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Bellini, Verdi and the difference
AVA's "Norma' and "Trovatore' in concert
Steve Cohen
Everyone who bought tickets to Terrence McNally's Golden Age could have benefited by attending the Academy of Vocal Arts' recent operatic concert.
The AVA evening centered on Bellini's most admired and most-performed opera, Norma, then threw in an act of Verdi's Trovatore as a bonus. The McNally play at the Philadelphia Theatre Company concerns Bellini and his singers, and the AVA concert demonstrated why that subject deserves our attention.
The Sicilian composer specialized in writing for the human voice, and he created long-spun, haunting melodies. At the concert we heard beautiful, professional-level singing with strong accompaniment by the AVA orchestra, conducted by the school's musical director, Christofer Macatsoris.
Angela Meade, the headliner, graduated from AVA last spring and is now a Metropolitan Opera artist. She continues to develop, revealing rich low tones as well as the high-flying agility for which she is best known. Dressed in a flowing white gown, she captured the authority of this Druid priestess who is betrayed by her Roman lover.
The other singers are current resident artists at the Academy. Cynthia Cook was an interesting Adalgisa, Norma's rival. She used a throbbing vibrato that sounded appropriate to the 19th-Century style of the opera.
Another mezzo-soprano, Margaret Mezzacappa, displayed deep and rich tones as Azucena in Trovatore. First-year student Na Li Youm was a startlingly mature and dramatic Leonora in the Verdi opera, with soaring high notes as well. These were the evening's most spectacular achievements, but all the supporting roles were well sung. (Alternate singers appeared in some of the roles at the two other performances of the program.)
The Academy goes from strength to strength and right now is blessed particularly with outstanding female singers. Macatsoris coached all of them so well that every phrase was in synch with the orchestra, even though the performers were facing away from the conductor during most of the action. His fluid and graceful pacing kept the music exciting, and he added a particularly catchy ritard during the last stanza of the duet for Norma and Adalgisa, "Mira o Norma."
With the orchestra on stage in front of us, one flaw was revealed: Bellini's orchestration didn't match the high level of his vocal writing. Much of the accompaniment in Norma consists of plucked strings, and his tutti writing (i.e., for the whole orchestra) is routine. When the program switched to Verdi, you could hear a distinct development in the orchestral writing.
The AVA evening centered on Bellini's most admired and most-performed opera, Norma, then threw in an act of Verdi's Trovatore as a bonus. The McNally play at the Philadelphia Theatre Company concerns Bellini and his singers, and the AVA concert demonstrated why that subject deserves our attention.
The Sicilian composer specialized in writing for the human voice, and he created long-spun, haunting melodies. At the concert we heard beautiful, professional-level singing with strong accompaniment by the AVA orchestra, conducted by the school's musical director, Christofer Macatsoris.
Angela Meade, the headliner, graduated from AVA last spring and is now a Metropolitan Opera artist. She continues to develop, revealing rich low tones as well as the high-flying agility for which she is best known. Dressed in a flowing white gown, she captured the authority of this Druid priestess who is betrayed by her Roman lover.
The other singers are current resident artists at the Academy. Cynthia Cook was an interesting Adalgisa, Norma's rival. She used a throbbing vibrato that sounded appropriate to the 19th-Century style of the opera.
Another mezzo-soprano, Margaret Mezzacappa, displayed deep and rich tones as Azucena in Trovatore. First-year student Na Li Youm was a startlingly mature and dramatic Leonora in the Verdi opera, with soaring high notes as well. These were the evening's most spectacular achievements, but all the supporting roles were well sung. (Alternate singers appeared in some of the roles at the two other performances of the program.)
The Academy goes from strength to strength and right now is blessed particularly with outstanding female singers. Macatsoris coached all of them so well that every phrase was in synch with the orchestra, even though the performers were facing away from the conductor during most of the action. His fluid and graceful pacing kept the music exciting, and he added a particularly catchy ritard during the last stanza of the duet for Norma and Adalgisa, "Mira o Norma."
With the orchestra on stage in front of us, one flaw was revealed: Bellini's orchestration didn't match the high level of his vocal writing. Much of the accompaniment in Norma consists of plucked strings, and his tutti writing (i.e., for the whole orchestra) is routine. When the program switched to Verdi, you could hear a distinct development in the orchestral writing.
What, When, Where
Norma and Il Trovatore. Opera excerpts by Bellini and Verdi, respectively, in concert; Christofer Macatsoris, conductor. Academy of Vocal Arts production January 29-30 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, and February 2, 2010 at Centennial Hall, Haverford College, 450 Lancaster Ave., Haverford. (215) 735-1685 or www.avaopera.com.
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