Telegram & Gazette
By John Zeugner
Telegram & Gazette Reviewer
April 4, 2005
Sekera immediately signaled the level of professionalism pervading this group; he had won Brahms and Chopin competitions in Europe, and his rendering of Beethoven was lush, rushed and compelling.
If the link to the Bard was a bit tentative in this opener, the second offering of Summer's rendering of Ophelia's mad scene fully comprehended Shakespeare's compassion and complexity.
Heather Curley, a poised, polished soprano, brought lilt and anguish to Ophelia's diemma, as did Alan Schneider, from the Boston Lyric Opera, as Laertes. Sekera's accompaniment completed the nuanced, complex lyricism Summer had composed.
The next two Summer compositions featured harpist Anna Reinersman accompanying Eve Gigliotti, a soprano who had been with the Seattle Opera singing Shakespeare's Sonnet 130.
Summer's rather direct version of the text may have missed the sarcasm of the lines, or he may have perfectly captured that ambiguity. It would take several hearings to settle the issue, since his compositional voice s idiosyncratic, complicated and fascinating.
The chemistry between pianist and composer David McGinn of the Clark faculty and Tom O'Toole, a baritone with a very big voice, in Verdi's aria "E sogno?" from "Falstaff" was electric.
Further on in the program, Summer tossed in an arcane joke of sorts by staging Shakespeare's 128th sonnet as a seductive dialogue between violinist Peter Hughes and soprano Curly.
The concert concluded with two musical version of Hamlet's famous "To Be or Not to Be" soliloquy: Ambroise Thomas's 19th-century French version and Summer's.
No contest - Summer, clear winner. The full opera version of "Hamlet" that Joseph Summer is working on promises to be a signal musical event.
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Telegram & Gazette Reviewer
April 4, 2005
Sekera immediately signaled the level of professionalism pervading this group; he had won Brahms and Chopin competitions in Europe, and his rendering of Beethoven was lush, rushed and compelling.
If the link to the Bard was a bit tentative in this opener, the second offering of Summer's rendering of Ophelia's mad scene fully comprehended Shakespeare's compassion and complexity.
Heather Curley, a poised, polished soprano, brought lilt and anguish to Ophelia's diemma, as did Alan Schneider, from the Boston Lyric Opera, as Laertes. Sekera's accompaniment completed the nuanced, complex lyricism Summer had composed.
The next two Summer compositions featured harpist Anna Reinersman accompanying Eve Gigliotti, a soprano who had been with the Seattle Opera singing Shakespeare's Sonnet 130.
Summer's rather direct version of the text may have missed the sarcasm of the lines, or he may have perfectly captured that ambiguity. It would take several hearings to settle the issue, since his compositional voice s idiosyncratic, complicated and fascinating.
The chemistry between pianist and composer David McGinn of the Clark faculty and Tom O'Toole, a baritone with a very big voice, in Verdi's aria "E sogno?" from "Falstaff" was electric.
Further on in the program, Summer tossed in an arcane joke of sorts by staging Shakespeare's 128th sonnet as a seductive dialogue between violinist Peter Hughes and soprano Curly.
The concert concluded with two musical version of Hamlet's famous "To Be or Not to Be" soliloquy: Ambroise Thomas's 19th-century French version and Summer's.
No contest - Summer, clear winner. The full opera version of "Hamlet" that Joseph Summer is working on promises to be a signal musical event.
