By our modest standards, the concert mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and composer/pianist Jake Heggie presented to inaugurate our 25th Anniversary was A Very Big Deal.
Its preceding “drum roll” activities included both an American Song master class for local young artists led by Susan and Jake and hosted by Levine Music and a “Meet the Artists” panel discussion about the new cycle we’d commissioned from Jake and lyricist Gene Scheer. But none of that would have mattered much had the recital itself on September 12, 2015, not so utterly exceeded all our expectations. Susan, at the peak of her form and in close synergy with Jake, chose beloved cycles by Berlioz and Schumann along with songs by American composer Ned Rorem she’d long championed, playing to her unique strengths and delighting her listeners. And Jake and Gene’s cycle, Iconic Legacies: First Ladies at the Smithsonian, won a mid-concert standing ovation at its premiere and went on to form the central part of a 2022 Grammy-nominated album by mezzo Jamie Barton and Jake.
Artists of this caliber have a sixth sense about how to use their onstage rehearsal time for maximum efficiency. The afternoon of their performance, Susan and Jake went through every piece with laser-like focus on resolving any potential issues of balance, rhythm, and ensemble. With plenty of time remaining, they at last addressed the issue of encores. Susan had prepared three, and they rehearsed them all. The last of these was the song, “Hello, Young Lovers” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical The King and I. As lovely as that tune is, all my prior encounters with it had been through interpreters who seemed to recollect youthful passion as a very distant memory. Susan’s performance wasn’t just lushly beautiful in timbre; this was the first Anna I’d ever heard who brought unmistakable sensuality to bear, causing goosebumps at the line, “I’ve had a love of my own.” This Anna might have been categorized as an “Autumn” when she went to have her colors done; but they’d have added plenty of lush red hues mixed in with the dusky amber. As it happened, Susan “read the room” following the concert that night and elected to leave us wanting more. She performed the other two encores they’d rehearsed: Reynaldo Hahn’s irresistibly beguiling “A Chloris” and an earthy, bilingual performance of the Edith Piaf favorite, “La Vie en Rose.” I’ll always cherish the memory of the Rogers & Hammerstein, though: my own private Easter Egg!
Lawrence Brownlee has made the Spiritual, “All Night, All Day,” in a haunting arrangement crafted for him by pianist/composer Damien Sneed, a signature in his concert appearances worldwide. He’s presented it among his encores in all three of his most recent Vocal Arts DC recitals (2014, 2019, 2023) and cast a wondrous halo on each of those occasions. The second half of his 2019 concert was Cycles of My Being, a half-hour work he had commissioned from composer Tyshawn Sorey and poet Terrance Hayes. Profoundly thoughtful, moving and dense, it posits the reality of being a black male in modern America, leaving the audience with much to ponder. In this context, the spiritual as encore left us with a glimmer of optimism.After Larry sang it for our audience the first time in May 2014, a rapt silence followed the final notes. Finally, a gentleman’s voice close to the stage clearly intoned, “Amen,” before we all erupted. Some of us live for moments like that.
Dr. Yolanda Oertel was a native of Peru who spent most of her distinguished medical career in the nation’s capital and became one of her generation’s leading pathologists. She was also a lifelong fan of classical vocal music and a Vocal Arts DC charter subscriber. In her retirement, she promoted and supported careers of women with roots in Spanish-speaking countries who had distinguished themselves in their professions. She was already a fan of Cuban American soprano Lisette Oropesa by the time we announced our 2016-2017 season featuring a recital by Lisette in collaboration with Romanian pianist Vlad Iftinca. Dr. Oertel phoned me and offered to make a donation covering the artists’ fees and all direct costs related to their concert. We made Lisette aware of Dr. Oertel’s generosity; to her everlasting credit, she made a beeline upon arriving at the post-concert reception to seek out Dr. Oertel and thank her, engaging her fully in conversation. The energy radiating from that corner of the room during their meeting was exquisite. When Dr. Oertel passed at 82 during the pandemic in 2020, we learned that she had left us a substantial bequest. At the release of Lisette’s debut video album, recorded live the night of her March 11, 2017 recital for us, I was especially happy to share this excerpt with Yolanda.
The recital offered by baritone John Brancy and pianist Peter Dugan two weeks before Christmas 2014 was our second under the auspices of the Gerald Perman Emerging Artists Fund created to honor our founder by presenting Washington solo debuts by recent alumni of U.S. schools and training programs. Yet it was a first of its ilk—and so far, remains unique—both for having showcased its emerging singer and collaborative pianist equally and for the brilliance of its narrative arc in teaching history through song. Silent Night, paying tribute to the centenary of the year in which the Great War began, won hearts through its genius at depicting the universality of war’s global devastations as reflected through the lenses of 10 composers representing five different countries. The program’s title referred to the 2014 “Christmas Truce” declared on both sides along the western front. But the final number on the printed program was “Danny Boy,” which first became a traditional funeral song at all English-speaking countries during the war, performed in a haunting arrangement by Peter and John. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
Gerald Perman loved this concert, which proved to be the last he attended. At his memorial service in late spring 2015, John and Peter traveled from New York to Washington at their own expense to participate—and reprised “Danny Boy,” along with a profoundly moving rendition of“Nachtstück” by Schubert. Eleven years later, Peter and John are “all grown up,” with a nationally syndicated weekly radio program, a Grammy Award, and all kinds of other distinctions and honors between them. And I can’t wait to hear what they’ll do next.
– Peter Russell
Artistic Director