It began with my attending two rehearsals for Suor Angelica, the second part of Il Trittico by Puccini. The Womens' Chorus was presenting this with the Smith Orchestra, which was enlarged with some professional players.
Judith Gray, who is on the Smith voice faculty sang the title role in the opera with great passion and drama. Her glorious voice soared above the orchestra.
Katie Weiser, a junior in the College, sang the role of Suor Genevieffa in a lovely high soprano voice. The orchestra, conducted by Jonathan Hirsh, and the chorus, conducted by Gregory Brown, performed admirably. I told Greg that his women sounded better than the Met chorus. This isn't saying a lot, I admit, but I meant it as a compliment. They sang freely with a lovely sound. The concert was Sunday afternoon.
In the second half of the concert they were joined by the Men's Chorus from Amherst College, just up the road. These hearty young men sang with vigor on a number of opera choruses, but men's voices at this age are just not in the same field as women's. It was a youthful, rather raw sound. But they performed with gusto.
Today I attended a noonday concert by Karen Smith Emerson, who is also on the Smith voice faculty. Karen has studied with me for several years and sang an all Debussy program that was exquisite. She ended with the Air de Lia, from L'Enfant Prodigue. Which received a large ovation.
My relationshhip with Smith goes back many years when I accompanied lessons for Anna Hamlin, who was the head of the Smith voice department in the 40's and 50's and who came to New York City to teach on weekends. I also studied with Anna and often coached some of her students including the wonderful Judith Raskin.
After the death of my spouse, John Ferris, in 2008, Jane Bryden, also a student of mine and a member of the Smith voice faculty, asked me to teach at Smith, which I did for several years. I will be teaching a vocal master class there on April 17th. So the connection, which has been going on for over sixty years, continues.
At the master class, I guess you could say, I will be teaching my grandchildren.
