Yesterday’s free concert in the RBA featured the vocalist Rebanks fellows from the Glenn Gould School.  There was some very classy and very powerful singing.  We heard Hannah Crawford, fresh off her second place at Centre Stage, sing a couple of arias; “Pleurez, plearez mes yeux” from Masenet’s Le Cid and “Come Scoglio” from Cosí.  There was some very considerable power on display here as well as accuracy and emotion.  Definitely one to watch.

Mezzo Camilla Montefusco opened the show with Hannah with “Ah! guarda sorella” and then gave us the Komponist’s aria from Ariadne auf Naxos.  Both showed considerable talent but even more impressive was “Carceleras” from Ruperto Chapi’s Las hijas del Zebedeo.  What impressed here was her agility.  It’s a fast and rhythmically complex song and she navigated it with aplomb.

Jaclyn Grossman sang a dramatically impressive “Una macchia è qui tutora” from Macbeth.  The multitudinous seas incarnadine were in full autumn gale here.  There was a Viktor Ullmann song too; Wendla im Garten.  I just couldn’t get into this.  The song rather than the singer I think.  Jaclyn closed out the session with a duet with Camilla; a quite charming version of “Mira, o Norma”.

I’ve been wondering where Jonelle Sills voice is going for a while.  Since she was very young I’ve felt that she had potentially a big voice that just needed to grow up.  It’s certainly getting that way.  She gave us a really lyrical “Song to the Moon” from Rusalka sung with no sense of strain and a nicely characterised version of Liszt’s Die Lorelei which, among other things, allowed Trevor Chartrand, who accompanied throughout, a bit of a chance to show off.

All in all, a very satisfactory way to spend a Tuesday lunchtime.

Photo credits: Karen E. Reeves