Tom Purdom wrote a wonderful review of our concert of two days ago. One more thing to be thankful for around the Thanksgiving table!
Here are some tidbits from the review to entice you to follow the link for the full review:
Lyric Fest transformed a concert of Spanish and Latin American songs into a complex historical trip through two continents.
One hallmark of the Lyric Fest song series is the encyclopedic research that supports every program created by its three founders— soprano Randi Marrazzo, mezzo Suzanne DuPlantis and pianist Laura Ward. Their latest offering bore a Spanish title, but it wasn’t just a simple parade of Spanish songs. The selections and the program notes sketched in a complex history that spanned five centuries and two continents.
Even if you didn’t speak Spanish, but you could feel the poetry.
Pianist Laura Ward once again provided some of the best accompaniments that any vocalist will ever work with, In her hands a stream of finely nuanced commentaries interacted with the vocal lines. Nightingales sang on cue. Big symphonic surges set the stage for grand tenor and soprano outbursts.
Dirlikov displayed an especially good understanding of nuanced art song style. Aleida tended to be more operatic, but she captured all the sweetness of an Enrique Granados song about love and the nightingale.
Ledesma brought an opera singer’s feel for character to his pieces.
Diego Silva got to wow the ladies, as tenors usually do.
[Lyric Fest cofounders Randi Marrazzo, Suzanne DuPlantis and Laura Ward] These three enterprising and talented women are, without doubt, the most unpredictable impresarios active in our region.