MEZZO TELLS COMPELLING TALE.Byline: Damian Kessler Correspondent The eyes are faster than the ears, and one can quickly understand why most baritones and audiences fall in love with American mezzo-soprano mezzo-soprano: see soprano. Frederica von Stade Frederica von Stade (June 1, 1945), is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname Flicka in her childhood. Miss von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City. . Guarded by two flower bouquets that looked like soldiers, von Stade looked fabulous while she charmed a large audience Sunday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center (which is one of the three largest performing arts centers in the United States). The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. . Von Stade is a natural storyteller who pauses before each song to match her emotions and each of the characters she represents. One can follow her eyes and facial expressions and will discover her exact frame of mind seconds before hearing the first measure. Von Stade can become delicate and passionate while painting Faure's charming ``French Pictures.'' She can also keep the soothing qualities of her voice without breaking her uniform range to represent two different emotions - regret and inner completion - during one of Mahler's greatest songs, ``Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen''(``I have become lost to the world''). Pianist Martin Katz, who has worked with von Stade for more than 20 years, is not only one of the busiest and best accompanists in the world, but also one of the most versatile. He can turn into a graceful French mandolin player, an Argentine gaucho gaucho (gou`chō), cowboy of the Argentine and Uruguayan pampas (grasslands). The typical gaucho, a familiar figure in the 18th and 19th cent., was a daring, skillful horseman and plainsman. who enjoys Ginastera's complicated folk rhythmic patterns, or a full 10-finger orchestra in ``Habanera Habanera Carmen’s “love is a wild bird” provokes hearers. [Fr. Opera: Bizet, Carmen, Westerman, 189–190] See : Flirtatiousness ,'' from Bizet's ``Carmen Carmen throws over lover for another. [Fr. Lit.: Carmen; Fr. Opera: Bizet, Carmen, Westerman, 189–190] See : Faithlessness Carmen the cards repeatedly spell her death. [Fr. .'' After the intermission, von Stade, who had recently celebrated her 58th birthday, changed into a sexy blue and brown wardrobe that exposed her shoulders, saying to the audience, ``Soon I will dress my age, but not yet.'' Von Stade dedicated Bernstein's ``Greetings'' to all the fathers in the audience and introduced with humor ``A Route to the Sky'' as ``a true story with tacky verses written by me.'' Then she reached the most touching moment of the evening with Thomas' ``Connais-tu le pays?'' and blew a kiss to the audience during Bolcom's ``Amor.'' But she couldn't end the night with Schoenberg's ``Cabaret Songs,'' because a loud and adoring audience kept imploring im·plore v. im·plored, im·plor·ing, im·plores v.tr. 1. To appeal to in supplication; beseech: implored the tribunal to have mercy. 2. for more. The three encores ended with the tipsy arietta from Offenbach's La Perichole,'' with von Stade saying the party was over. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: VON STADE |
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