January 29th, 2012 11:48 pm
Margaret Mezzacappa, mezzo soprano and Elizabeth Zharoff, soprano will each receive $5,000 and move on to the Semi-Finals in NY. Encouragement awards were also given to five singers with each receiving $2,000. They were J’nai Bridges, mezzo, Musa Ngqungwana, bass-baritone, Kristina Lewis, mezzo, Joshua Stewart, tenor, and Olivia Vote, mezzo.
Margaret began her audition with a beautiful rendition of O ma lyre immortelle from Gounod’s Sapho and the judges selected Cruda sorte! from Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri as her second aria.
Elizabeth sang Iolanthe’s Arioso from Iolanthe (Tchaikovsky) and then soared through Qui la voce sua soave from Bellini’s I Puritani, receiving a roar of an ovation from the sold out house. We wish them both all the best on the road to the Big Apple.
January 30, 2012 at 6:09 pm
The singing at yesterday’s Regional Finals Competition at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater was as exciting and promising as ever but the the accompanist, far too often, covered the singing with his harsh and insensitive playing. Now, a day later, two questions remain with me: 1) Why wasn’t a more musical and more supportive accompanist chosen? 2) Why was the piano at “full stick” throughout?
Sincerely,
R Bartlett Johnson
February 2, 2012 at 12:19 am
If you had a chance to read the accompanists bio in the program you would see that Mr. Raub is a very accomplished and widely respected musician with many years of experience. The decision to open the piano was his decision which he brought to our attention prior to the start of the program and the committee relied on his judgment. The singers also felt that it gave them a modicum of support on such an important occasion for them. Most of the singers know Mr. Raub personally and feel very safe with him playing behind them. Thank you for your comments and I hope you had a rewarding experience. We will keep your comment in mind next year.