Dawn Upshaw in Concert with Gilbert Kalish

Making her Strathmore Music Center debut last night (10/23) with piano accompanist Gilbert Kalish, soprano Dawn Upshaw entertained a few hundred fans in a mixed program featuring modern and traditional classical music. The winner of a number of Grammy Awards and a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship for 2007, the internationally acclaimed singer has a wide musical repertoire to match her impressive vocal range, both of which were on display this evening. The concert had an informal, dress rehearsal air to it, as if Ms. Upshaw and Mr. Kalish were trying things out musically before taking the show primetime; and it seemed to suit the mood of the audience, giving the performance a kind of intimacy.

The first part of the program featured songs of Charles Ives and John Harbison, with a piano excerpt from Ruth Crawford Seeger's "Nine Preludes for Piano" inserted midpoint, which Mr. Kalish introduced; and he located the night's theme: that of woman [or better, a woman's sensibility]. Indeed Ives' mother inhabits his text, while the mystical spirit pulsing through Harbison's work and Robert Bly's translations are feminine; Claude Debussy's musical compositions to Paul Verlaine's poetry are at least in part an homage to his first wife; and Modest Mussorgsky's "From the Nursery," offers undeniable maternal attractions. Strathmore is to be congratulated for providing texts and translations for most of the program's works.

The music at the beginning was largely atonal and written in a minor key, though with Mr. Ives' work there were some melodic ("Memories: Rather Sad") and tuneful ("Down East") compositions interspersed. Ms. Upshaw gave a halting introduction to the Harbison "Mirabai Songs," named for a 16^th century Indian poet, who refused to join her deceased husband on the funeral pyre and devoted her life instead to Krisna, "the dark one." Playing through the dissonant song-cycle, Ms. Upshaw adopted movements suitable to the emotions at hand, especially with the declarative "All I was doing was breathing," the reverential "Where did you go?" and the haunting and expressive, "Don't go, don't go." She combined admirably with Mr. Kalish on the musically powerful "The Clouds." The pianist throughout the concert displayed a deft keyboard technique, handling the lighter sections with finesse, gracefully crossing over hands at times, but delivering a powerful crescendo when called for by the score. He and Ms. Upshaw did not communicate visually, apparently trusting to the aural cues their 20-year musical relationship has acquired.

All and all though, the selection of songs in the opening half of the recital did not, I think, show her talent to best advantage, though one thing was immediately clear: she had absolutely no trouble filling up the approximately 1800-seat, acoustically pristine music hall with her unamplified voice. What a distinct pleasure it is to hear a great singer without the aid of a microphone! Nonetheless, the performance seemed unremarkable, with a few miscues in lines, together with akwardness in presentations, and I was left wondering at the intermission what all the hoopla was about.

What followed next was the difference between night and day. Ms. Upshaw revealed her complete operatic instrument, and a mighty one it is. Raiding the extensive store of her musical library, she cleared out all the registers. She started off with the lyrical "Lúa descolorida" by Osvaldo Golijov - a modern composer she's interpreted more than any other - throwing herself into the piece to the audience's great delight. Next up was Debussy's impressionistic "Ariettes oubliées" or "Forgotten Songs" - Verlaine's inherent musicality facilitates the transposition - to which the singer gave her full operatic range. I particularly enjoyed the "Horses of Wood," the upbeat, rapid, and kaleidoscopic world where the animate and inanimate subjects of the carnival collide and "There is weeping in my heart" (the translations don't do justice to Verlaine's sensuous rhythm and rhyme scheme). The audience registered its rousing approval in applause and the general feeling carried over to Mussorgsky's songs from "The Nursery," with the singer receiving laughter at a number of points for her comic portrayal of a mischievous and imaginative boy. Ms. Upshaw's revelation of her inner child brought the scheduled show happily to a close.

But the concertgoers - most of whom were standing in applause - wanted something more and the singer and her accompanist returned after a second curtain call, with an encore, Schubert's "Im Fruhling" that was truly sublime. For those lucky fans who hung around last night there was a further treat in store: Ms. Upshaw and Mr. Kalish returned again to the stage after a short break and graciously participated in a post-performance discussion, moderated by artistic director Shelley Brown, and took questions from the audience.

Ms. Upshaw in person is the antithesis of a diva; dressed casually in a black-trimmed, mid-thigh charcoal gray jacket with black slacks she seemed like a regular gal - though one with a great gift - who grew up outside of Chicago and thought she might like a career in musical theater. Her attraction to classical music came later, when her interests and talent were spotted at Tanglewood by, among others, Mr. Kalish. (A quick look at Wiki, indicated that Ms. Upshaw was born in Nashville, a most propitious alignment of the musical stars.) A lucky break for all of us. Here's hoping she'll be back sometime soon.

Comment: I think the inclusion of surtitles might provide the same lift to musical recitals that it has done for opera. Providing translations is a great first step, but it's a bit distracting to have to keep glancing at your program, particularly in subdued lighting. Even projecting the lines of an English text might provide additional clarity for words that are elided over in song.

Sound check: Excellent

Program notes: Outstanding with artist bios, composer notes, translations of text, and an earnest attempt by the performers and organizers to convey everything they could about the music

Applause meter: Recommended, 3 hands

Runtime: About an hour and 55 minutes with an encore and intermission

Photo credits: Ms. Upshaw (courtesy of the artist); Mr. Kalish (Tristan Cook)