STONINGTON ? The 18th annual Sergio Franchi Memorial concert survived thunderstorm and even tornado warnings Sept 8 and though it started more than an hour and a half early, triggered repeated ovations from a crowd of about 3,600, only a little smaller than the norm.
Even though Eva Franchi?s mother Anyu had passed away just seven days before the concert, Franchi hosted the event as usual and dedicated it not only to the memory of her late husband, Sergio ? who inspired her to hold the concerts 18 years ago -- but to Anyu as well.
The concerts have raised more than $1 million in scholarships awarded to talented tenors and sopranos since its inception, but shortly before 1 p.m. Franchi announced that though this year?s version was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. it would start in 30 minutes to beat the impending storm.
It did.
But 16 talented singers, introduced with the usual flair by Franchi, did not let the bad weather warnings and early start affect their performances. Simply put, they sang their hearts out.
Franchi introduced Soprano Latonia Moore, who sang at her concert last year and was a cover (understudy) for the lead singer in ?Aida? at the Metropolitan Opera in NY last March., by saying:
?Thank God the lead got sick to Latonia got her chance.?
Moore drew raves from The NY Times and other reviewers for her unexpected performance and Saturday, sang ?Ritgorna Vincito? from ?Aida? with the same power and vocal artistry she did at the Met.
Though the program listings were changed because of the approaching storm, Moore came back to sing ?Un bel di? from ?Madam Butterfly to loud applause and was followed by Australian singer Alfio, who repeated his triumph of last year by singing ?Il Mondo? and then brought the house down with a moving ? guitar-backed rendition of ?Mamma? which he dedicated to all mothers everywhere and especially to Anyu.
Jesus Garcia belted out a powerful, big-voiced version of ?Granada, Jon Dominick brought bravos with a deeply moving rendition of ?Old Man River? and Stevin LaBrie lit up the stage with ?Some Enchanted Evening.? Continued...
Giada Valenti sang her signature number, ?La Vie en Rose, which she has performed all over the world with passion and intensity and later returned to sing ?Smile.?Laurence Broderick was in top form with ?This is My Beloved? and so were Eric Margiore with ?E Lucefan le stele? from ?Tosca? and Corinne Winters and Margiore with a romantic and chemically alive duet performance of ?O soave fanciulla? from ?La Boh?me.?
Filippo Voltaggio with his ?It?s Not Unusual? excited the crowd and so did Jacqueline Ballarin with her unusual presentation of ?Don?t You Know? which she then segued into ?Quando me ?en vo? from ?La Boh?me,? -- the melody on which it was based. She then ended her performance, her voice soaring, with the final bars of ?Don?t You Know? to loud applause.
The three and half hour concert, broken only by a 15 minute intermission, climaxed with long and sustained high notes from the ?Sergio Franchi Young Tenors? including spectacular performances of ?O Sole Mio.?
They drew repeated standing ovations and Franchi clearly moved by her singers and the crowd that showed up in force despite the dire weather forecasts, thanked them from coming and said her 250-acre estate would continue to be the site of what she called the Connecticut version of the Met ? though tickets cost just $30.
Robert C. Pollack can be reached at Caladare@aol.com
STONINGTON ? The 18th annual Sergio Franchi Memorial concert survived thunderstorm and even tornado warnings Sept 8 and though it started more than an hour and a half early, triggered repeated ovations from a crowd of about 3,600, only a little smaller than the norm.Even though Eva Franchi?s mother Anyu had passed away just seven days before the concert, Franchi hosted the event as usual and dedicated it not only to the memory of her late husband, Sergio ? who inspired her to hold the concerts 18 years ago -- but to Anyu as well.
The concerts have raised more than $1 million in scholarships awarded to talented tenors and sopranos since its inception, but shortly before 1 p.m. Franchi announced that though this year?s version was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. it would start in 30 minutes to beat the impending storm.
It did.
But 16 talented singers, introduced with the usual flair by Franchi, did not let the bad weather warnings and early start affect their performances. Simply put, they sang their hearts out.
Franchi introduced Soprano Latonia Moore, who sang at her concert last year and was a cover (understudy) for the lead singer in ?Aida? at the Metropolitan Opera in NY last March., by saying:
?Thank God the lead got sick to Latonia got her chance.?
Moore drew raves from The NY Times and other reviewers for her unexpected performance and Saturday, sang ?Ritgorna Vincito? from ?Aida? with the same power and vocal artistry she did at the Met.
Though the program listings were changed because of the approaching storm, Moore came back to sing ?Un bel di? from ?Madam Butterfly to loud applause and was followed by Australian singer Alfio, who repeated his triumph of last year by singing ?Il Mondo? and then brought the house down with a moving ? guitar-backed rendition of ?Mamma? which he dedicated to all mothers everywhere and especially to Anyu.
Jesus Garcia belted out a powerful, big-voiced version of ?Granada, Jon Dominick brought bravos with a deeply moving rendition of ?Old Man River? and Stevin LaBrie lit up the stage with ?Some Enchanted Evening.?
Giada Valenti sang her signature number, ?La Vie en Rose, which she has performed all over the world with passion and intensity and later returned to sing ?Smile.?
Laurence Broderick was in top form with ?This is My Beloved? and so were Eric Margiore with ?E Lucefan le stele? from ?Tosca? and Corinne Winters and Margiore with a romantic and chemically alive duet performance of ?O soave fanciulla? from ?La Boh?me.?
Filippo Voltaggio with his ?It?s Not Unusual? excited the crowd and so did Jacqueline Ballarin with her unusual presentation of ?Don?t You Know? which she then segued into ?Quando me ?en vo? from ?La Boh?me,? -- the melody on which it was based. She then ended her performance, her voice soaring, with the final bars of ?Don?t You Know? to loud applause.
The three and half hour concert, broken only by a 15 minute intermission, climaxed with long and sustained high notes from the ?Sergio Franchi Young Tenors? including spectacular performances of ?O Sole Mio.?
They drew repeated standing ovations and Franchi clearly moved by her singers and the crowd that showed up in force despite the dire weather forecasts, thanked them from coming and said her 250-acre estate would continue to be the site of what she called the Connecticut version of the Met ? though tickets cost just $30.
Robert C. Pollack can be reached at Caladare@aol.com
Source: http://shorelinetimes.com/articles/2012/09/22/life/doc505e4037af6d1939441177.txt
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