You hear the singers in quite a lot of operatic, track and pop repertory and get a way of their inventive personalities and flexibility. I attended each the opening night time program on June 18th in Central Park with the trio of soprano Leah Hawkins, tenor Mario Chang, and bass-baritone Michael Sumuel and the primary night time of the second group on June 24thwith rising children soprano Brittany Olivia Logan, mezzo-soprano Hannah Jones, and tenor Matthew Cairns in Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem. Solely Sumuel had by no means been within the Lindemann Program – the remaining had been both graduates, present members, or becoming a member of this system subsequent 12 months.
Each evenings had been blessed with temperatures within the 70’s with cool breezes – a blessed respite from the sweltering June warmth wave. The Central Park opener on June 18th, accompanied by the protean Dmitri Dover on piano, was a wild experience by way of an eclectic program which pushed the performers into completely different kinds and vocal classes stretching their capacities – with considerably uneven however intriguingly stimulating outcomes.
The largest conundrum was this 12 months’s Beverly Sills Award winner, Leah Hawkins, who’s being pushed for main stardom. It’s clearly a significant, main voice which I seen when she sang a luscious, bell-like Strawberry Girl in Porgy and Bess within the Met’s 2020 new manufacturing. I discovered her efficiency in Verdi’s Requiem a disappointment final Fall, her efficiency lacked technical management and polish in uncovered and high-lying music demanding classical poise and rock-solid assaults. Hawkins has what I’d name a “horizontal” slightly than “vertical” soprano – it thrives in broad expansive phrases that make the most of her wealthy center register. Difficult excessive mendacity music with vaulting intervals into the higher register tax her stamina and approach. It’s an enormous notes voice, not a little bit notes voice.
That is additionally a rising voice very a lot in a transitional state – the voluminously darkish center and backside registers and straightforward quantity and tonal growth point out that she is rising right into a spinto or dramatic soprano. However the approach must be developed to deal with that heavy repertory. Hawkins’s staged roles embody such assorted assignments as Musetta and the Priestess in Aida however exterior the Met she has sung Tosca, Giorgetta in Tabarro and Ariadne. Apart from that, she has sung largely modern works like Malcolm X. The operatic roles Hawkins sampled on this live performance included Sieglinde, Louise, Mimi, Zerlina and an aria from William Grant Nonetheless’s Costaso plus “Someplace Over the Rainbow” and a conventional Jamaican folks tune. The numerous and demanding program confirmed a voice that’s creating in a number of instructions directly with wealthy vibrant tone up, down, and sideways. However right here or there are bumps and infrequently she is musically unformed.
Sieglinde’s “Du bist der Lenz” from Act I of Wagner’s Die Walküre benefited from the inherent lush sensuality of Hawkins’s soprano and the expansive “horizontal” vocal writing suited her completely – some imprecise phrasing right here or there betrayed her inexperience with the music. It made me wish to hear her because the Strauss Ariadne and likewise as Elisabeth in Wagner’s Tannhäuser. “Depuis le jour” from Charpentier’s Louise additionally benefited from her sensuous timbre, however it is a lyric soprano aria with a really vertical vocal line – the melody takes the soprano ever upward into the stratosphere as Louise exults in her newfound love. Hawkins has an enormous lush higher register however it isn’t as versatile as one needs – the best phrases towards the ultimate climax had been assisted by vocal scooping. Her half within the “O soave fanciulla” duet from Act I of Puccini’s La Bohème, in partnership with tenor Mario Chang, was one other foray into lyric soprano land and a profitable one.
Composer William Grant Nonetheless wrote his opera Costaso in 1952 however it waited 40 years to be carried out. Within the second half, Hawkins’ was radiant within the aria “Golden Days” the place a disillusioned spouse remembers the early ardour of her marriage that she hopes to recapture. The golden glow evoked by Nonetheless’s rapturous melody was palpably current in her tone. Hawkins had loads of sass and flirtation as a not-so-innocent Zerlina in “Là ci darem la mano” with the silky Michael Sumuel as her aristocratic Don. Once more she was a tigress masquerading as a kitten however the voice is attractive. She confirmed much more sass and humor within the Jamaican folks tune “No person’s Enterprise (However my Personal)” the place she received down with out condescension or artifice. For her encore, a gleaming “Someplace over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz confirmed off her silken tone, however she additionally modulated into a better key for the ultimate reprise of the melody, taking us off to soprano heaven.
Hawkins talked about that this was her third live performance within the parks and she or he was a gregarious, fun-loving and beneficiant performer. It appears ungracious to carp, however the potential is so nice and far of it appears partially realized. Hawkins additionally wants to search out operatic roles and repertory to make her personal. She must clean out some technical flaws earlier than she ascends to the topmost rank of operatic artists the place her vocal endowments clearly point out she ought to be. She is in a harmful creating state proper now with attendant pitfalls. Leah Hawkins wants cautious nurturing and dealing with and heaps of teaching.
Guatemalan tenor Mario Chang is one other Lindemann graduate with a voice in a transitional state. Initially Chang was heard as a really mild lyric tenor however with an unusually darkish, muscular timbre for a lyric voice. The sunny tone and straightforward tops of a Camarena or Flórez weren’t a part of his arsenal. Nonetheless, his elegant phrasing and modest attraction made him a successful Nemorino when he took over the position for one efficiency from the vulgarly self-indulgent and showy Vittorio Grigolo (whom I do love towards my higher judgment and want could possibly be uncanceled and return to the Met). Chang’s flip as Arcadio in Florencia en el Amazonas final Fall confirmed a voice that had grown in measurement and power extra consistent with the spinto coloration of his tenor.
Chang opened the live performance with “La donna è cell” from Rigoletto, however his Duca was a little bit bumptious and missing in sunny insouciance. He wanted extra bel canto and fewer can belto. His “Venti scudi” duet from L’Elisir d’amore (with the not precisely buffo Dulcamara of Michael Sumuel) was fluent and extra his meat. Nonetheless, launching into Don José’s “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée” from Carmen his mixture of darkish spinto and lyric qualities discovered a correct métier. He had each darkish ardour and lyric magnificence in a job that has attracted singers of various vocal weights like Henri Legay, Nicolai Gedda and Jon Vickers. Within the second half, Chang sang a scorching “Granada,” a melting “E lucevan le stelle” from Tosca, and blended pleasingly with Sumuel within the duet “Au fond du temple saint” from Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles. His encore handled us to a seductive Guatemalan love track within the type of Astor Piazzolla. Whereas the rising measurement of his tone is welcome, I do assume Chang must domesticate better ease, brightness and shine within the higher register – a few of his excessive notes sounded effortful and coated. It’s a attractive voice and one that’s nonetheless creating.
In some ways essentially the most full artist on that stage was bass-baritone Michael Sumuel, a singer I solely keep in mind (positively) in a bit position because the King within the English-language Cinderella/Cendrillon of Massenet. Sumuel is a take-charge interpreter in all his assorted assignments, going proper into the character and motivating feelings of no matter character he was portraying within the second. The phrases land with that means and power and his face is continually reflecting the character’s ideas and feelings. His mahogany bass-baritone is wealthy and clean and evenly balanced from prime to backside.
Leporello’s Catalogue Aria “Madamina” was deft and light-footed with delicate innuendo slightly than heavy-handed hamming. Some ham is required for Dottore Dulcamara in Elisir and Sumuel’s buffo patter wants a little bit extra pace and oomph, however his tone is high quality from backside to prime. Sumuel’s “Non più andrai” from Le Nozze di Figaro danced nimbly over the phrases and melody. After intermission, Sumuel rollicked by way of “I received loads o’ nuttin” from Porgy and Bess,making one want he had the Met manufacturing and revival and never the spiritless, lumpen Eric Owens. Wolfram’s ode to the night star “O du mein holder Abendstern” from Wagner’s Tannhäuser revealed sable tone and poetic impulses within the phrasing. He firmly anchored the low finish of the Pearl Fishers duet with Chang. His encore was a stirring “Some Enchanted Night” from South Pacific. Sumuel has the lead Figaro within the second run of Le Nozze di Figaro within the Met’s revival subsequent season – I’m going to examine him out.
Monday night time’s trio had been youthful and wetter behind the ears however all had attractive voices and had been successful interpreters in a properly balanced program accompanied by Deborah Robertson, herself a part of the Lindemann Program of their teaching and music employees division. Mezzo-soprano Hannah Jones, with an awesome stage face and putting outfit opened the present with a vibrant “Cruda sorte!” from Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri with spherical, soft contralto-like tones and a few bel canto sparkle within the second half. The smoky richness of her tone suited Dalila in “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix” (although she wants to not chop up the phrase “ivresse” into two distinct separate syllables – “eevreh-ssuh”) and she or he was a putting earthy, wily Carmen within the “Seguidille.” Jones was transferring in her encore “Your Daddy’s Son” from Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s Ragtime. Jones might be becoming a member of the Lindemann Program subsequent 12 months and I might be searching for her.
Lyric soprano Brittany Olivia Logan (in her closing 12 months on the Lindemann Program) sang the “Jewel Track” from Gounod’s Faust with fairly shallow tone and a barely indicated trill with an excessive amount of primping. Later in this system, Logan scored mightily with Puccini and Cilèa indicating that Italian opera is her meat. Her “Io son l’umile ancella” from Adriana Lecouvreur received an enormous ovation from the group and her tone gaining in richness, depth ,and sheen. She adopted up this constructive impression within the duet “O Soave Fanciulla” as a undoubtedly flirtatious Act I Mimì with ardent tenor Matthew Cairns and her encore, “O mio babbino caro.” I discovered some components of Micaela’s “Je dis que rien m’épouvante” stretched her tone a bit. Logan additionally duetted with Jones within the Hoffmann “Barcarolle” fairly attractively. She has the position of Liù developing subsequent Could at Lyric Opera of Kansas Metropolis and I feel Kansans are in for a deal with. Wendy Bryn Harmer would be the titular icy princess.
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Toronto native Matthew Cairns possesses a really promising Lirico-spinto voice with jugendlich heldentenor potential. He’s a present member of the Lindemann program. His solely position on the Met thus far has been the Messenger in Aïda. Cairns has a debut lined up as Froh in Das Rheingold on the Paris Opera and you may hear a little bit Lohengrin and Walther von Stolzing within the sound. His “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” from Lehar’s The Land of Smiles had lyric lilt and heroic ring in equal measure. His “Recondita Armonia” from Tosca additionally had a pleasant mix of spinto ardour and lyrical French finesse and he was an ardent Rodolfo with Logan within the Act I La Bohème love duet. His greatest contribution was a job he has already carried out onstage – Don José in Carmen. Once more, the mix of dramatic chunk and stylish French lyricism labored in his favor and he shaded the ultimate B-flat from full-toned to mezza-voce with ease. One other rising voice with a lot of potential in addition to heaps already achieved. Cairns could possibly be a powerful Samson within the Saint-Saëns opus sooner or later. His tone at the moment is contemporary and vivid and he’s an engaged and constructive interpreter onstage – I see a vivid future for him.
Actually, this group of younger singers made me very optimistic about the way forward for opera – all of the voices had distinctive timbres and so they introduced constructive interpretations and character to their work. Additionally, a number of of those voices are giant and able to vital operatic roles.
Photographs: Jennifer Taylor
