A night at the Philharmonic

A night at the Philharmonic

We went to the Israel Philharmonic last week – beamed live from Jerusalem and featuring the silkily perfect Renee Fleming and the very fine tenor Joseph Calleja. As Jerry Szubin, the Standard’s production manager, put it, the concert – with the pair’s stunning voices and stage presence and the fact that it was being seen all over the world at the same time – was “a miracle.” One critic remarked on the singers’ “vocal chemistry” and another on “the sheer beauty of their duets.”

We do wish, however, that Calleja had gotten to sing “Nessun Dorma,” from Puccini’s “Turandot,” as he had been scheduled to, rather than Fleming’s pre-empting him with an encore, singing Leonard Cohen’s “Halleljuhah,” the unfortunate low point of the evening.

It’s a pity if you missed it – the Standard told you all about it the week before.

RKB

comments