Volume 23 Issue 4 - December 2017 / January 2018

will Vesuvius let the audience dance
during their concerts, maybe preceded
by some dance instruction? “Not yet,”
says Pellegrino, “but we are expanding
this program and in the next couple
of years our concerts may also have
dancers from Italy who are well versed
in tarantella or tammurriata. We’re
working on it.”
Outside Toronto, you can hear
(though not yet dance to) Vesuvius’
Christmas concert on December 18 in
Hamilton and December 20 in Montreal.
January
Twenty-five years after its world
premiere, the song cycle Honey and Rue
is still regularly performed by symphony
orchestras and coloratura sopranos in
the US. Carnegie Hall commissioned
it and André Previn composed it for
Claire de Sévigné
Kathleen Battle, who was a keen reader
of Toni Morrison and wanted her as a
lyricist. We don’t hear the cycle that
often in Canada, and it’s St. Catharines, not Toronto, that got lucky
this season, with two Honey and Rue performances with the Niagara
Symphony Orchestra in January. Morrison’s poems are a rich and
intense read and should be relished without the music first (keep
those programs, concertgoers: the poems are not easy to find).
Young soprano Claire de Sévigné will sing. Last time I heard de
Sévigné was in the COC’s Arabella, where she effortlessly produced
the coloratura for the Viennese ball ingenue, Fiakermilli. There probably
isn’t another Canadian soprano whose timbre more resembles
Battle’s. I caught up with the travelling soprano via email to learn
more about her take on the piece.
When I ask her what it is that
she likes about Honey and Rue,
she starts with the orchestration.
“Singing with an orchestra
is always thrilling but singing a
piece that’s in the style of ‘classical-jazz-blues
fusion’ feels like
a real jam. The fourth song is a
huge contrast to the rest of the
cycle in that it is a cappella, and
this moment can be magic. I also
adore the lyrics. Very strong text
with stunning imagery.”
I tell her that my first impression
of it was that it was
extremely high. Her answer
doesn’t surprise me: “I don’t
notice it being all that high
actually – but that’s coming
from a coloratura soprano and
my voice lives in the clouds,
haha. I think that Previn knew
how to write for the voice, since
the performer doesn’t notice it being all that high! I actually find the
set quite lyric – the highest note is only a B flat, a whole fourth lower
than my high notes, and the set sits in quite a nice place for a light
soprano’s voice to spin and shimmer while still being able to sing the
text… It’s quite a pleasure to sing.”
The cycle was written by an African-American writer for an
African-American singer originally, and although it’s still frequently
sung by African-American singers, it’s become a cycle for any talented
soprano who can meet its challenge. I ask de Sévigné what she thinks
of the recent rise in discussions about what cultural material can
be performed by who, and in what context. “It’s true, the cycle was
28 | December 2017 / January 2018 thewholenote.com