Another, "Look Who is Singing with Whom" Post

Favorite tenor, fabulous soprano.
Click through to see the entire video if the blogger format cuts off the frame.
The sound is a bit wonky with feedback when they hit the high notes. But then... the applause!!!

AVA Gala - Wowwwwwwie!!!

Wednesday I went to the AVA "Brava Philadelphia," 75th Anniversary Gala.

Silly me, I didn't check the time on the ticket. I left my house at about 6pm, thinking I'd get there in plenty of time to grab a bite to eat before the performance. But when traffic stopped because of a truck stuck in the left lane, I pulled out the ticket for a peek. OOPS! 7:30 start time. Maybe I'd be able to grab a bag of peanuts somewhere...?

Traffic finally picked up and I made way to the parking garage below the theater. I just want to point out here that I paid $50 for the ticket and then $22 to park!!! There weren't enough spots in the garage so I had to leave my car in the middle along with the keys. They gave me a ticket for the keys which I promptly lost. But on the positive side, the lobby snack bar sold these little sandwiches so I was able to scarf something down in the moments before the bells went off.

So the format was, there were AVA graduates who were the "Gala Artists," and a group of "Resident Artists" who are still students. Everyone was great. A few of the resident artists had solos but for the most part they did ensemble pieces. They were all so good!! And the dresses - OMG one piece of eye candy after another. I'm still talking about the resident artists here. One woman had this gorgeous blond hair and was wearing the most stunning gown ever - it was this reddish/maroonish/brick color, shimmery, with shiny parts on the straps. Should have brought my binocs I guess... that's all the detail I can provide. There was so much glitz and rhinestone on stage. But why am I going off track with the clothing? The singing was phenomenal.

So in between the resident stuff, the Gala Artists came out and did their thing. And their thing was, sing. Oh no I've veered into Dr. Seuss land, sorry about that. I'm not going to write every detail about the evening... but I might come close! I should have taken notes, right? Everyone sang more than one piece. Here's what I remember.

Eglise Gutierrez. So so awesome. Words cannot describe. She did something from La Sonnambula and later a scene from Rigoletto. Legato, legato, legato. I think she took one deep breath at the beginning and then didn't need to breathe again until the end. Emotion in her face, her voice, her eyes. And she was wearing a beautiful purple gown and big sparkly earrings.

Angela Meade sang something from Abduction. She was in NJ Opera's production of it last summer. She is AMAZING. What a voice. The aria had a range from way down here to all the way up there and everything in between. Sounded like one of those arias that he wrote for someone specific. I don't know enough about Mozart to say more than that, but doesn't it make me sound knowledgeable? "Oh yes, he wrote that one for a specific soprano..." Ok, back to business. Her dress: Red gown. Spectacular. Let's see... checking the program...

Latonia Moore. Ok, I don't remember what she was wearing. Black probably? Gorgeous face but her hair kept falling in it!! She kept flipping it back. However it did not distract from her GORGEOUS voice. Madame Butterfly - blew me away.

Ok. Another soprano. Indra Thomas. Wow. WOW! And wow on the black dress with the green wrap! She changed it to a black gauzy type wrap later which made it even more elegant, if that's even possible. Hair pulled back into a tight bun with rhinestone crystals glittering everywhere. She looked like a princess and sang like a goddess.

It wasn't just a girls' night out. The guys - of course, Michael Fabiano!! Nessun Dorma. Don't think there was a dry eye in the house. His voice just washes over you. And after being in a production with him, it was so familiar. I was like, Oh yeah, that's right. He was great then and he's even better now.

Luis Ledesma sang the Toreador song from Carmen, surrounded by the resident artists. Like all the men, he was wearing a tux, but that doesn't stop me from imagining him all Escamillo-ed up. He seemed so familiar to me, I should check and see if I've seen him perform before.

James Valenti!!! We all remember him from this. He just made his Met debut in Traviata. You can read all about that in all the regular places. Here he sang O Sole Mio and had the crowd in the palm of his hand. And this man is TALL!! A tall tenor. Yes, I know, I barely push the bar at 5 feet, but that doesn't mean I can't tell tall from down here. I didn't realize just how tall he was until I saw him later backstage.

Before it started and also in between the singing, someone came out to introduce and thank various people who were involved in putting the evening together. The mayor of Philadelphia even showed up to say a few words. They also explained that Joyce Didonato was supposed to have been there but she injured herself (again?!) on stage in Chicago and needed surgery to repair a torn ligament in her knee. Ouch. But you know what? She's such a huge name, such a huge star, that having her there might have taken some of the spotlight away from the other performers. Not that I wasn't disappointed - but I wonder if the dynamic of the performance would have been different.

The crowd: What a mix. Several men in tuxedos, entire rows of them. Women in ball gowns. Women like me, in a nice long skirt and top. And then some people were very, very casual. Not quite pajamas, but not dressed up either.

The row behind me - one woman was eating Goobers, yes, you know, chocolate-covered peanuts, from one of those movie-size boxes, and offering them to her companions. Apparently she had a box of Raisinettes too. Another guy behind me had running commentary - "Wow. Amazing. Listen to that. Did you hear that?" and so on. It was what we were all thinking, but he said it all out loud.

The row in front of me - just as it was starting, one woman whispered something to her companion and a man two seats down let out this rude "shhhppp!"which did the trick, but still... Where was he when the same woman started humming along????

Over in the row of men-in-tuxes, this one woman kept talking to the people on either side of her. But it's ok. She was whispering. It was the loudest whisper I had ever heard. It echoed throughout the entire theater. It was amazing.

These minor incidents did nothing to mar the evening, they are merely amusing to relate.

When it ended I went back to say hi to Michael and give him a squeeze. You can see me doing that here. See my hand coming around? Squeezing. That's not a smile on his face, it's a grimace. Ok ok, I'm just kidding. I mean yeah I was squeezing but he was (I think) smiling. He was so sweet.



I finally finally got to meet Eglise in person! We have had comment conversations on facebook and it was wonderful to finally meet "for real." She had changed out of her gown but was still absolutely gorgeous in person. Her eyes are WOW! I felt instant warmth from her, as if we had known each other forever.



As usual it was super-crazy hectic back there with visitors and performers all wanting photos of and with each other. So after chatting for a moment I made my way back to the car where they let me have my keys back in spite of me having no idea where my ticket was. After a few crazy city-driving maneuvers, you know, wild u-turns, lane changes and so on, I found my way onto the highway and was home within the hour.

The only think I'd change: Next time I'm writing down what the singers are wearing so I can describe it here in greater detail.

Random

Nothing specific to blog about, but I figured I'd start typing in the empty window and see what happens.

Let's see..

I've been watching the video from Saturday's recital and hearing all the mistakes. Missed legato, missed vibrato, wrong length on some notes, and what the HECK was I doing with my arms?

Then I wonder, what will I sing next? I have no voice lesson for the next two weeks so I have plenty of time to think about it. The next Opera Project recital is at the end of May I think, and there's a voice eval with the music school and the recital my teacher hosts of all her students. I need two songs for each of those. They can be the same songs but they don't have to be. We were talking about Art is Calling for Me and Nel Cor... although now that I've sung Batti Batti twice in front of an audience I'm thinking, maybe I should revisit Vedrai Carino and apply all the stuff I've learned since I last attempted it? I also want to go back to Gretchen as she's been sitting in the back burner of my brain for a while. And then what about the next Opera Project recital? I'd love to do Art is Calling for Me but that's not opera - it's a song about someone wanting to sing opera. Maybe if I ever get to the point where I can do two pieces I can have that be one of them. And then of course I'm itching to do a duet. I'd love to do La ci darem la mano. Let's face it, I'm going to learn all of Zerlina, one piece at a time. So now I just need a baritone to be my Don Giovanni. All the men I know are tenors. Where are all the baritones?

Tomorrow I'm going to the AVA Gala "Brava Philadelphia," where I'll see Michael Fabiano (who finally got himself a facebook fan page) and Eglise Gutierrez, among many others. Joyce Didonato was supposed to be there too but she had to back out. Oh well.

Post-Florida Post

I'll rant, rave and whine about my trip later. Meanwhile, enjoy this, and remember to click through to YouTube if the blog format cuts off the edge of the video:

Still My Own Worst Critic

At my voice lesson this week my teacher insisted that I did a fine job. She said that we are our own worst critics... yep I've heard that before!! She also pointed out that I know what I can do in her studio or at home, and even if I didn't believe that my performance at the recital was as good as I believe I could be, the audience doesn't know it, and on its own, comparing it to nothing, I was fine. We talked about the unexpected things that can happen during a live performance, for example, expecting a chord and getting a note. That wasn't such a big deal for me, but it was an example. We talked about what was going through my mind and about how the more you do it, the more you learn... yeah yeah. I know. It was part counseling/cheerleader session, part voice lesson.

We worked a little on Art is Calling for Me, and then we're going to choose the next thing to work on. I want to sing Nel cor piu non mi sento. Since I'll be seeing Eglise as Lucia on Thursday, here she is to show us how it should be sung. And then I won't listen to it again until after I've learned it...



My teacher has another German lieder piece she'd like me to look at. Then eventually we'll go back to Gretchen, after she rests in the back of my brain for a while. That was a good tactic with Una Donna and Batti Batti, so hopefully Gretchen will work the same way. Or my brain will work the same way. Or something.

Day after tomorrow we head to sunny Florida and Thursday is Lucia di Lammermoor with Florida Grand Opera. There has been so much other stuff going on that I keep forgetting first about the trip and then second that we're going to the opera this week. Once I show up for the flight and then at the theater I imagine my brain will catch up with my body.

Lu-Cha-Cha-Chia-ing it Yet Again

I've seen it at the Met. I've seen it at NJ Opera. I've seen it on TV. Now I'm seeing it again - this time in Florida. Ok so remember last year when I took my mom to see Nozze at Florida Grand Opera? Well this year I timed my annual Florida visit to take her to see Lucia di Lammermoor. And remember the year before, when I wrote about that Rigoletto with NJ Opera that I didn't super in because my email address changed between seasons? See where I wrote, "The woman who sang Gilda was FABULOUS!!!!" ? That was Eglise Gutierrez and she is singing the role of Lucia. I'm very excited to see her again, and I'm thrilled to be able to take my mother to the opera again. She's delighted. Two of my cousins are coming too, so we'll have a real girls' night out, with "girls" ranging in age from 29 - 82!

That weekend overlaps with the local production of Carmen, so even if I do get chosen to super (I've applied but have heard nothing) I wouldn't be able to do it.