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Chicago Classical Review
March 3 2012
Soprano Bayrakdarian, pianist Kradjian light up Mandel Hall
Sat Mar 03, 2012 at 1:29 pmBy Wynne Delacoma
If the opera thing doesn't work out for soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian,
she can always find international renown as a tango singer.
Not that opera isn't working well for Bayrakdarian, who held a large
Mandel Hall audience rapt during a solo recital Friday night. Lyric
Opera audiences remember her heart-breaking Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo
in 2006, and her schedule includes guest appearances with such major
orchestras as the Boston Symphony and New York Philharmonic.
But Bayrakdarian, born in Lebanon of Armenian descent and now based in
Canada, is obviously fascinated by all types of music. Accompanied by
her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, her Mandel Hall program ranged
from Liszt, Berlioz and Chausson to Armenian folk tunes, from a song
cycle by contemporary American composer Jake Heggie to four sexy love
songs by 20th-century Spanish composer Fernando Obradors. She all but
set the staid Mandel Hall venue on fire with her final set of tangos
by Carlos Gardel and Astor Piazzolla, tossing in an Armenian tango
(who knew?) for good measure.
This is a charismatic soprano clearly at home in whatever kind of
music she pleases to sing. Pleasure was the operative concept for both
performers and audience, and a sense of spontaneity enlivened the
evening. Bayrakdarian and Kradjian changed their planned repertoire,
adding Heggie's Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia and dropping excerpts
from Rossini operas. She announced the Armenian tango as a last-minute
addition from the stage. In their final encore, which turned Rossini's
comic Cat Duet into a witty version for one overwrought singer and one
put-upon pianist, they seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as the
audience.
Bayrakdarian is svelte and petite, with dark hair and eyes, but her
voice is a strong, ringing instrument. Her singing was agile and full
of expression Friday night, often soaring to roof-rattling heights,
but also drawing us in with intimate, almost conversational phrasing.
A haunted quality pervaded many of the selections. In her first song,
Liszt's gypsy-flavored Die drei Zigeuner, her a cappella opening line
hung in the air like a mysterious tune from an exotic land. The long,
touching melodies of Berlioz's La mort d'Ophelie had a similar
floating quality. They unfurled seamlessly, never touching the ground,
like the river that swept Shakespeare's young lover to her death.
The tangos and Spanish songs, however, were the evening's highlight.
Abetted by Kradjian's incendiary piano, Bayrakdarian tore through the
rapid-fire, short-breathed phrases of Piazzolla's bitter Che tango
che. An infuriated lover, she was battered but unbowed. Her first
encore, the familiar Malaquena by Ernesto Lecuona, was a slower burn,
though no less red-hot.
Kradjian provided glorious color throughout the evening, whether in
the complex thunder and quiet shimmer of the Liszt songs or the
lyrical flow of Heggie's tunes. But he set his own musical fire when
he took center-stage in Osvaldo Golijov's Levante for solo piano. He
ripped through the high-speed mashup of jazz, stride piano and tango
like the best kind of honky-tonk piano virtuoso. I'd love to see these
two performers in a jazz club sometime, but only if plenty of fire
extinguishers were on hand.
http://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2012/03/soprano-bayrakdarian-pianist-kradjian-light-up-mandel-hall/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
March 3 2012
Soprano Bayrakdarian, pianist Kradjian light up Mandel Hall
Sat Mar 03, 2012 at 1:29 pmBy Wynne Delacoma
If the opera thing doesn't work out for soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian,
she can always find international renown as a tango singer.
Not that opera isn't working well for Bayrakdarian, who held a large
Mandel Hall audience rapt during a solo recital Friday night. Lyric
Opera audiences remember her heart-breaking Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo
in 2006, and her schedule includes guest appearances with such major
orchestras as the Boston Symphony and New York Philharmonic.
But Bayrakdarian, born in Lebanon of Armenian descent and now based in
Canada, is obviously fascinated by all types of music. Accompanied by
her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, her Mandel Hall program ranged
from Liszt, Berlioz and Chausson to Armenian folk tunes, from a song
cycle by contemporary American composer Jake Heggie to four sexy love
songs by 20th-century Spanish composer Fernando Obradors. She all but
set the staid Mandel Hall venue on fire with her final set of tangos
by Carlos Gardel and Astor Piazzolla, tossing in an Armenian tango
(who knew?) for good measure.
This is a charismatic soprano clearly at home in whatever kind of
music she pleases to sing. Pleasure was the operative concept for both
performers and audience, and a sense of spontaneity enlivened the
evening. Bayrakdarian and Kradjian changed their planned repertoire,
adding Heggie's Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia and dropping excerpts
from Rossini operas. She announced the Armenian tango as a last-minute
addition from the stage. In their final encore, which turned Rossini's
comic Cat Duet into a witty version for one overwrought singer and one
put-upon pianist, they seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as the
audience.
Bayrakdarian is svelte and petite, with dark hair and eyes, but her
voice is a strong, ringing instrument. Her singing was agile and full
of expression Friday night, often soaring to roof-rattling heights,
but also drawing us in with intimate, almost conversational phrasing.
A haunted quality pervaded many of the selections. In her first song,
Liszt's gypsy-flavored Die drei Zigeuner, her a cappella opening line
hung in the air like a mysterious tune from an exotic land. The long,
touching melodies of Berlioz's La mort d'Ophelie had a similar
floating quality. They unfurled seamlessly, never touching the ground,
like the river that swept Shakespeare's young lover to her death.
The tangos and Spanish songs, however, were the evening's highlight.
Abetted by Kradjian's incendiary piano, Bayrakdarian tore through the
rapid-fire, short-breathed phrases of Piazzolla's bitter Che tango
che. An infuriated lover, she was battered but unbowed. Her first
encore, the familiar Malaquena by Ernesto Lecuona, was a slower burn,
though no less red-hot.
Kradjian provided glorious color throughout the evening, whether in
the complex thunder and quiet shimmer of the Liszt songs or the
lyrical flow of Heggie's tunes. But he set his own musical fire when
he took center-stage in Osvaldo Golijov's Levante for solo piano. He
ripped through the high-speed mashup of jazz, stride piano and tango
like the best kind of honky-tonk piano virtuoso. I'd love to see these
two performers in a jazz club sometime, but only if plenty of fire
extinguishers were on hand.
http://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2012/03/soprano-bayrakdarian-pianist-kradjian-light-up-mandel-hall/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress