Thrift, economy and artistic excellence were in evidence in Palo Alto
tonight as Magnificat (essentially two people: Susan Harvey and Warren
Stewart) started its Bay Area rounds with yet another opera production,
this time the two-singer Pergolesi 1733 "La Serva Padrona." The news is
that those two, Jennifer Ellis (Serpina) and David Newman (Uberto) are
young, brilliant artists.  (The silent role of Vespone was athletically
performed by Paul Del Bene.)

The First Lutheran Church of Palo Alto is a building only Garrison Keillor
could love: a small, square space with white walls and a ceiling of wooden
crossbeams, it has the appearance (and acoustics) of a one-room school in
the middle of the prairie.  With non-existent sightlines from the pews,
it's a miracle that any performance can be enjoyed there, but enjoy the
audience did.

Magnificat made use of "La Serva Padrona," written as a comic interlude
for another Pergolesi opera, as a two-part main offering, with a Pergolesi
violin concerto and violin sonata opening each half.  Rob Diggins played
the solos, as well as acting as the leader of the six-person orchestra
(which includes both Harvey and Stewart).

It's nothing short of amazing how Pergolesi managed to produce so much good
music, having started composing at age 21, in ill health, and dead by 26!

The two singers were truly impressive.  Ellis (who looks ineligible for a
driver's license or the purchase of alcohol) sings with strong projection,
great accuracy, stage presence, good diction, and moments of dazzling voice
production.  In addition to the Baroque repertoire she's been featured in
by several local organizations, she has the voice and the sound to sing
anything from Rossini to Verdi to musicals -- she could do pretty much
anything she wanted to do.

Newman is equally impressive, a big man with a big, flexible, beautiful
voice.  He tackled the difficult role a abused gentleman bachelor manfully.

The production is going the Berkeley's First Congregational Church Saturday
at 8, and to San Francisco's St. Gregory Episcopal Church for a 4 p.m.
matinee on Sunday.

Janos Gereben/SF
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