Keith Kibler

A Singer’s Notes 154: Johann Pachelbel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and Heitor Villa Lobos

September 2, 2019September 2, 2019Keith Kibler

The Aston Magna concert of July 27 in Saint James Place in Great Barrington featuring music of Johann Pachelbel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and Heitor Villa Lobos was a feast of beauty. The variety of works by these composers gave the ensemble and featured soloists opportunities to display their virtuosity and their admirable expressiveness. Aldo Abreu delighted the audience with brilliant skill in Vivaldi’s Concert for Sopranino Recorder in A minor. He and Christopher Krueger, also on recorder, were then featured in a performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, along with violinist Edson Scheid who commanded his solo part with tremendous skill and playfulness.

The Taming of the Shrew at the Mount.. Photo Zachary da Silva.

A Singer’s Notes 153—Shakespeare and Company: Two Outdoor Performances: The Taming of the Shrew and The Merry Wives of Windsor

September 2, 2019September 2, 2019Keith Kibler

In Williams Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the Bard baits us at every moment. We all long for a sweet love-life. Finding this requires, in this play, a whole lot of passionate listening, and in Shakespeare and Company’s outdoor production in the Dell at the Mount, director Kelly Galvin gave it to us.

Isabel Leonard joins the National Youth Orchestra of the USA for Berlioz's Nuits d'ete. Photo Hilary Scott.

A Singer’s Notes 152: National Youth Orchestra of the United States at Tanglewood, Sir Antonio Pappano conduction, with Isabel Leonard, Mezzo-Soprano

September 2, 2019Keith Kibler

Conductor Antonio Pappano led the young players of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States in a spectacular performance of Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony on August 1st in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood. The Alpine Symphony is well-known to be one of the most difficult orchestral pieces in the symphonic repertoire. To watch the intensity of these instrumentalists was almost as wonderful as hearing them. The hall vibrated with exuberance as well as tenderness. Conductor Antonio Pappano has every right to be proud of this superb young group of players.

A Singer’s Notes 151: Giancarlo Guerrero leads the TMC Orchestra in Mahler’s Fourth Symphony

August 27, 2019September 2, 2019Keith Kibler

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 at Tanglewood is what I have been waiting for throughout the summer. A while ago I had the privilege of hearing this magnificent work in the Musikvereinsaal in Vienna. Though it may seem childish to say so, the slow movement of the great piece is almost frightening. So powerful it is when the first chord sounds in the third movement, it is as if a spirit has entered your body, is opening your ears, is finding and knowing more about being human than comes from any other work of art. This great movement produces a catholic music so sublime, it engulfs all my passions.

Stefan Asbury conducts Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 with the TMC Orchestra. Photo Hilary Scott.

A Singer’s Notes 150: Tchaikovsky at Tanglewood

August 27, 2019August 27, 2019Keith Kibler

The July 15 performance by the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra of the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique” was a highlight of my listening this summer. Conductor Stefan Asbury led a performance I will never forget. Thank you to the many wonderful young players who achieved it!

Twelfth Night 2019. Bella Merlin, Gregory Boover, Miles Anderson, and Steven Barkhimer. Photo Daniel Rader.

A Singer’s Notes 149: Twelfth Night or What You Will at Shakespeare and Company—Not to be missed! Closing August 4th!

July 31, 2019August 2, 2019Keith Kibler

Music and words, words and music. In director Allyn Burrows’ Twelfth Night at Shakespeare and Company, words and music received full support from the text and from the melodies. One reason for this play’s greatness is a simple one—many characters, many situations. The first encouragement in this superb production is its near constant use of music. New music, old music, all used with joy. Also that occasional joy which comes from sadness.

Aimee Doherty and Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo Nile Scott Studios.

A Singer’s Notes 148: As You Like It in the Outdoor Garden at Shakespeare and Company

September 10, 2018September 10, 2018Keith Kibler

The best of director Allyn Burrow’s energetic As You Like It at Shakespeare and Company resides in the middle of the show. The quietest of activity focused us on a vexed question: is disguise a better truth? Somehow when I see As You Like It, I am always a little disappointed when Rosalind fits everything together, as if she were ready for a good evening out. Our Rosalind, Aimee Dougherty, masterfully manipulated, lied even, to come to a better end. What I liked most in her superb performance was that little twinge of doubt, just at the end. The big question is, can deception tell the truth? In this case the answer would have to be yes, and this wonderful young actress and singer made it work. (You may also have heard her wonderful voice in the Boston Pops Leonard Bernstein concert a couple of months ago.)

Ryne Cherry, Dominik Belavy, Daniel McGrew, and Elaine Daiber perform in A Quiet Place at Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, 8.9.18. Photo Hilary Scott.

A Singer’s Notes 147: A Quiet Place

September 9, 2018September 9, 2018Keith Kibler

The Tanglewood Vocal Fellows singing Bernstein made a marvelous display of fine technique, verbal intensity, and general cooperation that wowed me. I have always heard A Quiet Place with a sense of bewilderment, sometimes wondering where the opera came from. An adventure in newness, one must listen to it carefully, repeatedly, to find its inside. Let me say at this point that there was spectacular vocalism, particularly by soprano Elaine Daiber as Dede, whose golden voice roamed from below the staff to atmospheric heights with ease.