Word: mezzo-soprano
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Opera ultimately belongs to the singers, however, and La Traviata was no exception. All the performers, leads and chorus alike, showed remarkable vocal prowess and passion, and among the minor characters mezzo-soprano Gale Fuller's charming and coquettish Flora Bervoix (a courtesan whose wardrobe is far more scandalous than that of Violetta) was especially memorable and a well-needed break from the heavy tragedy of the rest of the opera...
...there another art form that attracts so many sublime sufferers and so many nuts?" asks Manuella Hoelterhoff in her new book Cinderella & Company: Backstage at the Opera with Cecilia Bartoli. The narrative, loosely based on a two-year period in the life of the world famous mezzo-soprano, provides a way for the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hoelterhoff to expose all the craziness of the opera world. Her readable anecdotes of eccentric divas, push managers and overweight sopranos give a "behind-the-scenes" picture of opera that will delight everyone from the hard-core opera buffs who live for this...
...second half of the program, mezzo-soprano Paula Rasmussen, tenor Richard Clemont and bass Nathan Berg joined Christine Brewer along with the Handel and Haydn Society Chorus. The work, Beethoven's Mass in C, was definitely the highlight of the evening. Written in 1807 on a commission from Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy II, this was Beethoven's first setting of the Mass, and was a complete failure in the prince's eyes. Perhaps he did not appreciate Beethoven's extensive text painting (creating musical pictures of the text), and his application of personal feelings to the various parts of the mass...
...orchestra. Celebrating the glory of God, Beethoven managed to represent this feeling of joyful gratitude through a wide variety of tonal colors and a quicker tempo. It was in the solo sections of the Gloria that the audience first got to really hear the warm, haunting voice of mezzo-soprano Rasmussen, a good match for Brewer's soprano...
...which the dialogue is spoken rather than sung, and a refreshingly colloquial English translation by Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof). Updated it was, but dumbed down it wasn't. Assaf made her dramatic points with crisp simplicity and no pandering whatsoever. No less direct was the Carmen of mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzman, a fire-eating singing actress who played straight to the video cameras, giving a devastatingly sexy performance full of anger and pride. It all added up to a no-nonsense Carmen that anybody could believe...