St Thomas
This young performer has so much going on that is far surpassing technical brilliance. His performance of the "Tempest Sonata, Opus 31 #2" of Beethoven was a mystical experience. This listener heard new things in a work that has been a favorite most of his life. In Sekera's hands, the second movement is other-worldly. Form, line, harmony -- they all disappeared. Just sheer beauty, beauty unfolding in all those ways and many more.
Tenor Alan Schneider is a very serious young musician with a wonderful, versatile voice. In the Summer songs, he produced a characteristically English tenor kind of sound, reminiscent of Ian Partridge or Peter Pears in his prime, -- clear, bright, with impeccable diction used as an expressive device. The full richness and body of his voice was exhibited later in Italian opera arias.
Maria Ferrente is a soprano whose love for singing is surpassed only by her love of communicating. She managed to bring the audience into her mood as Ophelia in just a few notes. From then on, they were her fans. A young woman sitting with me confided that she found the Ophelia work haunting, but had to work hard to believe that someone capable of making such beautiful sounds would drown herself. Had the need arisen, there were a few hundred people present who would have rescued her in a heartbeat.
Her wide vocal range is matched by the spectrum of color she is able to explore: from a floating upper register to a deep, growling chest voice. She rewarded the audience with a performance of "Summertime" as an encore that sure seemed like dessert.
This evening was made possible by The Forum. This committee of dedicated members of our community has been bringing outstanding speakers and performers to the island since 1996. They are truly movers and shakers. They have risen above obstacles and stayed clear of politics. They have shown a unity of purpose from the start: to bring the experience of the excellent to St. Thomas and make it available at reasonable cost to as wide a section of our population as possible.
For many occasions The Forum has gone so far as to make student tickets available gratis or at drastically reduced prices. It took a certain amount of daring to fund a showcase of a living composer. We should be proud of them and deeply grateful.
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Tenor Alan Schneider is a very serious young musician with a wonderful, versatile voice. In the Summer songs, he produced a characteristically English tenor kind of sound, reminiscent of Ian Partridge or Peter Pears in his prime, -- clear, bright, with impeccable diction used as an expressive device. The full richness and body of his voice was exhibited later in Italian opera arias.
Maria Ferrente is a soprano whose love for singing is surpassed only by her love of communicating. She managed to bring the audience into her mood as Ophelia in just a few notes. From then on, they were her fans. A young woman sitting with me confided that she found the Ophelia work haunting, but had to work hard to believe that someone capable of making such beautiful sounds would drown herself. Had the need arisen, there were a few hundred people present who would have rescued her in a heartbeat.
Her wide vocal range is matched by the spectrum of color she is able to explore: from a floating upper register to a deep, growling chest voice. She rewarded the audience with a performance of "Summertime" as an encore that sure seemed like dessert.
This evening was made possible by The Forum. This committee of dedicated members of our community has been bringing outstanding speakers and performers to the island since 1996. They are truly movers and shakers. They have risen above obstacles and stayed clear of politics. They have shown a unity of purpose from the start: to bring the experience of the excellent to St. Thomas and make it available at reasonable cost to as wide a section of our population as possible.
For many occasions The Forum has gone so far as to make student tickets available gratis or at drastically reduced prices. It took a certain amount of daring to fund a showcase of a living composer. We should be proud of them and deeply grateful.
