Nicolle Foland is a striking young woman, with a Musetta-perfect bright,
striking soprano.  This afternoon, for her recital in Berkeley's Herz Hall,
she wore one of the most striking outfits I've ever seen in a concert hall
(other than the Kronos Quartet, of course).

For the first half of the concert, she had a cardinal's floor-length
ensemble, with only her face and hands showing; after intermission, the
jacket came off, leaving what no longer had an ecclesiastic resonance.

Composer Jake Heggie provided the supportive accompaniment; his songs
formed one of the varied concert's sets.

Foland delivered accurate singing, fine diction in six languages, and
bright, focussed top notes.  Except for two Dvorak encores, she sang
without too much shading, emotion, color.  Two sets of Debussy songs were
downright bland.  Opening with "Ganymed" and four other Schubert songs
was a gamble (five charming Obradors "classical Spanish" songs would have
broken the ice easier), but Foland doesn't need "warming up" -- the voice
was consistent all the way through.

Foland's Russian diction and "Russian sound" were noteworthy in five
Rachmaninoff songs, Heggie playing spectacularly, Foland ending each song
beautifully.

Two of the Heggie songs -- "Ample Make This Bed" and "The Sun Kept Setting"
-- of the all-Dickinson set were performed for the first time, both
impressive in their simplicity and quiet power.  Foland, who sang in a more
relaxed and lyrical manner from the Obradors songs on, caught the quiet,
sincere tone of the older Heggie works to Dickinson texts -- "She Sweeps
with Many-Colored Brooms," "As Well As Jesus?" and "At Last, to be
Identified!"

Now that some brief excerpts from Heggie's upcoming opera, "Dead Man
Walking," are beginning to "leak out," it's amazing to hear the difference
between his very large, twisting, late-Strauss orchestral music and the
unique "Heggie sound" in the songs (utterly simple, accessible) -- the
"two Heggies" seem two different composers.

Janos Gereben/SF
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