Spooktastic

My second concert of the day was a Halloween themed recital given by soprano Jennifer Taverner at Atelier Rosemarie Umetsu.  Now previously I had only heard Jennifer sing operetta, at which she is very good, so I had little idea what her range is.  Last night I found out.  The first part of the program was pretty normal recital fare.  Ombre pallide from Handel’s Alcina was knocked off with flair and some bravura in the repeat.  Then came some French chansons of spookiness including Saint Saens’ Danse macabre where Jennifer and pianist Andrea van Pelt were joined by Jennifer Murphy on violin.  All nicely done with fine diction.

taverner

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Eastern breezes, western winds

That’s the title of a new CD from soprano Kira Braun and pianist Peter Krochak.  Yesterday I got to hear them perform music from it at Rosemarie Umetsu’s new digs on Davenport.  This is a great venue for small scale concerts and recitals and has a really good Yamaha piano.  It’s also less awkward to get to than, say, Gallery 345 so check out their website and facebook page to see what’s happening.

kirapeter

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