Distinguished Concerts International New York
“Music on Canvas, 57x7”
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
New York, NY
January 23, 2010

An enjoyable presentation of music and art—and even fashion—entitled: “Music on Canvas, 57x7” took place on January 23rd at… (Actually, the numbers in the title cleverly indicate the concert’s location, so take a guess.) (Yet…you’ve probably already seen the location listed in the above heading, so never mind.) Anyway, while we listened to music sung by the delightful Amy Buckley and Kirsten Allegri, we were afforded the luxury of seeing portraits by talented artist Stef-Albert Bothma. Bothma has a unique style to his paintings—several of them portraits of composers on the program—and they are brilliant in their use of color and chiaroscuro (light-dark contrasts). I recommend that you take a look at his website to peruse his work: www.stefalbertstudios.com. Slides of his paintings lingered tastefully on screen and appropriately back-dropped the music—never flashing at a quick pace to distract us from the performances. After the concert, the audience was treated to a viewing of his originals.

Allegri and Buckley frequently perform individually but also as the duo “Canzone”, and one could instantly recognize the chemistry between them. Mozart’s “Via Resti..” from “Figaro” had more than the requisite comedy and charm, and technically they have the goods as well: “Pur ti miro” from “Poppea” was sung with excellent intonation, a matching vibrato, and a unified eye for peaks of phrase. Kirsten Allegri went solo with both sincerity and elegance in Korngold’s lush and inspired “Lieder des Abschieds”. Her rendering of Bernstein’s “I Am Easily Assimilated” from “Candide” was carefree and sexy, with exceptionally funny accents. Buckley’s solo turn in Rachmaninoff songs displayed her stunningly accurate and beautiful high range.

Bothma’s improvisations on “Carmen” and on Gershwin melodies show promise, but editing might be welcome: they ramble on a bit, and some harmonies and key shifts were awkward. He tends to over-pedal at the piano--obscuring some melodic lines--but his solo octave-playing was impressively virtuoso-like. Bothma’s beautiful artwork wasn’t the only stunning visual aspect to this unique program; the ladies were splendidly and varyingly gowned in several different Alecia Zameska designs that seemed tailor-made for the music at hand. (I never comment on wardrobe, so trust me that this made an impression.) One example was Buckley’s eye-catching dress accompanied by a diamond necklace in a sparkling performance of “Glitter and Be Gay” from “Candide”. Her great comic timing didn’t hurt either.

-Anthony Aibel; New York Concert Review; New York, NY