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A recital, and a vocal showcase
Kathleen Battle to make her Tulsa debut
Award-winning opera star Kathleen Battle performed for two decades with the New York's Metropolitan Opera.
By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
Published: 11/29/2009 2:19 AM
Last Modified: 11/29/2009 8:57 AM
For her first ever performance in Tulsa, soprano Kathleen Battle is going to try something new.
It's not necessarily the music she will perform. Battle's concert, being presented by Choregus Productions, is billed as a holiday recital, which brings to mind some of the most familiar songs of all time: "Silent Night," "I Wonder as I Wonder," "The Christmas Song" — you know, the one about chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
Nor is it the fact that she will be accompanied by one of today's finest jazz pianists, Cyrus Chestnut. The two have collaborators a number of times over the years, beginning with Battle's recording, "So Many Stars," in 1995.
What's new is that Battle will be performing these Christmas songs and spirituals with Chestnut.
"I know that doesn't sound like something unusual," Battle said. "But in a recital situation, a different pianist really changes everything. Even different classical pianists bring something new to each performance, so that it all comes out differently each time.
"That's what makes music so exciting and vibrant and alive for me, and why concerts are my favorite thing to do."
Operatic smash
Battle has made a much-| acclaimed career of concerts, recitals and recordings since 1972, when she auditioned for conductor Thomas Schippers, who immediately hired her to be the soprano soloist for a performance of Brahms' "German Requiem" at the Spoleto Festival in Italy.
She made her operatic debut in 1975, and for the next two decades became a much in-demand performer on opera stages around the world, including becoming a featured performer with New York's Metropolitan Opera. Battle's recordings — solo works and full operas — won five Grammy Awards, and her televised performance as part of the Metropolitan's Silver Anniversary Gala in 1993 earned her an Emmy Award.
However, her relationship with the Met unraveled in 1994, culminating with Battle being fired for "unprofessional actions." She has not performed in a staged opera since that time.
Battle's concert programs often include spirituals, and she said that the Tulsa concert will include a fair share of these songs — some that go back centuries, others of more recent vintage.
"There are some songs that — though I may have heard them for the first time just a few years ago — I feel as if I've known them all my life."
Heart and sold
Battle mentioned two songs that she recently discovered: an arrangement of "Sister Mary Had But One Child" by Roland Hays, a pioneering African-American tenor who published a volume of his arrangements of spirituals in 1948; and "Shine Like a Morning Star," a spiritual written by the "father of the blues," W.C. Handy.
"I never performed this (Handy) song, but I've done some concerts with children's choruses, and I would have them learn it and perform it," Battle said. "And it was during one of those concerts that someone pointed out that song sounded just like 'Morning Star,' which Nat King Cole sang in the movie 'Birth of the Blues.'
"So we might add that on to this program," she said with a laugh. "Maybe I'll do the Nat King Cole version first, which is done as a ballad, then do the spiritual version."
While the music of such songs as "O Holy Night" and "Go Tell It on the Mountain" is very important to Battle, she said what draws her to these songs isn't necessarily the beautiful or challenging melodies, but the words.
"The lyrics of the great spiritual songs are really sheer genius," she said. "It's wonderful how directly they can tell a story, and how easily that story can touch your heart and your soul."
KATHLEEN BATTLE
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Dec. 1
Where: Chapman Music Hall, Tulsa
Performing Arts Center, 101 E. Third
St.
Tickets: $20-$75; 596-7111, tulsaworld.com/mytix
James D. Watts Jr. 581-8478
james.watts@tulsaworld.com
By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
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