Free Opera Concert at Yerba Buena Gardens, Sunday
Merola participant Janai Brugger-Orman
We got to hear last week-end the Schwabacher recital, which will be re-performed for you free of charge at the Yerba Buena gardens on Sunday at 2pm. If you run a eight hours marathon, you'll be there right on time to stretch on the grass and enjoy some pretty darn good singing. We were blown away by them young vocalists. Bass Kevin Thompson came on stage in a scene from the Barber of Seville -the concert mix-and-matches bare-bonedly staged scenes from various operas - and we thought: here's a man singing with boys. His is a booming bottomless voice which filled up Herbst theater effortlessly. He was singing Rossini, but we were thinking: if he ever sings the Commandatore in Don Juan, he'd be hair raising and would really creep us out.
On the opposite end of the male singing spectrum, Eleazar Rodriguez has a charming, delicate, elegant tenor voice. Salvatore Licitra distinguished for us between Radames and Nemorino voices, the powerful, spinto versus the agile, lyrical, refined voices, and Rodriguez falls squarely on the Nemorino side. Too bad he's not in the Merola productions of l'Elixir next month, wouldn't it have been perfect?
Eleazar Rodriguez is returning to the Merola program for his 2nd year.
Renee Rapier had a full voluptuous sound at the bottom of her mezzo range, and another mezzo, Collen Brooks, in a stunning strapless gown, hit squarely a high G in an aria, which we mention only since we learned that for a mezzo, you have to squeeze your butt really hard to blurt those notes out.
We won't mention them all, but the kids put on a great show, despite a clumsy, heavy-handed, almost vulgar stage direction from Ray Rallo, who seems convinced that more is more is more. Mark Morash conducted with care, making sure to not lose his singers in the more upbeat ensemble pieces despite the pitles setting with the stage behind his back.