Rising Stars

Covent Garden’s Meet the Young Artists 2008

Covent Garden’s Meet the Young Artists 2008, a week of recitals given by the singers taking part in the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, both the new intake and those embarking on their second year, was crowned by a Walton double bill, marking the 25th anniversary of the composer’s death. Both the short opera The Bear and the entertainment Façade were also conducted and directed by young artists and staged in the Linbury Studio Theatre.

On the night I attended, 16 October, potential disaster was averted when the mezzo cast as the widow Popova in The Bear fell ill and an eleventh hour replacement was miraculously conjured up to sing from the side of the stage, while the director Thomas Guthrie stepped elegantly into her mourning costume to give a masterly mimed performance in drag. The bear of the title, Smirnov, a demanding creditor who first threatens then seduces the widow, was personably sung and acted by the resonant Lithuanian bass-baritone Kostas Smoriginas; while the South African bass Vuyani Mlinde, aged by a good 60 years, convincingly portrayed the crumbling retainer Luka, demonstrating the huge strides in stagecraft he has made since joining the programme. Saviour of the show was Julianne Young, who had sung Popova for Clonter Opera. Guthrie’s production conveyed the sardonic humour of the piece and Steven Moore conducted the Southbank Sinfonia in a performance that captured its musical flavour.

Guthrie further displayed his versatility as one of the two, not perfectly audible reciters, in Façade, partnered by guest artist Hilary Brennan. It was disappointing that two of the JPYAP singers did not deliver Edith Sitwell’s undoubtedly taxing nonsense verse against the six-player accompaniment conducted by Dominic Grier. But the two works made a worthy tribute to their composer.

Names to look out for in this year’s intake are sopranos Simona Mihai and Eri Nakamura, tenor Robert Anthony Gardiner, and baritone Changhan Lim, all appearing in main-house productions.

Margaret Davies