Glitter in Glimmerglass!

David and I have just returned from a fabulous weekend at Glimmerglass Opera. Candide and MacBeth were the double feature and both were excellent.

Friday night was Bernstein's wonderful score for Candide. It was perfectly conducted and sung  by Maestro Joseph Colaneri, Andrew Stenson (Candide) and Kathryn Lewek (Cunegonda).

  Andrew Stenson

Mr. Stenson has  a high, free tenor voice and diction that must make Madeleine Marshall smile up in Heaven. He is also a fine actor.

   Kathryn Lewek

Equally fine was Ms. Lewek as Cunegonda. High notes (and I DO mean high) are no challenge for her and she played the role beautifully.

Less successful was David Garrison as Dr. Pangloss. He is a fine actor and represented the character very well, but the part is just written too low for his singing voice. He sort of disappeared whenever he had to sang.

Also less than ideal was The Old Lady of Marietta Simpson. Again, a fine actress, but she pushes the chest voice so hard that when she has to go up it is to a thin, immature sound that is out of character.

The other members of the cast were excellent, especially Christian Bowers as Maximilian, Matthew Scottin as Martin, and Andrew Marks Maughan as Cacambo.

I missed the first Broadway production of this in 1956 but saw the 1979 version. In the meantime numerous changes to both music and text had been made. Changes were to continue into the 1990's. The original book by Lillian Hellman was finally scratched and Bernstein included music that had been deleted from earlier productions.

Whatever- Friday night's production was a delight and both Ms. Lewek and Mr. Stenson should be having much larger careers in the future.

I am amazed at the quality of singing and acting from the Glimmerglass Young Artist program. Bravi! 

   Eric Owens

Saturday night we saw a fine performance of Verdi's MacBeth. Eric Owens was magnificent in the title role. We had seen him at Lyric Opera in Chicago and knew what to expect.

    Melody Moore

 Melody Moore blew us away as Lady MacBeth. What a wonderful singer! It seemed that every aria she sang got an ovation- deservedly. Her sleep-walking scene, sung largely pianissimo  was spell-binding. She has absolute control of her voice, making whatever she sings sound effortless. 

Again the other roles, sung by Young Artists, were very well sung and acted, especially Soloman Howard, Michael Brandenburg, Marco D. Cammarota, and Derrel Acon.

Again Joseph Colaneri was the fine conductor.

A wonderful weekend of wonderful singing. Congratulations Glimmerglass. Long may you Glimmer!