Liz DeLillo
Staff Writer
Chautauqua Opera Company will host an Afternoon of Song at 3:15 p.m. today in the Athenaeum Hotel Parlor. This recital includes Studio Artists soprano Emily Finke and tenor Lwazi Hlati, as well as pianists Miriam Charney, Rick Hoffenberg, Nathaniel LaNasa and Carol Rausch.
“One of the things that makes the music on this program particularly rewarding from a pianist’s perspective is that several of the composers were noteworthy piano composers in their own right, and that skill and knowledge of how to write for the piano really comes through in the repertoire,” Hoffenberg said.
From Liszt to Beethoven to Poulenc, pieces in this recital are “quite demanding for the pianist, but in the most rewarding way,” Hoffenberg said.
For LaNasa, the collaboration between singer and pianist is a highlight when rehearsing.
“We each have our own interpretations of what this poetry means, or what we think. … (We) collaborate and figure out the most effective way and the most true way within each piece to express these poems and these stories; it’s my favorite part of song recitals,” LaNasa said. “… There’s a negative space between us — it’s part of your profile and part of my profile — and that negative space becomes the song.”
Finke also emphasized the story-telling element
of recitals.
“I love doing song recitals in this setting where it is intimate and I can really feel like I’m speaking to audience members, telling them these stories, … almost like in kindergarten, when there’s a teacher and the kids are all sitting in a circle around you, and they’re reading a story,” Finke said. “… I like to think about it that way, where I’m trying to tell the story to everyone in the room and trying to include everyone in this experience.”
Finke was the soprano soloist in the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, sung as Willie in Lincoln in the Bardo, will play Joan in Sitcom and cover for the role of Musetta in La bohème.
Fellow Studio Artist Hlati played Havens in Lincoln in the Bardo, will cover Rodolfo in La bohème and perform in the ensemble for Sitcom.
“You have to bring out your artistry with all of the elements, … so it’s you, pure, and your own artistry,” Hlati said. “It gives you an opportunity to really bring out your best artistry within you; it’s really hard in a very exciting way, as performers.”
One of the pieces Hlati looks forward to singing is Beethoven’s “Adelaide,” on which Hoffenberg will
accompany.
“It has a variation in style, different movement into it,” Hlati said. “I like how when someone’s playing for you, it has that sense of collaboration in it, where the singer and accompanist have to be together in expressing the music itself.”
Finke noted that although she introduces herself as an opera singer, art songs are one of her favorite forms of music.
“It is such a rich and varied form of art and performing, with such amazing history and just so much variety within the repertoire,” Finke said. “One of my favorite things about performing it is doing it in spaces like (the Athenaeum Parlor), where I am physically on the same level as the audience.”
The enthusiasm for vocal recitals was a shared sentiment among the singers and pianists, and Rausch noted how significant it is when an opera star gives a recital.
“You knew (them) from the grand scale of opera, but to get to know them in a recital setting — people just clamored for those opportunities,” Rausch said. “… If there’s less recital-giving in the outside world, it’s still alive and well here. I’m proud of that”
Beyond the celebration of classical music, rehearsing for the recital revitalized Finke’s love for these beautiful works.
“It’s been such a treat to get to experience these pieces with all of you,” Finke said to Hlati and the pianists being interviewed with her. “… All of your knowledge and your experience (and) wisdom that you are imparting … is breathing new life into these works for me after having put some of them away for some time and bringing them back out.”
