Rhapsody for Blue

A notice went out over the Chicago Opera mailing list that they were giving out free tickets to a benefit concert, and after looking over the star-studded list of performers, I jumped at the opportunity.

Rhapsody in Blue is a benefit concert for Blue Gargoyle Community Services, a nonprofit based in Hyde Park that focuses on literacy, tutoring and family counseling services. All of these services are provided free of charge. So naturally, the evening began with an introduction from Blue Gargoyle's director, Pamela Bozeman-Evans, who elegantly pleaded her case as she shook us down for donations. She told us that Blue Gargoyle serves over 1,300 families on the Southside and operates with a $3 million annual budget. And with the ongoing economic strain, 1 in 6 nonprofits in Illinois were slated to close by June, just when their aid was needed most desperately by the community. Please, could we spare some change? I caved and dropped a $5 bill in the basket.

On with the show. Merle Reskin Theater is mid-sized, but since the concert was not sold out, we were all seated fairly close to the stage. With rude black floorboards and corkboard risers, I was reminded of a high school auditorium. However, the extraordinarily intimate environment more than compensated for the austere surroundings. I could see every raised eyebrow and intake of breath, Aleksandra Kurzak's vibrating tongue and Rachel Barton Pine's flexing bicep muscles. Though the venue was much less grand than what they were accustomed to and no one was getting paid, you could see that every artist was still giving 110%.

The program was impressively long (about 3 hours) and focused primarily on operatic pieces, with some other fun, miscellaneous items in the mix. It included old favorites like "La donna è mobile" from Rigoletto and "Brindisi" (translation: drinking song) from La Traviata. (In fact, these are so popular that they are even arranged for the Cornell Chimes.) I thought "Ombra mai fù" from Xerxes sounded oddly familiar...then I realized that the music is more commonly known as Handel's "Largo." Apparently Handel wrote originally wrote the piece for an opera, which was a commercial failure. There were also some more obscure numbers (who's ever heard of Stolz's operetta Venus in Seide?), an African-American piece ("Deep River," by Samuel Coleridge Taylor, not to be confused with Samuel Taylor Coleridge), and a piece from Bernstein's Candide (in case you weren't aware, this includes my favorite overture of all time).

Ironically, the highlight of the concert was not a singer at all, but Chicago violinist Rachel Barton Pine. I might be in love. She opened with Sarasate's "Fantasy on Themes from Carmen." This (along with all the rest of Sarasate's compositions) is a tour-de-force in technical virtuousity. My jaw was dropping. Later, Pine returned with Massanet's "Méditation" from Thais. This is a beautifully lyrical piece that is unfortunately the only memorable part of the opera. The closing number was a "Chicago Medley" arranged by Pine, incorporating several kick-ass blues and jazz numbers named after our hometown. Finally, let's discuss the awesome gold sparkly low-cut dress that Pine was wearing. It was quite a break from the normally staid, all-black attire that one sees at classical performances.

Also, she has recorded several heavy metal albums and she uses Twitter: "What a great day, performing with Wagnerian opera star Petra Lang this afternoon, doing Spanish music with guitarist Rene Izquierdo tonight."

The master of ceremonies for the evening was Andrew Patner, a critic for WFMT, Chicago's classical station. At one point, he commented that he felt voice and dance were the most democratic of arts disciplines, since you need neither fancy equipment nor expensive lessons to hone and develop those talents (though money obviously helps). This has a good deal of populist appeal to it, but I wonder if it's actually true. Is your average opera company or dance troupe more international, more socioeconomically varied or more ethnically diverse than your average orchestra or theater company?

At the end of the concert, they announced that we'd raised nearly $7,000 by passing the basket during the show. Here's to fighting illiteracy!