Met Young Artists Workshop

Thursday May 15, 2008 - Lisette Oropesa invited me to this workshop for the Met Lindemann Young Artists at the Danny Kaye Playhouse. Several luminaries from the opera world were present as James Levine coached and critiqued operatic arias and scenes which the singers have been working on for the past season.

I've never really enjoyed watching master classes; I'm just not sure who benefits from them. Some members of the public love eavesdropping on this process; I always find it somehow uncomfortable and invariably it seems that one or two singers get subtly snubbed or humiliated all under the guise of 'the learning process'. However, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to hear Lisette sing the ABDUCTION duet which she did to ravishing effect, blending beautifully with Mathew Plenk's distinctive tenor. Their level of polish and musicality and the way their timbres played off one another produced a very satisfying preview of what we can expect from them in coming seasons.

It's probably a little unfair to comment on the performances because it was not really a public event. In general I would say the level of singing was quite high but some of the repertoire choices were oddly unsuited to the singers assigned. Some of the performances seemed stage-ready: Jennifer Black for instance sang Servilia's aria from CLEMENZA DI TITO far more appealingly than the current incumbent at the Met. Ashley Emerson would make a perky Blondchen anywhere, and Erin Morley sang circles around the Met's most recent Zerbinetta - Erin actually SANG the notes rather than giggling and fluffing her way through this fiendish display piece.

Grazia Doronzio used her expressive native Italian to lovely effect in Mimi's narrative from BOHEME and Levine's coaching here especially helped her to illuminate the character. The very attractive Emilia Costa has an appealing, flavorful timbre which made her Carmen 'Seguidilla' as alluring vocally as it was physically. Jordan Bisch in a scene from MAHAGONNY did not really have an opportunity to shine. In the same scene, one of the most impressive instruments of the evening - that of Courtney Mills - was wasted in the dialogue-heavy character role of Widow Begbick. Serious miscasting, even if it was just for a workshop. Courtney clearly has a plush spinto - rich and warm - and she should have been singing Ariadne or Desdemona.

Sasha Cooke always turns whatever she is singing into something special and tonight she gave us a  glimpse of EUGEN ONEGIN's Olga in the Act I aria. This is a role we need to see her in at the Met. She maintained the lightness of touch and youthful quality that Levine asked for, and she is one of those singers who always makes a genuine connection with her audience. John Moore, in the MAHAGONNY scene, gave a complete performance with keenly inflected diction and complete physical and facial engagement in what he was singing. Added to all that, the warm and persuasive sound of the voice puts John in a special category: a singer with limitless possibilities. (Repertory note for John: Barber's DOVER BEACH).

I wonder if Levine consciously saved Shenyang for last so as to end the evening with a bang. If so, it was a smart move and in fact Shen had a double success by first singing the intensely dramatic and wide-ranging Schubert song 'Der Zwerg' and then pulling a complete about-face and delivering the most remarkable performance of ELISIR's Dr. Dulcamara I've ever encountered. Shen's capacity as a lieder singer  is mind-boggling: that such a young singer should emerge from China with this seemingly innate feeling for the German language and style (and with the instrument needed to convey it) is really pretty uncanny. And then he just instantly transformed himself into a delightful buffo - a buffo who can SING - and joined Ms. Doronzio in the Donizetti duet in which his every note and word conveyed the effervescence of the situation without ever stinting on the musical values. As a further astounding note, Shen is slated to sing the 'Fliedermonolog'  from MEISTERSINGER tomorrow night when the singers reconvene with the Met Orchestra under Levine's baton. I hope someone records it!

A special note to commend the three excellent pianists tonight: Pei-Yao Wang, Laura Poe and Vlad Iftinca. They really contributed so much. The singers are lucky to have such collaborators. 

Comments

[jolene]

I have more experience *being* in master classes than watching one. I guess it's not really humiliating in that there's always something to learn, and your imperfection is already recognized and accepted. :) It's a great opportunity to learn from top notch teachers, and everyone in the room (or most, at least) all have something to learn from you as well. In addition, it's always so satisfying to see the students improve after guidance.

It sounds like a great experience!

[Philip]

When I knew a bunch of young singers at Juilliard in the late 1990s they had very mixed feelings about public master classes. Most of them felt privately that the really beneficial coaching was done one-on-one in the studio and that public classes were usually just an opportunity for some famous post-career singer to make a few bucks and be seen by their fans.

I know that performers have to develop a thick skin and this sort of public dissection and discussion of your work is one way to do that. But I've also felt often that there was something of an agenda going on where some of the participating students were given fluff corrections as well as unwarranted praise while others were nit-picked to death.

I guess it looks good on your resume to have participated in master classes but I still wonder if inviting an audience serves any constructive purpose beyond possibly making patrons feel like 'insiders' and inducing them to write larger checks.

Years ago I went to one of the Callas master classes at Juilliard; for sure she had some great things to relay to the students but the star-studded audience was only there to see if Callas would open her fabled mouth and - if she did - what condition would her voice be in? (At that time, everyone was talking about a possible stage comeback for her). Well of course she did demonstrate and though the voice was depleted, the technique was intact and her interpretive insights were spot-on. I'm sure the students gained a great deal from her but it could just as well have been done without the audience.

Later, though I sometimes went to public master classes at the invitation of young singers I had befriended I mostly found them slightly unsettling. And some of the advice being meted out simply seemed 'wrong'.

[jolene]

Ah I see what you mean. I guess I've been lucky, and it sounds like sometimes master classes cater to the audience more than the benefit of the students.