|
El Paso Inc.
May 2, 2010
Musical feasts mark classical season finales
By Betty Ligon
El Paso Symphony’s final
concert this season was a riot – a riot of song, change, youth and a
riot of energetic appreciation from the audience. Music director Sarah
Ioannides was absent due to family matters, as she and husband Scott
Hartman welcomed twins Elsa Ysobel and Karl Alexander April 22, joining
their 2-year-old, Audrey Rose.
Beating the baton in this
concert was native New Yorker, charming, easy-going Tito Munoz, 26,
Cleveland Orchestra’s assistant conductor. Players we spoke to said they
enjoyed his vigorous conducting as much as did the audience. Keep an eye
on this guy! He’s got all the right stuff for future fame.
The guest tenor was no
less appreciated. Diego Silva, just 21, a Mexico City native and student
at the Curtis Institute of Music, was found by Ioannides, also a Curtis
alumna. His performance experience is confined to orchestras in Mexico,
Curtis Opera Theater and Montreal International Vocal Arts Institute in
2007.
After hearing Silva’s
strong, beautiful voice, I was reminded of a tenor from Mexico City
hired by El Paso Arts Council in 1971: Placido Domingo! I think he was
paid $6,000 to perform with the symphony in Liberty Hall.
I got the impression that
the handsome and ringlet-haired Silva has the innate talent to follow
Domingo’s tracks, if he has wise teachers who don’t allow him to push
his voice until it matures.
Munoz tinkered with the
program and traded Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet Overture” from first
to last, began with a somewhat ponderous Verdi “Nabucco Overture” and
turned over the next two spine-tingling favorites, Verdi’s “La donna e
mobile” and Puccini’s “Che gelida manina” to Silva’s spine-tingling
sound.
He sang Tchaikovsky’s
“Lensky’s Aria” without much depth of feeling. The “Polonaise” from the
same opera, “Eugene Onegin,” carried the strength of its beauty in the
orchestra, as was the case with Puccini’s “Intermezzo” from “Manon
Lescaut.”
After intermission,
Wagner’s prayerful “Prelude” from “Lohengrin” was given a glorious
reading with Munoz’s careful conducting. Silva put his heart and velvety
voice into two Spanish arias from zarzuelas “La dolorosa” by Serrrano
and “No puede ser!” from “La tabermera del Puerto” by Sorozabal.
Silva’s dashing
presentation of “No puede ser!” received such thunderous ovation from
the audience, he sang it again as the encore. But not before “Romeo and
Juliet” spread a romantic mantle of love music into the theater. Each
section in the orchestra contributed an embellished rendition of
Tchaikovsky’s richly melodic overture.
No one went away hungry
after this music feast.
Link to original article...
Return to 'Press'
|
