At this year's Oregon Bach Festival, there is the usual contingent of
promising young singers, making their entrance - a debut here, first US
appearance there, a soloist early in a career, etc., all found and
cultivated by festival artistic director Helmuth Rilling.

Another champion of young voices I knew, Kurt Herbert Adler, had the San
Francisco Opera as his venue for discovery, with annual seasons of 3-4
months, and a hefty budget (thrifty as Adler was).  Rilling has to manage
with a two-week period each year, and a fraction of what an opera company
can pay.

Sampling offerings during the first week of the festival, I started
compiling some of the recognizable names in the category of It Began in
Oregon, including the year of first appearance there.  Turned out to be
quite a list, even while obviously incomplete.

Alan Kays '82
Arleen Auger '78
Ben Heppner '88
Carl Halvorson '90
Christine Schafer '91
Cornelia Kallisch '90
David Gordon '84
Donna Brown '91
Dorothy Bergquist '73
Douglas Lawrence '74
Elisabeth Graf '83
Gary Lakes '92
Gloria Cutsforth '74
Ingeborg Danz '91
James Taylor '95
Jan Opalach '84
Jennifer Lane '89
Judith Malafronte '84
Julia Hamari '83
Kaaren Erickson, soprano '91
Kevin McMillan '90
Leslie Breidenthal '75
Louis Lebherz '88
Maria Jette '89
Michael Schade '91
Pamela Coburn '89
Phyllis Bryn-Julson '90
Rod Gilfry '82
Sarah Walker '86
Scott Weir '86
Susan Platts '98
Sylvia McNair '87
Thomas Quasthoff '95
Thomas Randle '87
William Parker '85

And, here are some names this year (from the first week only) which may
one day join the list above:

* Most promising was the West Coast debut of Russian bass Michail
Schelomianski.  He is around 30, with a velvety, unforced voice, an
appealingly simple manner of presentation.  His German and Latin diction
is obviously in need of improvement.

* Soprano Amanda Mace, 24, a vital, operatic presence already (and
intonation problems I forgot to mention in the excitement generated by
her first professional concert appearance).

* Soprano Letizia Scherrer, a similarly intense, well-focused singer, with
a striking voice.

* Tenor Christopher Cock, easily noticeable but difficult to evaluate in
the all-too-short "Magnificat" assignment.

* Baritone Mkrtich Babajanyan, similar to the Russian bass in the quality
of voice and simplicity of presentation.

* Dutch tenor Albert Bonnema had obvious problems in the "Messa per
Rossini," but there could be a good voice there, if he only allowed
it to emerge, instead of forcing it out.

Of course, as anyone familiar with the festival in Eugene knows, there
are two dozen great voices there at all times, right in the middle of the
Festival Chorus, a small body of extraordinary singers.  One former chorus
member, Anne Nonnemacher, is now at the Met - still in the chorus, but who
knows where the road, begun in Eugene, leads?

Janos Gereben/SF
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