United States Various, ‘The Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala 2023’: Angela Meade, Frederica Lombardi, Ailyn Pérez, Liv Redpath (soprano), Ben Bliss, Stephen Costello (tenor), Quinn Kelsey, Sean Michael Plumb (baritone), Soloman Howard (bass), Bryan Wagorn, Howard Watkins (piano). Carnegie Hall, New York, 29.10.2023. (RP)
Rossini – ‘Largo al factotum’ (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
Catalani – ‘Ebben? Ne andrò lontana’ (La Wally)
Verdi – ‘Il lacerato spirito’ (Simon Boccanegra); ‘Parmi veder le lagrime’ (Rigoletto); ‘Pietà, rispetto, amore’ (Macbeth); ‘Parigi o cara’ (La traviata); ‘Udiste … Mira, d’acerbe lagrime’ (Il trovatore)
Thomas – ‘A vos jeux, mes amis…pâle et blonde’ (Hamlet)
Donizetti – ‘Piangente voi?…Al dolce guadami’ (Anna Bolena); ‘Deserto in terra’ (Don Sebastiano); ‘Pronta io son’ (Don Pasquale)
Puccini – ‘Un bel di vedremo’ (Madama Butterfly)
Bizet – ‘Au fond du temple saint’ (Les pêcheurs de perles)
The Richard Tucker Music Foundation was established in 1975, the year of the great American tenor’s death. Its mission is to honor Tucker’s legacy by awarding grants to aspiring young opera singers. The annual awards ceremony and concert is a must-attend event on many a New York opera lover’s calendar. But as with all things, change is the only constant, and so the 2023 gala was a departure from the past.
The Tucker Foundation has hit a financial rough patch. That equated to no awards being made in 2023, and the concert was a slimmed-down affair. Gone was the chorus and orchestra: the singers were accompanied by pianists Bryan Wagorn and Howard Watkins. Even with the usual last-minute cancellations – this year it was Sean Michael Plumb and Soloman Howard to the rescue – the gala concert was a grand and glamorous affair.
The first voice heard was that of Tucker singing ‘Sound an Alarm’ from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus. Recorded live in 1951, it showed the tenor early in his career when his voice was at its most vibrant and beautiful. With each passing year, there are fewer in the audience who heard Tucker live, let alone in his youthful prime. The sound of his voice alone was a reminder why Tucker is the only singer ever to have his funeral on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.
Robust singing and a broad smile were the hallmarks of baritone Sean Michael Plumb’s ‘Largo al factotum’ from Il barbiere di Siviglia. Far more impassioned was Angela Meade in sumptuous voice singing ‘Ebben? Ne andrò lontana’ from Catalani’s La Wally. A change seems to have come over the soprano recently, as she is singing and acting with far greater abandon than in prior years. Meade was the winner of the Richard Tucker Award in 2011.
Verdi followed, with Soloman Howard singing in ‘Il lacerato spirito’ from Simon Boccanegra. The bass gave voice to Fiesco’s grief and anger in a voice of power and beauty. If only he could have sung a duet with Ailyn Pérez, to whom he is married. Her dignified, impassioned singing of ‘Un bel di vedremo’ in Madama Butterfly was one of the highlights of the event. Pérez’s voice has gained tremendously in color, complexity and size since she was a Tucker winner in 2012.
Two of America’s finest tenors were also on hand. Stephen Costello, who won the top prize in 2009, is at ease in Verdi and Puccini but chose to sing a Donizetti rarity, ‘Deserto in terra’ from Don Sebastiano. Costello was in fine voice, and the style of Donizetti’s last opera, which premiered in its original French version at the Paris Opéra in 1843, suited him well. Ben Bliss left his comfort zone of Mozart for ‘Parmi veder le lagrime’ from Rigoletto, which fit him better vocally than dramatically.
Liv Redpath is currently delighting audiences at the Met as Oscar in Verdi’s ‘Un ballo in maschera’, which marks her debut at the house. None of Oscar’s youthful high spirits were on display in Redpath’s superbly voiced and acted account of Ophélie’s Mad Scene from Thomas’s Hamlet. Her coloratura soprano has both warmth and carrying power, to say nothing of her ability to spin perfectly executed runs and trills.
Soprano Frederica Lombardi sang ‘Piangete voi?…Al dolce guidami’ from Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, the role in which she made her 2017 La Scala Milan debut. The Italian soprano is as ravishingly beautiful as her voice: a combination that made the doomed queen’s descent into madness even more tragic.
Quinn Kelsey is perhaps the leading Verdi baritone of his generation. Few of any era have possessed a voice as beautiful and effortlessly produced as his, and it was on full display in ‘Pietà, rispetto, amore’ from Macbeth. He later joined Meade in ‘Udiste … Mira, d’acerbe lagrime’ from Il trovatore. They were tops when it came to glorious sound and no-holds-barred, full-bodied singing at this concert.
Other duets rounded out the program. Redpath and Plumb delighted in a comedic romp through ‘Pronta io son’ as they conspired to fool Don Pasquale in Donizetti’s opera of the same name. Further proof that Bliss has Verdi in his sights came when he partnered with Lombardi in ‘Parigi o cara’ from La traviata, which proved much more congenial turf for the tenor.
Costello and Plumb closed the concert with ‘Au fond du temple saint’ from Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles. Their voices blended perfectly in one of opera’s loveliest duets.
A generous outpouring of encores followed, beginning with Lombardi singing ‘Me llaman la primorosa’ from Jerónimo Giménez’s El barbero de Sevilla. Costello won hearts with ‘Core ‘ngrato’, a song made famous by Caruso. It has the distinction of being the only popular Neapolitan song to be composed by an American, Salvatore Cardillo.
Singing with a freedom and style that he had kept largely in check in Verdi, Bliss lit up the stage in Ray Charles’s ‘Hallelujah I Love Her So’. Pérez radiated charm as she sang Manuel Ponce’s famous ballad ‘Estrellita’. Swoons and sighs greeted the first bars of Quinn singing ‘If ever I would leave you’ from Camelot.
The gala ended, with another Broadway standard, ‘You’ll never walk alone’ from Carousel, sung by Tucker on a 1965 recording. It was a message of hope in these challenging times that resonated throughout the hall, and hopefully beyond.
Rick Perdian
Despite some good singing, it was IMO an underwhelming event. Gone were the happy days of pure orchestral and choral delight with an all star cast. At some point Graham, Polenzani and Fabiano were announced and for whatever reasons did not show up. Howard and Plumb ‘to the rescue’. What?
The performances were breathtaking!!!