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Don't just take our word for it.
Published: 3/28/2011 5:59 PM
Last Modified: 3/28/2011 6:12 PM

On Tuesday, two of opera's legendary performers -- Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Frederica von Stade -- will perform for the first time in Tulsa, in a concert sponsored by Choregus Productions.

By coincidence, the current issue of Opera News, the magazine published by New York City's Metropolitan Opera Guild, is loaded with stories about these two women.

Te Kanawa is one of the 2011 recipients of the Opera News Award, and the profile of her written by Brian Kellow praises her "particular brand of musical aristocracy -- the understated beauty she brings to so much of what she sings," adding that "Te Kanawa had one of the most purely lovely lyric-soprano sounds to have come along in years, and she maintained it superbly throughout her career."

Meanwhile, in the same issue, von Stade is lauded for her performance in Houston Grand Opera's production of "Dead Man Walking" by Jake Heggie -- who, not so coincidentally, will be the accompanist for Tuesday night's recital.

And she is a focal point in a piece by J.D. McClatchy titled "The Performance I Can't Forget," about a 1976 performance of "The Marriage of Figaro" that featured von Stade as Cherubino. McClatchy writes:

"Every facet of this complicated character, every bit of wit and delicacy in the music, was there onstage. The audience grew hushed as she sang, then erupted tumultuously when she stopped. In Act I, her "Non so più," with its peerless phrasing and tonal sheen, was the very portrait of confused emotion: "What is this feeling, this mysterious yearning,/ One moment freezing, the next moment burning?" In von Stade's clever reading of the aria, after listing all to whom she has spoken about her love, she ended, "And if no one listens, well,/ I talk about love to myself." She sang it not with resignation, but with a smile, ever the endearing narcissist."

The Te Kanawa article is not yet online, but the von Stade piece can be found at www.operanews.com

And, to hear the legends for yourself, tickets for the show can be had by calling 918-581-8478 or at tulsaworld.com/mytix.


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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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