Vocal Artists Management Service presents its Fourteenth Season Artist Showcase in Review
James Greening-Valenzuela, manager
Gretchen Greenfield, artistic consultant
Eric Malson, pianist
Scorca Recital Hall, Opera America National Opera Center, New York, NY
October 20, 2022
Opera is the only classical music genre that is a growing business in America. Therefore, there will always be a need for young singers trained in its demands both vocal and dramatic. James Greening-Valenzuela, a noted concert violinist with extensive vocal coaching experience, has turned his attention to maintaining a stable of such artists, at all skill levels from “emerging” to “professional,” as the manager of Vocal Artists Management Service (VAMS).
To celebrate the fourteenth anniversary of VAMS, a generous showcase concert was given at the National Opera Center. Once upon a time, such showcases served to show off one’s roster to a cohort of visiting opera and other vocal presenters. I’m not sure that was the case on Thursday, since I didn’t see any personnel fitting the bill in the small audience. Nevertheless, there were many small, and a few large, standout moments in the long program.
Remember, there is nothing quite so subjective as the way a human voice is received by other human beings. The following report is based solely on my response to this particular moment in time. Also remember, no instrument is quite so fickle as the voice, which resides within the body, and is subject to all its whims.
(Full disclosure: Mr. Greening-Valenzuela and I shared the same artist-manager for a period of years, some years ago. My review is objective, as far as a matter of opinion can be.)
The evening was partitioned into “Early Music,” “Opera Arias,” and “Verdi and Puccini Opera Scenes,” with the interesting additional “Original Songs” (a pop category featuring a classically trained singer/songwriter) fitted in just before intermission.
To say that “war horses” dominated the concert would be putting it mildly, with the exception of the aria New York Lights from William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge (not by Samuel Barber, as erroneously printed in the program). This was given a poignant rendition, one of the evening’s best, by tenor Michael González, one of the emerging artists. He was less successful, though passionate, in Donizetti’s Una furtiva lagrima (L’Elisir d’amore). I predict he will go far, as there is always a shortage of good tenors.
Another very good tenor, with more professional experience, was Pedro Carreras, Jr., whose Dein ist mein ganzes Herz (Lehár, Das Land des lächelns) was spun out with ease and idiomatic style. However, he seemed overtaxed in the verismo style required for the famous Vesti la giubba (Leoncavallo, Pagliacci). True, the tenor voice is the one that takes the longest to mature in the performer’s body, sometimes as late as age thirty-five. Knowing how to select repertoire that is suitable to one’s voice type and ability is absolutely crucial to vocal success and longevity.
During the opera scenes portion, Kate Kyunghee Kim, soprano, and Sang Bum Cho, tenor, were beautifully trained as to their voices in their Brindisi and Parigi, o cara (Verdi, La Traviata), but lacking as to appropriate dramatic content, at least to this listener. Mr. Cho lacked the articulative “snap” that makes the phrases of the drinking song dance. May I remind the reader how very difficult it is to extract material like this from its context and present it in recital/concert form. However, one needs to be able to make a complete impression in auditions—and opera stars used to do it successfully on talk shows (now there’s a memory!). Ms. Kim has a very successful oratorio career, and Mr. Cho sings oratorio and opera.
The famous Act II duet between Violetta and Germont (also La Traviata) received a thoroughly masterful characterization from baritone Tom Sitzler, who sang this unlikeable character with mature and beautiful sonority. His partner, soprano Virginie Besson (emerging artist), had a wonderful dramatic feeling, but hers was the wrong voice type for the role. Mr. Sitzler has extensive opera experience—I think I would enjoy his Golaud (Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande).
The duet from Puccini’s Suor Angelica, sung by Alexandria Crichlow, soprano and Caroline Tye, mezzo-soprano, was sizzling hot. Both voices were very nice, and the dramatic portrayal was successful. Ms. Crichlow, very affecting as the betrayed out-of-wedlock mother, had only one flaw- mushy diction. Clear diction is possible in opera! This concert was in a tiny recital hall, and more forward vocal placement and pronunciation would help her go even farther. Caroline Tye was fierce as the lying aunt, but I found her sonority overly-darkened, in a somewhat forced, artificial way. The extensive experience of these two artists was truly evident.
The evening’s finale, a duet excerpt, the jail visit, from Act III of Puccini’s Tosca, had good characterization from both Stacey Stofferahn, soprano, and Steven Andrew Murray, tenor. This material can easily tip over into shouting, but each artist produced detailed shadings and lyrical nuances, without forgetting to rise to the heroic heights required.
In the early-music section, the impressive countertenor Andrew Egbuchiem had a lovely voice, he was paired with emerging artist Katie Surine, soprano. Though each of them has experience in the older repertoire, they managed to seem somewhat bland in arias from Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Rodelinda, and Purcell’s Pausanias. I realize they were being accompanied by a piano, but I didn’t hear any of the vocal practices common to specialists in this repertoire, especially awareness of and enjoyment of chains of dissonances. Countertenors are a growth industry, so to speak, even though they didn’t exist in the Baroque era. Fortunately, we no longer sanction a certain mutilation, so there are no more castrati. The countertenor is a compromise, one which is accepted when the voice is as subtle as Mr. Egbuchiem’s.
Allow me to pause here and praise the evening’s tireless and excellent collaborative pianist, Eric Malson. Orchestral reductions are a thankless job- they are so unidiomatic. Mr. Malson was unflappable and completely supportive.
Two more artists sang on the arias section: mezzo-soprano Roselin Osser, in arias from Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. The adolescent angst of Cherubino was not fully characterized, though I enjoyed her flair in the Meyerbeer. Soprano Lisa Bryce sang the treacherous Ave Maria from Verdi’s Otello, with very dark vowels. What is going on with voice teaching nowadays? It seems so many young singers are over-darkening, trying to produce something rather than allowing their voices to be revealed through patient cultivation.
Also included was one artist who has switched genres, from classical to popular. The one-named Mahaley (formerly known as Rachel Eve Holmes) sang portions of four of her own original songs. Her microphone technique was shaky; she often turned back to the piano and the sound would become very soft. I suggest she work with experienced songwriters/producers to shape some of her material, which shows promise, into more “hit-ready” songs. Good luck!
Overall, it was a very fulfilling evening. These young artists are fortunate to have a nurturing artist-management team like VAMS.
