Review: An Old-Fashioned Opera Hoedown at Carnegie Hall's Richard Tucker Gala

Returning to Carnegie Hall this year for the first time in more than 25 years, the Richard Tucker Foundation Gala--celebrating the current winner of the Richard Tucker Award, soprano Tamara Wilson, as well as the life and career of the famed tenor for whom it was named--was a grand night for singing.

Wilson must have felt the pressure on because of all the divos and divas (that's gods and goddesses, to you) she was singing with and around, but she certainly held her own, showing the breadth of works she has up her sleeve. She warmed up with Wagner's "Dich, teure halle" from TANNHAUSER (a gutsy opener) but really blew the roof off with the fairly obscure "Tu al cui sguardo onnipossente" from Verdi's I DUE FOSCARI, and showed why the aria's low profile is unjust, at least when it's in the right hands.

She made a third appearance, showing off her bel canto chops as part of the trio in the Act I finale from Bellini's NORMA, up against the velvety tones of mezzo Jamie Barton (last year's Tucker winner, by the way) and tenor-on-the-way-up Joshua Guerrero (a Tucker career grant recipient). She and Guerrero finished out the program, over two hours later (no intermission), showing off her musical comedy skills with Bernstein's "Make our garden grow," from CANDIDE. (I wonder what she would have done with "Glitter and be gay"?)

Barton also had a fine night, showing again why her Tucker prize was no fluke. Her mellifluous mezzo in Dalila's "Mon coeur s'oeuvre a ta voix," from Saint-Saens' SAMSON ET DALILA, made it clear that she's a force to be reckoned with, as it did again, in her Handel duet with the amazing Joyce DiDonato, "Son nata a lagrimar," from GIULIO CESARE. DiDonato had the distinction of showing off the only one of the evening's arias by a living composer, Jake Heggie's "Si, son io" from GREAT SCOTT, which she premiered late last year at the Dallas Opera; it was a triumphant performance of a 21st-century piece that felt right at home in this evening of works by opera's greatest classic composers.

The program was filled with memorable moments, including a pair of arias from superstar Anna Netrebko. (A duet with her husband, tenor Yusif Eyvazov, was cancelled after he reportedly broke his ankle.) The two verismo showpieces made it clear, once again (to me, at least), that her years fooling around with bel canto would have been better spent elsewhere. The arias, Giordano's "La mamma morta" from ANDREA CHENIER and "Ecco: respiro appena ... Io son l'umile ancella" from Cilea's ADRIANA LECOUVREUR, were gorgeously sung models of what the hard-working diva is capable of doing in the right repertoire.

A preview of things to come this season at the Met came from soprano Kristine Opolais, with a sumptuously sung "Song of the Moon" ("Msiku na nebi hlubokem") from Dvorak's RUSALKA, on her schedule this spring. She also showed why her Madama Butterfly has been a triumph, with an exquisitely detailed "Un bel di" by Puccini.

America's reigning queen of opera, soprano Renee Fleming--who's heading the cast of the Met's new DER ROSENKAVALIER later this season and will premiere Kevin Puts' song cycle, LETTERS FROM GEORGIA, in a couple of weeks--won the Tucker Award in 1990. She provided, once again, the style and grace that are her trademarks, first in an aria from one of her great Met successes, "Adieux, notre petite table" from Massenet's MANON and then tossing off the charming "Mattinata" by Leoncavallo.

For sheer fun, Rossini's "Ah vieni, nel tuo sangue" (from his version of OTELLO) got my vote, with those two bel canto masters, tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Javier Camarena, going head to head, note for note, in a "can you top this?" sing-off. The two men were in fine voice throughout the evening, with Brownlee taking on the challenging "Seul sur la terre" from Donizetti's final opera, DOM SEBASTIEN, and singing up a storm. Camarena first tossed off Rossini's song, "La danza" then moved on to an exciting sneak peek at his performances later this season at the Met, as Arturo in I PURITANI's "Vieni fra questa bracchia," with the rising soprano Nadine Sierra. Sierra--the youngest singer to win the Met's National Council Auditions and the Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition--is a fearless singer, easily taking on the demanding heights of Donizetti's "Regnava nel silenzio" from LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR.

The New York Choral Society provided an invaluable contribution to the evening, while musicians from the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, under maestro Asher Fisch, proved once again that they can change tone and style on a dime without breaking a sweat.

The annual Richard Tucker Foundation Gala provides an invaluable look at classic opera--combining the works of the great masters with a generation of singers that proves, year after year, that the fine art of operatic singing is alive and well.

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The non-profit Richard Tucker Foundation is dedicated to perpetuating the artistic legacy of the great Richard Tucker by nurturing the careers of talented young American opera singers. Through awards, grants for study, performance opportunities, and other activities, the Foundation provides professional development for singers at various stages of their careers.

Thanks to a new partnership with medici.tv, the gala concert will be webcast live free of charge both on medici.tv and on medici.tv's Facebook page, and made available for on-demand viewing for 90 days. In addition, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation continues its collaboration with WQXR 105.9 FM, New York's classical radio station, which will broadcast the performance to listeners in the New York metropolitan region and beyond on November 18 at 9pm ET/6pm PT. Both the medici.tv webcast and WQXR 105.9 FM radio broadcast are made possible in part by support from the Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation.

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