The Great Mass in C Minor of Mozart and the Te Deum of Dvorak made up the exciting program. The excellent chorus and orchestra played and sang with musical enthusiasm and great enjoyment.
Two angelic sopranos who proved that what I said in my last blog about singing OUT when singing runs works, sang the difficult solo parts in the Mozart Mass. Sarah Gartshore has a very beautiful spinto voice and was able to cover the role wonderfully. Alyssa Bennett is more of a coloratura, I would think, and is equally able in singing this music to perfection. Both women need to discover what lies below the passaggio, especially when singing the athletic jumps Mozart hands them and Ms. Bennett does not need to push the top. It's already there! But I quibble.
The tenor, John Irvin and the bass-baritone, Richard Ollarsaba, were equally good in the small parts Mozart grants the men in this work. Ms. Gartshore and Mr.Ollarsaba were just fine in the Dvorak.
The balance between orchestra and chorus and soloists was perfect throughout. The acoustic makes it difficult to get the chorus's words in this room, but the soloists diction came through beautifully.
All in all, this was a great evening of great music, sung to perfection. Bravi to all concerned. Chicago Lyric could take some lessons from these solo singers about how to project freely and beautifully, no matter how complicated the music may be.
