My first recital with Susan Graham

My first recital

            Last month, I enjoyed an evening with my fellow Theoroi peers listening to the recital of, wildly popular Susan Graham. To those whom have not heard of her, she’s the Adelle of Opera world. Susan sings in mezzo-soprano (i.e middle soprano) in which she has been dubbed “America’s favorite mezzo” by Gramaphone magazine. Her accompanist Malcom Martineau has had a distinguished career of working with many great singers of his generation.

            My first impression of this recital was a calm excitement, as patrons found their seats efficiently and awaited the pièce de résistance, Susan Graham. I was blown away by her statuesque presence in an all white gown and her gorgeous voice. Her image set up her arias for the first half, about the Virgin Mary, Mad Bess and Ophelia. To my taste, the movements were a bit slow moving and restrained. I followed along in the playbill, which helped with understanding the storyline of each aria. However, my personal favorite arias came in the second half, about the bad girls.

            After intermission, Susan came back in a gorgeous one sleeved black shimmering floor length dress. Ah, I sense a turn in the performance…  Then, Susan spoke to us about her recital selection as the good girls, vs. bad girls or in her words, “women of questionable moral compass”.  The aria selection consisted of French poems about Whimsical Betrothal, that were sung with such drama and flirtiness which was a refreshing interlude from the darker pieces in the first half.  The presence in the hall still felt tense as the “old school”vs. Theoroi “new school”, could not hold our excitement to ourselves (thank you Andrew for breaking the silence).  She ended the evening in such humor and grace as she sung about her lively career.