Word: mezzos
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...Stuttgart, U.S. Mezzo-Soprano Grace Hoffman was asked to sing Amneris in Aïda, despite the fact that she had to sing in Italian while the rest of the cast sang in German. She wowed the crowd. In Amsterdam, U.S. Coloratura Soprano Marilyn Tyler accepted a rush call to sing Violetta in La Traviata, although she sang in unpopular German while the rest of the cast sang in Italian. After the first act, a year's contract was offered to her. In Munich, U.S. Tenor Howard Vandenburg arrived unannounced, auditioned and was hired on the spot. All over...
...attractive Soprano Irene Callaway, who is making a success in Italy, arrived in Europe on Fulbright scholarships. Others got there by their own power, gladly took smaller salaries than they might earn at home for the satisfaction of treading the boards. "In the States," says Stuttgart's Mezzo Hoffman, "you can sing like an angel, but unless you get a break you can't find any place to sing. It's like being a bird and not being allowed to fly. Even at the Met, I'd sing two or three times a year. Here...
...human voice was always man's most expressive musical instrument, and until a few centuries ago it was also the most flexible. Then part singing was invented, and in time the singer's voice became corseted by custom into one of six categories: soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass. Like any set of muscles restricted to less than full capabilities, the human voice became the slave of the restriction. Individuals once even went to such extremes as castration to break out,* but occasionally a voice comes along that needs no adjustment to make musical news: the thrilling...
...Newcomer. At Gutman's signal the 19 singers performed one by one-a traditionally ample soprano, a baritone who is a sheet metal worker, a petite mezzo-soprano with long blonde hair, no fewer than six tenors (more tenors than Gutman had encountered in all his auditions in Seattle, Tulsa, the Twin Cities and Chicago put together). Almost every singer had got some of his or her basic experience singing in churches; some have sung with Denver's energetic young Greater Denver Opera Association. A few studied at Manhattan's Juilliard school...
...Harris: Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight (Nell Tangeman and chamber group; M-G-M). A deeply pulsing lament of heavy piano chords (played by Composer Harris' wife Johana) and elegiac countermelodies played by the violin and cello. Mezzo-Soprano Tangeman sings the Vachel Lindsay words with power and feeling to produce some fine music...