MONTEREY HERALD, Monterey, California
Aug 8, 2000
Nathalie Plotkin
The Virginia Best Adams Vocal Master Classes over the 9 years of their open-to-an audience format, have become one of the outstanding components of the Carmel Bach Festival.
The Showcase Concert last Saturday was the culmination of five weeks of earnest educational endeavor for the four young singers who participated. They were chosen by taped auditions from among 121 national and international applicants. Their educational and performing backgrounds are extensive and they are already pursuing professional careers.
By attending and taking notes throughout all 6 of the coaching sessions this year, I was able to watch for musical and developmental changes. Director David Gordon described himself as "Ringmaster" of the proceedings and was ably assisted by Festival solo artists Rosa Lamoreaux, Catherine Robbin and Sanford Sylvan. They additionally added their insights and wisdom to Gordon's in the art of singing and preparation.
Soprano Kirsten Blase sounds and looks vibrantly alive. From the beginning, she was poised and aware of her audience, but needed to focus her voice to convey meaning along with her lovely sound. She learned well as evidenced by her recital selections from the Bach Cantata "Weichet nur" BWV 202. She projected refined pure tone and the voice shimmered over Bach's unusually impressionistic chromatic writing about winter. Then came sparkling coloratura melismas as she sang about the arrival of Spring. She sounded like a finished artist. In one of the class sessions, she presented Purcell's "Sweeter than Roses" and created vividly expressive colors and a charming entity after shedding an overly intense attack.
Mezzo-soprano Kirsten Sollek-Avella, in class and in concert, revealed herself as being particularly sensitive to composers of the Middle Baroque. A class performance of a "Sacred Concert" by Heinrich Schutz was touching both in tone and delivery. There was none of the harsh edginess and tense vocal tone apparent in other sessions. She conveyed a larger message with interpretive emotional warmth.
"Si vivo mi Jesu" by the very obscure Italian composer Marco Giuseppe Peranda, also captured these fine qualities. She also showed growth in her greater understanding and projection of her recital Bach cantata aria.
Tenor Bryce Westervelt has sung in the Festival Chorale in the past and has since developed definite solo artist quality. He is a polished performer and did sterling work during the classes. The coaching he received was directed towards making final refinements of his efforts. His Bach and Handel arias during the recital were of truly professional quality. An aria from Handel's opera "Susanna" offered in class was vocally seductive and tonally an impressive and pleasurable experience.
Finally, bass-baritone Tyler Oliphant made great strides during the class sessions. Whenever he could release his inhibitions about singing Baroque music, his voice blossomed and took on a pleasing resonance, but he had to be encouraged to do this. It didn't come easily, but he always responded to coaching which was gratifying to see.
When he captured the emotional aspect of the text and the music as in a class offering of "Why do all nations so furiously rage" from Handel's "Messiah" he was a transformed performer projecting a large tone and a convincing delivery.
Once again, there were outstanding instrumental solos which really defined and enriched the performances of the vocalists. Bach wrote what amounted to concertos in the cantata aria accompaniments and oboist Neil Tatman, violinist Cynthia Roberts, violist Meg Eldridge, cellist Allen Whear and triple-threat class pianist, recital harpsichordist and organist Daniel Lockert, all made superior contributions.
copyrignt 1999 Monterey Herald
