Abbreviated Merola finale brings delights
The COVID pandemic may have receded slightly from its 2020 peak — at least for long enough to allow live musical performances, which we didn’t have a year ago — but it still has the power to disrupt artistic plans. Consider the Merola Opera Program, whose already limited summer schedule drew to an even more slimmeddown close on Saturday, July 31.
There were no staged operas on offer this summer, but the program’s supporters were at least looking forward to the Grand Finale concert, the annual parade of talent in which all the year’s participants, the fondly dubbed “Merolini,” get to sing an aria or two.
Well, COVID had something to say about that as well.
Earlier in July, according to a company spokesperson, a large group of Merolini was potentially exposed to the coronavirus. In the end, everyone tested negative, but in the meanwhile, caution dictated a radically reduced version of the Grand Finale.
So Saturday’s free outdoor event at the Golden Gate Park Bandshell lasted just 90 minutes (compared with the typical nearly threehour run time) and featured only eight of the program’s 27 participants — five singers, two pianists and director Audrey Chait, who in addition to staging the event served as a genial host.
Fortunately, that small cadre of artists provided more than enough musical sustenance to make up for their absent colleagues. (Some of the other Merolini can be found online in “Back Home: Through the Stage Door,” a backstage concert film to be released this month.)
Mezzosopranos Gabrielle Beteag and Jesse Mashburn, accompanied by pianist Shiyu Tan, set the pace right out of the gate with a resplendent account of the duet “You’ve undone me” from Handel’s “Semele.” This was a virtuoso display of rhythmic precision, vocal exuberance and intricate counterpoint.
Anyone who suspected that these two artists would emerge as the stars of the afternoon did not have to wait long to see that prediction confirmed. Beteag’s bravura rendition of the aria “Acerba voluttà” from Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur,” and Mashburn’s extravagantly theatrical account of the Witch’s aria from Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” — both nimbly accompanied by pianist Anna Smigelskaya — provided backtoback showstoppers.
Their partners, though, were not far behind. Bassbaritone Andrew Dwan made a comic delight out of “Bottom’s Dream” from Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and joined Mashburn in a vibrant duet from Rossini’s “Italian Girl in Algiers.” Soprano Catherine Goode and tenor Vigor Cardamone joined forces charmingly for the love duet from Verdi’s “Falstaff.”
Within another year, perhaps, Merola will be back to full strength. But for now, this was enough to keep patrons satisfied and looking forward to more from these artists.