How cool is it
for Italian-Americans in
Still, even New
Yorkers who seek respite from urban bustle amid the shade trees of this small
square, which in recent years underwent a much-needed refurbishment, may never
have imagined it as a site for live music. On late Sunday afternoon, though, a
standing-room-only crowd of appreciative people gathered there to hear a roster
of quite good young opera singers perform Italian arias and one duet, presented
by the Opera Orchestra of New York. The singers were accompanied
by the conductor Eve Queler, the music director of
Opera Orchestra, and the pianist Craig Ketter, who
took turns at an electric keyboard that produced a passable facsimile of a
grand pianos tone. This was the first of three 60-minute programs in this
second season of the Verdi Square Festi val of the Arts.
But the longtime
West Sider and music lover George Litton (the father
of the conductor Andrew Litton) was convinced that
Only two
selections were top-hit arias: Caro nome from Verdis Rigoletto,
sung by Mari Moriya, a young soprano with a clear, sweet voice who was a
last-minute substitute for an indisposed singer; and Il balen from Verdis Trovatore,
given an ardent account by the robust baritone Stephen Gaertner.
Mr. Gaertner also offered a formidable Eri tu from Verdis
Ballo in Maschera.
The tenor Guillermo Lagundino, the baritone Daniel Mobbs, the soprano Amy Orsulak
and the soprano-tenor team of Colette Boudreaux and Luke Grooms (in a duet from
Donizettis Don Pasquale) all won deserved ovations.
Hearing the
earnest young Mr. Grooms sing the lyrically ornate A te, o cara, amor talora from
Bellinis Puritani, I thought back to
the mid-1970s, when Luciano
Pavarotti sang this music in his glory. The concert was dedicated to
his memory.