Forrópera at Carnegie Hall!
“Right Now, a world-premiere song cycle by composer John Glover and librettist Kelley Rourke, offered the most direct connection to the Weimar arts scene of the 1920s. As a prologue, mezzo-soprano Chrystal E. Williams sang “Pirate Jenny” from Kurt Weill/Bertoldt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera with accordionist Felipe Hostins, who wrote the arrangement. That tale of a marginalized woman (as Glover sees it) ended a few lines early — as Jenny answers the question “Kill them now or later?” with the line “Right now!” — and segued without a break into the first song of Right Now, as the orchestra joined in.
Rourke’s four poems are image-rich abstractions about the coming of the end, by turns fearing a grim fate, then acquiescing to its inevitability, then railing against it, and finally allowing in glimmers of hope. Glover set the texts for voice, accordion, and orchestra; he unearthed imaginative layers of sounds, from rhythmically amorphous rumblings in the strings against a lyrical melody, to stretched-out triads in the accordion, to fraught harmonies buzzing under a soaring vocal line.
Williams’ voice is powerful, with a wide expressive range. She also has a dignified stage presence that didn’t falter even when the hem of her diaphanous black cape became stuck under Hotoda’s heel as she passed the podium, trapping her for a good 20 seconds until she (gracefully) got the conductor’s attention.” (Classical Voice North America)
Forrópera joins the roster of Visconti Arts!
Forrópera in Recital!
“She uncovered melancholy in Felipe Hostins’ Meu Brasil de Cristal (Chrystal), … It was one of those pieces that in its writing already knew the performers. … Hostins had an entire orchestra in his accordion. He asked of Williams both bel canto agility and low-register digs into sorrow, and she carried it beautifully.” (The Inquirer)