Telle aussi mon âme eut voulu mourir,
Du premier baiser qui l'a parfumée.

Text by  Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818-1894)

 TELEGRAM
 WD064 PD
 NEW YORK NY 22 323P EST

 MRS JOHN F KENNEDY
 THE WHITE HOUSE
 I REALIZE THE UTTER FUTILITY OF WORDS AT SUCH A
 TIME, BUT THE WORLD OF CIVILIZATION SHARES THE
 POIGNANCY OF THIS MONUMENTAL TRAGEDY. AS A FORMER
 COMRADE IN ARMS, HIS DEATH KILLS SOMETHING WITHIN ME

 GENERAL MACARTHUR.

Camelot Requiem, music by Joshua Bornfield and words by Caitlin Vincent, is a story of human grief and personal mourning. Following the family members, personal staff, and close friends of President John F. Kennedy for the ten hours after his death, Camelot Requiem takes place in Parkland Memorial Hospital and Bethesda Naval Hospital. Although the opera in set in these two small areas, the emotional content of the work takes the listener far beyond those walls. Performed May 10th and 11th on the Spire Series at First & Franklin Presbyterian Church, The Figaro Project troupe brought sensitivity and skilled musicianship to the emotionally fraught work.

Director William Schaller deftly planned for Stephen Campbell as Reverend Oscar L. Huber to enter from the back of the church providing the audience with a more immediate sense of involvement in the process of events. Incorporating the audience in this fly on the wall sense created a strong intimacy between performers and listeners that lingered throughout the performance. A cursory glance around the audience can confirm that there were many that could remember where they were when and as many that could not. Bornfield’s score includes stunning ensemble writing from the beginning. The tight focus on personal relationships and experiences is punctuated by the overarching structure of the Requiem Mass (Missa pro defunctis). Campbell, Jeremy Hirsch as Dr. George Buckley, and Kate Jackman as Nurse Patricia Hutton gave subtle performances with clear singing and were strong ensemble forces along with the secretaries. Leslie Proctor as Evelyn Lincoln, Melissa Wimbish as Nancy Tuckerman, and Jessica Hanel Satava as Pamela Turnure were quite successful in the Telegram Trio in which they read numerous condolence telegrams to a stunned and shell-shocked Jackie. Each of the three have distinctive and compelling voices as well as acting skills which they used artfully to transport the audience through happy memories and painful grief.

Alex Rosen and Lisa Perry as Lyndon B. and Lady Bird Johnson enhanced the story as foils to the Kennedys. Their struggle with identity in relation to the grandeur of “Camelot” is brief, in this production, but necessary. Lady Bird’s aria musically mirrors her role in this work. The slight jazz and blues influences give the ear a nice change of pace. The Swearing-In Ceremony scene was particularly moving due to Schaller’s use of scale on stage in tandem with the building ensemble sound in the score all anchored by Rosen’s command of voice and stage. It must be mentioned that the instrumental ensemble, led by conductor Blair Skinner, were equal partners with the vocalists. They demonstrated exquisite skill in compounding the emotion from the stage and carrying it through their playing.

It is truly the performances of Nathan Wyatt as Robert Kennedy and more-so Caitlin Vincent as Jacqueline Kennedy that make Camelot Requiem so captivating and magical. Wyatt used his healthy, American sound to embody Bobby Kennedy. While certain characters in this opera would have been elevated by more mature actors, Wyatt was able to capture that serious yet hopeful spirit of the 36-year-old man with his energetic and powerful “This is the New Frontier” which lead the cast’s recession. Left alone on stage, Vincent delivered the most emotionally devastating singing and acting of the performance. Bornfield primes the ear with a solo cello line that leads into Jackie’s “When he dies, take him.” The sorrow in this text is palpable in Vincent’s singing of “I’d rather die with you than live without you. But, you didn’t listen to me. You left me alone, Jack.” Jackie never weeps or physically lashes out at any point through the story. However, it is clear that her profound bereavement is expressed vocally in her moments alone on stage. Finally, the “Lux Aeterna” sung from the balcony by the rest of the cast leaves the audience suspended and feeling what I imagine the entire country was feeling at that moment what could possibly come next?

It is my sincere hope that more audiences are given the opportunity to revel in this work. The Figaro Project, Bornfield, and Vincent have created something truly special that should continue to live in subsequent performances. Camelot Requiem has the necessary qualities of a new opera, strong musical, dramatic elements and a pivotal historical moment, that American audiences will especially gravitate toward. The entire cast and crew of The Figaro Project did justice to the story without hint of emotional hyperbole by faithfully creating complex characters through text, music, and drama.

Pavel Haas (1899-1944) “Daleko mesíc je domova”

from Ctyri písne na slova cínské poezie

“Far Away is The Moon of Home” from Four Songs in Chinese Poems

Performed by Jewish Czech opera singer Karel Berman (b. 14 April 1919 – d. 11 August 1995)

Z temného more vyrustá mesíc,
v daleké, v daleké zemi ted rozkvétá též.
Láska svuj truchlí daremný sen, láska truchlí svuj sen,
ceká, ceká na vzdálený vecer, na vzdálený vecer.

Jasneji mesíc svítí v hore mé.
Oblékám nocní šat, chladné je jíní.
Ruce mé, ruce, kterak jste prázdné,
ríci to všechno! - ríci to všechno!Spánku, sen dej mi,
spánku, sen dej mi o návratu domu,
o návratu domu, domu,
spánku, sen nemužeš dát -- me toužení stále budí...

Text by Bohumil Mathesius (1888-1952) based on a Chinese text by Zhang Jiuling

By: Caitlin E. Brown

Is it possible to enjoy pieces that portray social issues of their time and not see them as terribly dated? I’m not sure society will ever be able to take such an objective view of racial tensions during the Reconstruction era, but I do think that the only way to further the dialogue about our present day problems is to reflect on our past. My experience at Washington National Opera‘s production of Show Boat on May 7th provided one such opportunity. It was exciting, fast-paced, and bubbling over with old Americana references.

Oscar Hammerstein adapted a well-loved classic novel by Edna Ferber in 1927 about racial tensions and relationships in the Reconstruction South. What immediately shocked and surprised audiences in 1927 wasn’t composer Jerome Kern’s use of recent American musical idioms (i.e. ragtime and jazz) or the seeming sophistication of a musical theater piece; it was the racially integrated cast that garnered the most attention. Show Boat was the first staged work in the United States to feature white and African-American performers together on the same stage.

Angela Renée Simpson as Queenie and the company of Show Boat – Photo Credit: Scott Suchman

Though recent critics have dismissed the musical as quaint and misrepresentative in its illustrations of the African-American characters, the work has endured and is still widely performed. Despite several revisions to make the plot more palatable and politically correct for modern audiences, Show Boat still touches on something innately American for each character: the struggle for exceptionalism.

Each character battles not only with his or her internal sense of identity, but also with the desire to succeed and make the most of circumstances, a theme that runs rampant across American history, literature, and music. Hammerstein features the still complicated issues of feminism, racism, marriage, and patriotism prominently, presenting a portrait of American life that is rife with tribulations, something with which modern audiences can certainly connect.

Morris Robinson gave an outstanding performance as Joe and brought the audience close to tears with his rendition of “Ol’ Man River,” one of the favorite standards from the show. His precise attention to phrasing and his raw emotion elicited a number of “bravos” during the first act.

Morris Robinson as Joe and the company of Show Boat – Photo Credit: Scott Suchman

If you are unfamiliar with the number, here is the original motion picture version from 1936 with Paul Robeson.

Another notable performance came from Alyson Cambridge in the role of Julie, a role she is already familiar with playing at the Lyric Opera in Chicago. Cambridge brought the right amount of presence to her character, a “fallen” woman who, like her friends, seems to have lost herself on the way to success. Cambridge injected just enough jazz into her rendition of “Bill” to convince the audience that her abilities lay far beyond that of a seasoned opera singer.

Alyson Cambridge as Julie in Show Boat – Photo Credit: Scott Suchman

Show Boat may still seem dated to skeptics, but the Washington National Opera shifts the focus from any possible political commentary to the on-stage synergy between all of the performers. The cohesiveness of costuming, blocking, and choreography do much to convey a sense of oneness between the characters regardless of race, age, gender, or class. If there is a political level to the production, it may simply be that art is best when it transcends such social constructs.

For audience members used to the neatly tied up happy endings of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, beware that expectation for Show Boat. Hammerstein’s libretto has a decidedly adult tone, leaving audiences with a sense of bittersweet resolution in the final moments of the operetta. Not every character gets his heart’s desire and some simply fade away into the background.

If I could be a member of this production, I would choose to play in the orchestra. Kern seamlessly weaves together a wide swath of American musical idioms including ragtime, jazz, classic dance styles, cake walk, and some European opera elements. The WNO Orchestra gave a fine performance under conductor John DeMain. His attention to tempo and tendency to push them quicker than expected in places (particularly during the dance sequences and large chorus numbers) had a profound impact on such a long work.

The program notes mentioned that Show Boat is the first production in a commitment to stage  more works by American composers at the WNO. In fact, WNO’s 2013-2014 season includes Tristan and Isolde starring Deborah Voigt, a new production of The Force of Destiny directed by Francesca Zambello, the East Coast première of Moby-Dick, a revival of The Elixir of Love, and a new production of The Magic Flute. WNO will also present the world première of The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me, a holiday-themed family opera commissioned by WNO and written by acclaimed American composer Jeanine Tesori. A second season of the American Opera Initiative will continue WNO’s efforts to commission new American works. After my experience with Show Boat, my interest has definitely been piqued!

Remaining performances of Show Boat with Washington National Opera:

Friday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m. • Saturday, May 11 at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 12 at 2 p.m. • Thursday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m. • Friday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 18 at 7 p.m. • Sunday, May 19 at 2:00 p.m. • Tuesday, May 21 at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 24 at 7:30 p.m. • Saturday, May 25 at 7 p.m. • Sunday, May 26 at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets start at $25 and are available at the Kennedy Center Box Office, by calling (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-1324, or online at www.kennedy-center.org. Subscription packages for the 2013-2014 season are also available and can be purchased at (202) 416-8500 or at www.kennedy-center.org.

Caitlin E. Brown is a Musicology PhD student and blogger in the Washington, D.C. area. She strongly supports collaboration between performance and scholarship, and the advocacy of new classical music. Her other interests include running, wine, and Indiana basketball.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) “Sei mir gegrüßt” from op. 20 (Drei Lieder) – 1822

Performed by English tenor Ian Bostridge (b. 25 December 1964)

O du Entrißne mir und meinem Kusse,
Sei mir gegrüßt, sei mir geküßt!
Erreichbar nur meinem Sehnsuchtgruße,
Sei mir gegrüßt, sei mir geküßt!

Du von der Hand der Liebe diesem Herzen
Gegebne, Du von dieser Brust
Genommne mir! Mit diesem Tränengusse
Sei mir gegrüßt, sei mir geküßt.

Zum Trotz der Ferne, die sich feindlich trennend
Hat zwischen mich und dich gestellt;
Dem Neid der Schicksalmächte zum Verdrusse
Sei mir gegrüßt, sei mir geküßt!

Wie du mir je im schönsten Lenz der Liebe
Mit Gruß und Kuß entgegenkamst,
Mit meiner Seele glühendstem Ergusse,
Sei mir gegrüßt, sei mir geküßt!Ein Hauch der Liebe tilget Raum und Zeiten,
Ich bin bei dir, du bist bei mir,
Ich halte dich in dieses Arms Umschlusse,
Sei mir gegrüßt, sei mir geküßt!
by  Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866)

Julia Cooke, Executive Director of Baltimore Concert Opera, and I chatted recently over coffee. I thought the conversation would concentrate around BCO’s production of Carmen which opens tomorrow night at the Engineer’s Club in the The Garrett-Jacobs Mansion. On the contrary, we had an illuminating conversation about opera in Baltimore and BCO’s role in that landscape. It is clear that they have found a supportive and growing community of singers and audience members here. In true Baltimore style, their success has not come through luck but through hard work, vision, and a consistently genuine love for the art form.

Julia Cooke

As a co-founder of Baltimore Concert Opera Ms. Cooke has been intricately involved in BCO’s operations since its founding, serving as a member of the Board of Directors. Ms. Cooke transitions to the role of Executive Director subsequent to the departure of General Director Brendan Cooke who accepted a position as the General Director of OperaDelaware.

On stage, Ms. Cooke has performed leading roles in Faust, Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Falstaff, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, and Verdi’s rarely performed Il Corsaro. Companies include Baltimore Opera, Baltimore Concert Opera, Sarasota Opera, and L’Opera Piccola. In concert, Ms. Cooke made her Avery Fisher Hall début in 2009 as the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana. Other highlights include appearances with Anchorage Symphony, Maryland Symphony, York Symphony, and Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra. A specialist in French Art Song, Ms. Cooke has appeared in recital in Nice, France and in New York City as part of acclaimed pianist Dalton Baldwin’s recital series.

Baltimore Concert Opera presents “opera in a format that highlights the human voice and removing the artifice that separates the audience from the performers, BCO creates an intimate and affordable experience that captures the core essence of opera.” How does concert opera engage the audience differently than fully staged opera?

The majority of people who are so excited and love the close proximity whether they are a first time opera-goer or have been going for years and years. There are some people for whom it is not that effective. When they come and try it out we are extremely appreciative. Audiences love to see how the singers move and see them work together. The thing that we have found is that there is an intensity to rehearsals and performance because singers have been given a lot of freedom. They have to prepare the music and their own staging ideas ahead of time so they can just get started when they arrive. There is a lot of risk and excitement in that.

We also make a real effort to make opera accessible and welcoming. We’re like, “this is our party. Welcome!” We want to listen and we want people to feel comfortable. It gives us energy to reach out and invite people.

BCO has had multiple sold-out performance runs in this and recent seasons, including your upcoming production of Carmen. Why do you feel Baltimore audiences have gravitated to this form and presentation?

We’ve reached a tipping point as an opera company. There’s a cynicism that comes with the popularity of Carmen. That, “oh, they only sold out all of the tickets because they’re doing Carmen.” But, we opened our third season with Madama Butterfly and it didn’t sell out. Our first big coup was Lucia di Lammermoor. It was one of our first steps out of the box. Programming the glass armonica was a big risk but it worked. We will be stepping slightly more out of the box in coming seasons, but slowly. We were pretty sure that Carmen would sell well. We’ve learned a lot about how to time things right and our trends with sales. We have finally gotten to the point where, although nothing is easy and we don’t just sit back, we’re getting better at planning and understanding our audience and how they react.

You have been thoroughly involved with BCO since 2009. However, this is your first season as Executive Director. What have been some of the challenges or surprises you have experienced since September?

What I have realized this year in my position as the Executive Director, even though I have been in it since the beginning and I am married to Brendan, I didn’t realize just how much he was doing. It wasn’t because he was secretive at all. There was simply institutional knowledge that he accumulated over time. We also have to remember, I had our second child three weeks before I started the job. It just all happened so fast. Initially, once we had raised the money [to create the Executive Director position], it was supposed to be Brendan and then he got the OperaDelaware job [Ed. note: do not miss their upcoming production of Macbeth]. That’s how it all started anyway – we didn’t know everything that would be involved – but we did know, ‘this is important to us. Let’s do it.’

Beyond that, the challenges with this position are with volume of work and development. We thought that once we had a full-time person in the office, that would be the person to write all the grants. Grant-writing is such an acquired skill. You can be a smart person and a talented writer and have vision and everything, you just have to find the right fix. There is a lot of volume out there and it can be time-consuming. That being said, I am very lucky to have an extremely dedicated board member who has helped in that area. It is really setting the foundation for next year.

If I knew, then, the kind of sacrifice that would be involved, if I had my wits about me, I probably would have said “no.” But, I am so glad I said “yes.” All of us are. All of us.

I’m sure one of the challenges is fundraising – which arts organization doesn’t have that perennial challenge? I know that BCO works tirelessly to conservatively budget each season to keep things balanced. How momentous is your current 25.4.5 campaign and what will that help secure for your organization?

When you do so well ticket-wise right out of the gate, everyone assumes everything is fine. We are doing well, but we are also working very hard to secure the future of the organization rather than pay for productions we have already done. That is what this 25.4.5 campaign is all about – showing that we are going to be okay for next year. This year is paid for. We want to be strong for next season and let our donors know that they are investing in a sure thing. There is never any resting on laurels. It is a lot of tireless work, commitment, and true love. It could not be happening if there weren’t a lot of people who loved this. Not just myself and Brendan and not just the board members either. I’m talking about – really down to everybody in that audience. I love to talk to people and I love to hear their experience.

In Baltimore specifically, we had a moment of time when there were a ton of start-up opera companies, and then they almost all receded. It has been a wave back and forth. How do you feel your audience has changed over that time? Furthermore, how do you feel the Baltimore opera audience has responded throughout that wave.

That is a really interesting question. The audience, then, was mostly people who had lost their Baltimore Opera. That was the connection for us. We were filling a hole initially. That was our intention; to give the singers something to do while Baltimore Opera was reorganizing. The reason we lived here was for Baltimore Opera. That was where our first audience came from. They had a lot of curiosity about us. There was a lot of excitement because we were the story and then over time it kind of died off. That was at the beginning of the downturn of the economy.

What I hope people realize is that it was never our intention to replace Baltimore Opera. We are not Grand Opera. We love Grand Opera but we’re not trying to replace it – we’re trying to supplement it.

After that first wave of excitement, we had to work very hard to reach out. We did really aggressive marketing and discounting. Our best method of advertising has always been word-of-mouth. That started in 2009 and we are now really seeing the fruits of that. You have to invest in that long-term. We have 444 chairs to fill for each production. We don’t need just 444 people – we need 8 times that because not everyone that supports us can come to everything. This process has changed over time from an initial audience into a slow build of the people who have stuck around and the new people who tell their friends.

If you had a magic wand, what would you desire for the opera community in Baltimore?

Money.

I mean honestly, it all comes down to money. When you have money you can present more at ever higher-quality. You do not have to worry about the money so you can focus all of your energy on the art and its presentation. It is such an expensive art form. Ultimately though, part of the reason why things have worked in our case is because we have made that connection to our audience. From the $5 donation to the $5,000 donation, our community feels invested in us and we appreciate that they know we are committed to the future of this organization.

Well, I hope that you have a ticket for this weekend’s performances because there is some diabolically good singing going on. What questions would you ask Julia as the Executive Director of a growing opera company? Leave them in the comments below!

Related articles

• Page’s Take on the Baltimore Arts Scene (viewfromthespyhouseandzoo.wordpress.com)
• Small NYC Opera Companies Band Together in New Alliance (wqxr.org)

The field of single-performer voice and violin works is a niche of exploration especially in the hands and voice of Hope Wechkin. Wechkin’s Leaning Toward the Fiddler, released by Ravello Records in early 2013, is an exploration of Wechkin’s honest musicality and musical interests. On this recording, Wechkin presents a kaleidoscope of folk styles from Bosnia to Croatia to New York City’s Lower East Side.

Wechkin began studying violin at age four under the Suzuki method. She graduated from Yale University, where she conducted the Yale Slavic Chorus. She has studied voice with Thomasa Eckert and Nancy Zylstra. In what might seem like an odd coupling to some, Wechkin is also a physician in palliative medicine. However, her interest in the mind-body connection is precisely what makes her music special. She plays and sings with an apparent skill in both areas without ever pushing the body to produce beyond its natural inclinations.

Photo Credit: Anita Nowacka http://www.anitanowacka.com

The most successful moments of this recording spring forth in the Croatian, Russian, and Bosnian folk song arrangements. Mujo Kuje, the first track of the recording, is a superbly balanced expression between the voice and the violin. This Bosnian folk song is classified as a “sevdah” which is marked by themes of “passionate longing.” The violin alternates between drone accompaniment and melancholic harmonies that mimic the plaintive arcs of the voice. Similarly, Rumena Si, the Croatian folk song that concludes the recording, emphasizes Wechkin’s musical tenderness and the nostalgic quality of her voice. Not simply a standard lullaby from the mother’s point of view, Wechkin also provides the child’s response.

Rumena si kako i naranca

Ili ti je naranca rodila?

Ni je mene naranca rodila;

Vec je mene mila majka moja.

Bukva mi je za zikvicu bila,

Ziba la me, od Ucka do mora.

 ***

You are like a rosy orange!

Were you born on an orange tree?

No, I wasn’t born by an orange;

but my dearest mother bore me.

I was cradled in the beech tree,

Stormy winds rocked me, from Ucka to the sea.

It is quite pleasant to listen to the effortlessness with which Wechkin plays the violin. Particularly on tracks such as Henryesque in which she used Dvorak’s buoyant Humoresque as her point of inspiration to musically describe the “sense of humor and playfulness of [her] son, Henry.” Also, Last and Final is an energetic outing for solo fiddle that invokes an “elderly man’s dream of one last spirited dance on earth.”

Wechkin seems to draw from the well of experience on this recording. Not just her own experiences, but that sense of a common human experience found in the long tradition of folk music from around the world. Her specific graceful and unforced timbres and expression make Leaning Toward the Fiddler an evocative and genuine recording.

Lee Hoiby (1926-2011) “The Serpent”

from Songs for Leontyne

Performed by Leontyne Price (b. February 10, 1927)

text by Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) , “The serpent”, from Words for the Wind: The Collected Verse of Theodore Roethke, published 1958, under copyright ©

Siete canciones populares españolas (1914) by Manuel de Falla

Performed by Spanish mezzo-soprano Teresa Berganza (b. 16 March 1935)

1. El Paño Moruno

2. Seguidilla Murciana

3. Asturiana

4. Jota

5. Nana

6. Canción

7. Polo

Texts here