Seattle opera2/24/2023 She received her PhD in musicology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently the assistant director for admissions and lecturer at the University of Washington School of Music. Katie Beisel Hollenbach (Feb 10) received a Bachelor of Music degree in clarinet performance from the University of Denver, twice placing in the Boulder Philharmonic Young Artists Concerto Competition, as well as traveling to Assisi, Italy as a finalist in the International Clarinet Association’s annual research competition. Her performances have included concertos by Beethoven, Poulenc, Grieg, Addinsell, and Chopin, and the 1st and 2nd piano concertos by Rachmaninoff. Joyce teaches and performs regularly and has been the concerto soloist with the Cascade Symphony, Seattle Philharmonic, Rainier Symphony, Port Angeles, Thalia, and Philharmonia Northwest Orchestras. Studying both piano and cello, she was awarded a gold medal for performance by the Royal Schools of Music. After surviving his rigorous training, she moved to London for further studies with Swiss pianist Albert Ferber, whose teachers included Rachmaninoff. Joyce Gibb (Feb 8) was born in Sri Lanka and started her early piano studies with the admired, but feared music critic Elmer DeHaan. Those events reinforced her belief that music has the power to inspire change and make the world a better place. Since 2020, she has presented annual fundraising recitals through the Microsoft Give campaign, raising thousands of dollars in support of local organizations. She also performed at the prestigious Piano Texas International Festival. Robin McCabe from UW and is a prizewinner in many competitions, including Gold Medalist of the Seattle International Competition and First Prize of the “Golden Classical Music Awards” International Competition. She has consistently cultivated her passion through regular lessons and performances. Although she has pursued a career outside of music, the piano has remained a significant mainstay in her life. from China in 2013 to pursue her MBA at the University of Washington (UW), and she’s currently a Senior Marketing Manager at Microsoft. Martin Bakari was an hilariously oily Basilio, and Kazaras similarly milked the comedy with Barry Johnson’s gruff, drunk Antonio and Anthony Webb’s doddering Don Curzio.Diana Gao (Feb 21) began studying piano at age 4. Margaret Gawrysiak was spot on in her comic timing as Marcellina and, together with Kevin Burdette’s unusually young Bartolo, enhanced the comic absurdity of the recognition scene when Figaro’s parentage is revealed. Cherubino eventually finds a respite for his restlessness with Ashley Fabian’s spirited, affectionate Barbarina. Her mixture of awkwardness and intensity seemed to distil the state of confusion that nearly everyone else in the palace falls into at one point or another. Olga Syniakova gave Cherubino a vital presence, more central than is often the case. With her nuanced, delicately controlled legato and messa di voce, Tepponen contributed the finest vocal performance of the evening. Perhaps it’s a lingering aftermath of the strictures that were necessary during the worst of the pandemic, but Kazaras’ emphasis on physical interaction, without the worry of social-distancing ploys, had a liberating, rejuvenating effect.Īs conferred by Marjukka Tepponen’s Countess, the pivotal moment of forgiveness pushed the performance onto another plane altogether, one she had already foreshadowed with her exquisitely phrased, pain-shot “Dove sono”. Figaro and Susanna’s mutual attraction in particular was palpable and never seemed in doubt, despite the threats from all around. The youthful cast exuded spontaneity and inhabited their roles with a remarkable physicality. Indeed, this was a Figaro with a light, amiable touch that zeroes in on Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s impeccable comic pacing. None of this came across as heavy-handed. The point here seems to be that we’re all in this mess together, on the verge of falling into the traps set by our own insecurity. It comes from the second act, that masterpiece of operatic architecture: Susanna and the Countess sing it in response to the Count, who has made his first plea for pardon after maligning his wife. As if to keep stern watch over all the zany plot twists, a line from Da Ponte’s libretto was shown engraved on a palace beam through all four acts: “Perdono non merta chi agli altri non dà” (Those who do not forgive others deserve no forgiveness).
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