Elizabeth Caballero gave her local recital debut and "farewell performance"
tonight in Berkeley's St. John's Church. The young soprano is leaving
the San Francisco Opera's Adler Program and the Bay Area in search of
performance opportunities. (During the season that just ended, she had
a single, minor assignment, that of the Heavenly Voice in "Don Carlo.")
During her three years in San Francisco, the soprano from Miami impressed
listeners and gained supporters and admirers, who turned out tonight to
celebrate her exceptional talent. She did not disappoint them, displaying
once again a big, brilliant voice with true coloratura top notes and
spinto body, accuracy, fine phrasing, and a dominating stage presence.
What more can one want? There were some - including this writer, who
has been and remains an admirer of Caballero's gifts - who thought she
could benefit greatly from more training and development, if not at
Merola, then through some other program and intensive coaching.
She is not just another talented young singer; Caballero is potentially
a true star. Yes, perhaps a diva... but not based on tonight's concert.
She is facing not only a new phase in her career, but also the challenge
to hone, integrate, and deepen her artistry, else she may well turn into
an entertainer with a big voice ("not that anything is wrong with that").
There was the gorgeous voice, the technical ability, the great, obvious
ambition, and winning show-biz flair, and yet were it not for Leesa Dahl,
the accompanist, the evening would have been deficient in deeply felt
music, genuine emotions, well-communicated text, and convincing dedication
in service of art.
It was only in Dahl's playing that one could listen to the music and
be moved by it. This very young pianist is a mature, wonderful artist.
I believe Caballero can follow suit, but only if she understands and
internalizes the text of one of her encores, which she sang in the same
pretty, unconvincing fashion as the rest of the program: "Io son l'umile
ancella." Humility, dedication to music - rather than to the career -
result in a different kind of singing, and would not allow thanking her
hairdresser for "my beautiful hairdo" *before* acknowledging Dahl.
Beethoven's "Ah! Perfido" was big and brassy, Caballero overdoing and
homogenizing the dramatic high points, only to come up with a ravishingly
sung transition passage, "Dite voi, se in tanto affanno..."
Faure's "Poeme d'un jour" suffered from tentative (or worse) French,
but even more from the soprano rushing through the music, not allowing
it to breathe, to linger. If only she paid attention to and take her
cue from Dahl's playing!
Turina's "Poema en forma de canciones" was a highlight of the evening,
the Cuban-born singer getting involved in the text and its meaning.
Dahl's "Spanish phrasing," her feather-light syncopation, and her
understated performance of the piano solo, "Dedicatoria," were superb.
"Temerari... Come scoglio," from "Cosi fan tutte," was the aria that
"made" Caballero when she first arrived. She acknowledged that in
speaking from the stage, adding that she hoped she has improved since
that performance three years ago. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Her Fiordiligi back then was fresh and a bit awkward, but excited and
exciting; tonight, she "ran through it," sincerity and playfulness
becoming routine posing. The singing was fine, the music was not.
Perhaps the most disappointing performance of the evening was a bland
and unfeeling "Depuis le jour," thrown away by a young singer, who could
- who should - have conveyed truly the sense of "smiles... light...
happiness." It is yet to come, one hopes.
Fighting a bad case of cold, the tenor Ching Chang sang five songs from
Menotti's "Canti della lontananza" and Vivaldi's cantata, "Ingrata Lydia."
Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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