Songs by Manuel de Falla, Joaquín Turina, Gonzalo Roig, Monsita Ferrer, Rafael Hernandez Marín, Ernesto Lecuona, Xavier Montsalvatge, Manuel Ponce, María Grever, Daniel Catán, Rosario de Alba, and Carlos Gardel. Ana María Martínez, soprano; Craig Terry, piano. Walter Corridor, July 10, 2023.

For followers of the month-long Toronto Summer time Music competition, an early spotlight each July is the recital given by its Artwork of the Music mentors. This yr it featured the famend American soprano Ana María Martínez in an All-Spanish program, collectively together with her fellow mentor, the high-quality collaborative pianist Craig Terry. The recital came about at Walter Corridor on the School of Music, College of Toronto. At an intimate 490 seats and good acoustics, it is a perfect area for recitals. On Monday, the massive viewers was handled to a night of superlative music making.

Toronto audiences will not be very aware of Martínez, whose appearances in Canada are rare. The final time she sang right here was 15 years in the past, in 2009 to be actual, on the Air Canada Centre, when she was a part of the tour of straightforward listening, crossover icon Andrea Bocelli. Martínez is under no circumstances a classical music light-weight. Now properly into her third decade of a serious worldwide profession, she has sung in lots of nice opera homes, the likes of the Met, Covent Backyard, Paris Opera, Bavarian State Opera, and Vienna State Opera. She’s additionally a recipient of the 2015 Opera Information Award for her lifetime achievement.

I had the nice fortune of experiencing her beautiful Fiordiligi, Mimi and Cio Cio San on the Santa Fe Opera over time. Simply this previous April, Martínez was an outstanding Donna Elvira on the Met Reside in HD Don Giovanni, seen at choose Cineplex Cinemas throughout Canada. A local of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Martínez is pleased with her Hispanic cultural heritage. Once I interviewed her lately and requested her in regards to the All-Spanish program, her reply was unequivocal: “I drastically take pleasure in programming music I’m enthusiastic about, and which is a part of my cultural heritage and upbringing. I’ve all the time made this a precedence since my days as a scholar at The Juilliard College. Sharing music I am keen on is a privilege I cherish.”

And did she ever share her music! She poured her coronary heart and soul into this system, along with the requisite dramatic acuity and great thing about tone. There was some juggling of the introduced program. Within the first half, the Rodrigo’s music cycle Cuatro madrigals amatorios that was purported to open the recital was reduce. The fourth music of the cycle was later sung as an encore. The recital started with the well-known de Falla cycle, Siete canciones populares españolas, adopted by a Turina cycle. Within the second half, Rafael Hernandez Marin’s Lamento Borincano was changed by Cuban composer Gonzalo Roig’s Salida de Cecilia.

The second she began to sing, I used to be struck by the gleam of her tone — this, after a 29-year skilled profession! (She made her debut as Micaela in Carmen, as a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio in 1994-95) We heard a full dynamic vary, from honeyed pianissimos to spectacular fil de voce to full-throat fortissimos, all the time beneath management, with no trace of unsteadiness or gradual vibrato that may creep right into a voice after an extended profession. Solely within the excessive high would the tone sometimes sounding a bit edgy, but it surely provides to the drama. Her voice is a testomony to her agency method.

Highlights? There have been a lot. I significantly liked the second half, when she gave a veritable masterclass on the numerous Hispanic composers — Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Spanish, Argentinean, with ladies composers (de Alba, Grever, Ferrer) properly represented. I used to be sitting an excessive amount of on the facet to catch every thing she stated, however what I did was illuminating. I don’t know if the recital was videotaped, however it will be nice to expertise it once more. The songs, whether or not completely happy or unhappy, mild or forceful, are by no means lower than stunning, and delivered idiomatically by Martínez. Who might resist the beautiful Estrellita, absolutely some of the stunning songs in existence? Or the Romanza from Maria La O by Ernesto Lecuona? I additionally discover the 2 songs by the Mexican composer Maria Grever irresistible.

The practically full home was most enthusiastic, applauding at each flip — one may argue overly so, as some didn’t wait till the tip of every music cycle. The ever-supportive Craig Terry confirmed a little bit of his impatience by resuming with out ready for the clapping to cease. That stated, it was clear the 2 artists have been having fun with the vitality from the viewers, with a most energetic second half. The viewers was rewarded with an encore, Rodrigo’s De Los Álamos Vengo, Madre.

All in all, it was a recital that may keep within the reminiscence financial institution. Let’s hope Ana Maria Martínez received’t wait one other 15 years to return.

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Joseph So is Professor Emeritus at Trent College and Affiliate Editor of Opera Canada.He’s additionally a long-time contributor to La Scena Musicale and Opera (London, UK). His curiosity in music journalism focuses on voice, opera in addition to symphonic and piano repertoires. He seems frequently as a panel member of the Huge COC Podcast.He has co-edited a e book, Opera in a Multicultural World: Coloniality, Tradition, Efficiency, revealed by Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group).

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