By Márcio Bezerra
The future looks (or, rather, sounds) bright, at least in the operatic field. That is the conclusion one would draw after the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Artists in Concert were heard at The Society of the Four Arts this past Sunday.
Created in 1980, The Lindemann is the country’s (and perhaps the world’s) most prestigious young artist program in opera. It has helped the career of well-established artists who perform regularly at the leading opera houses in the world. Past trainees include names such as Sondra Radvanovsky, Stephanie Blythe, Christine Goerke, and Lisette Oropesa among many others.
Sunday’s program included some of opera’s greatest hits, revealing the high level of the current trainees. The result was an enchanting afternoon of operatic highlights.
The afternoon started with “Si può?” from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, sung by baritone Yeongtaek Yang. Arguably the strongest singer in the cast, Yang performed with dramatic sense and a solid technique that was helped by very clear diction. He had total control of the audience, avoiding through his acting an early applause in the middle of the aria.
He was followed by soprano Amanda Batista in the ever popular “Sì, mi chiamano Mimì” from Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème. To be fair, it is not easy to sing an all-time favorite, especially after more than 50 years of great recordings in our collective memory.
Still, Batista was less than successful in portraying the fragile seamstress. Her voice was too potent for the Gubelmann Auditorium and her acting was overdone. There was no subtlety in the phrasing. In particular, there was no pianissimo singing.
She was much more convincing as Violetta Valéry in a strong performance alongside baritone Yang in Giuseppe Verdi’s Act 2 duet from La Traviata. Here her voice was able to display the conflicting emotions of the main character; one of the highlights of the program.
Tenor Jonghyun Park started his part with a correct, if not thrilling, rendition of another warhorse, Verdi’s “La donna è mobile” from Rigoletto. His sweet-toned tenor was more appropriate for the earlier repertoire he sang. As a result, he gave a memorable rendition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Die Bildnis is bezaubernd schön” from Die Zauberflöte.
Like Batista, his strongest moment came in collaboration with baritone Yang. Their “Au fond du temple saint” from Georges Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles garnered well deserved bravi from the audience.
Mezzo-soprano Hannah Jones impressed as well in the earlier repertoire, her “Cruda sorte” from L’italiana in Algeri by Gioachino Rossini was technically flawless and her phrasing refined and natural. She was less successful in her metronomic reading of the “Habanera” from Bizet’s Carmen but she brought the house down with a heart-wrenching “Your Daddy’s Son” from the musical Ragtime, by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens.
Throughout the program the singers were expertly accompanied by pianist Ye In Kwak, herself a Lindemann Young Artist. Her flawless and colorful playing made one forget she was reading orchestral transcriptions — not a small achievement.
One hopes the Met will continue to send more Lindemann Artists to these shores in the upcoming seasons. Sunday’s program was a real treat.