Behind the scenes of Cincinnati Opera's GALILEO GALILEI

Opera News reviews American Portraits

Andrew Garland: "American Portraits"

Song cycles by Cipullo, Heggie, Laitman, Paulus; Loewy, piano. No texts. GPR

This collection of four contemporary song cycles by American composers merits repeated listening, for the works themselves as well as for the highly accomplished performances by baritone Andrew Garland and pianist Donna Loewy. Garland, a highly communicative performer with an attractive, clear, ringing tone, has wowed New York Festival of Song audiences and appeared successfully in opera (largely Mozart, Rossini and American works) at NYCO, Fort Worth, Boston, Philadelphia and elsewhere. Clearly, song literature is one of his strengths; he bids fair to continue the tradition of such connoisseurs' singers as Donald Gramm, Sanford Sylvan and William Stone in this still-expanding repertory.

The cycles — by composers born in the dozen years 1949–61 — are in recognizable, tonal idioms, influenced by Barber, Bernstein, Britten and Poulenc but each with its own composer's stamp. They include: Jake Heggie's Moon is a Mirror, to poems by Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931), given its premiere by Bryn Terfel in 2001; Stephen Paulus's Heartland Portrait, dedicated to and first performed by Thomas Hampson (2005), with texts by Ted Kooser (b. 1939); Lori Laitman's 2000 Men with Small Heads, originated by David Daniels and here transposed, with verse by Thomas Lux (b. 1946); and America 1968, a 2008 group by Tom Cipullo, words by Robert Hayden (1913–80), commissioned by Garland and Loewy. Garland's diction is exceptionally clear and well-inflected, but for such a project, the lack of texts represents a serious oversight, unfair to listeners (especially non-native speakers) and to the poets, composers and performers alike.

Heggie's engaging cycle pushes no stylistic envelopes but captures with remarkable fidelity the plain-spoken Lindsay poems, five life-revealing responses by man and beast to the moon. Garland's utterance is very keen here, though a few of the words ("burning," "ants") sound too contemporary in inflection for the implicit early-twentieth-century context. He skillfully handles the melismatic lines demanded by "The Old Horse and the City." "What the Forester Said" shows a seamless legato that suddenly betrays a small crack, surely warranting a retake. Paulus's songs call for expert impressionist pianism. Kooser's long-phrased verses, quite moving, sometimes elude natural-sounding musical scansion, but "At Midnight" packs a wallop, and the lyrical "Porch Swing in September" is pleasing. Baritone and pianist both capture the right tone for Laitman's musically allusive, thoughtfully calibrated yet crowd-pleasing treatment of Lux's drolly observed quotidian pictures. The Cipullo cycle offers the highest drama (Hayden's takes on America's decade of social change can be almost graphically violent) and the most challenging vocal line, with many leaps to register extremes, unlike Heggie and Laitman's more center-based tessitura. Other baritones may struggle to equal Garland's bravura performance here. The cycle concludes with a heartfelt evocation of Frederick Douglass's legacy; its final parlando utterance seems miscalculated on a recording; perhaps it works heard live? Loewy, a sensitive pianist with a clear tone capable of impressive dynamic gradation, is full partner in the whole enterprise. 

DAVID SHENGOLD

O Boundless, Boundless Evening

A song for Summer Solstice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1TKpBTuXr8

The 2013 Pan Mass Challenge

There's a Lot Riding on This

Dear friends,

I am committed to raising $5,000 for cancer research by riding in the 2013 Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC). I am training now to ride the first weekend in August when I will join 5,500 cyclists in the 34th PMC, an annual bike-a-thon that raises money for research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) in Boston.

I hope I can count on your support

The PMC raises more money for charity than any other single event in the country, $375 million since 1980 and $37 million last year alone! This success is the result of a lot of people riding for, and caring about, a cure. And because every penny matters, 100 percent of your donation goes to DFCI.

I've made a personal commitment to ride and raise $5,000. So I hope you can help me achieve this significant goal.

Please donate to my PMC ride at one of the following links:

Click here to make $25 donation

Click here to make a $50 donation

Click here to make a $100 donation

Click here to make a $250 donation

Click here to make a $500 donation

Click here to make a $1,000 donation

Click here to make a donation of any other amount

The PMC supports DAF Direct to designate PMC riders for a charitable gift

Click here to support me with a gift from your Fidelity Donor Advised Fund

Every donation brings us closer by the mile.

Thank you,
Andrew Garland

Your donation is tax deductible and 100% will go to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. If you prefer to write a check, please make it out to the PMC, The Jimmy Fund or Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and mail it to me directly at:

Andrew Garland
24 Clifton Drive
Kingston, MA 02364
US

If your employer has a matching gift program, ask your Human Resources department for a form, and follow the process for matches.

To learn more about the Pan-Mass Challenge, please visit www.pmc.org.

Spring 2013 Newsletter

Spring 2013 Calendar

CALENDAR

Massachusetts

     Boston Lyric Opera: The Magic Flute (Papageno) October 4,6,9,11,13

     Boston: Coro Allegro: Schubert Mass in G, world premiere by Greg Bullen, June 2

     Kingston: Andrew Garland and Friends charity benefit May 19, First Parish Church

     Newton: Boston Saengerfest Men's Chorus  June 1

     Plymouth: Pilgrim Festival Chorus: Carmina Burana May 3, 4 Church of the Pligrimage

New York

     Avery Fisher Hall:  Distinguished Concerts International New York Orchestra: Duruflé Requiem, Mark Hayes Requiem, world premiere  May 27

Ohio
     Cincinnati Opera: Galileo Galilei - Philip Glass July 11, 14, 17, 19, 21, 2013

     Dayton Opera: Le Nozze di Figaro - April 5,7, 2013

Tennessee
     Knoxville Opera: La Cenerentola (Cinerella) April 26, 28

Coming this Fall and beyond...

   Tuesday Music Club San Antonio, TX, November 12, 2013  Recital with Donna Loewy, piano

    Boston Baroque: New Year's Eve and First Day Concerts: December 31 (2013), January 1 (2014) Sanders Theater

    Boston Baroque: A Valentine's Weekend of French Baroque: February 14, 16, 2014

   Hawaii Opera Theater: Carmina Burana and I Pagliacci: March 28,30, April 1, 2014

   Recital with Warren Jones at the Cleveland Art Song Festival May 22, 2014

La Bohème - Speight's Corner