From: conrad@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: Cheryl Studer was Re: Kathleen Battle; other sopranos
Date: 9 Apr 92 16:33:37 GMT
Organization: University of Delaware

In article <1992Apr9.150148.27982@linus.mitre.org> rwilmer@gateway (R. Wilmer) writes:

>I have been impressed by three sopranos I heard for the first time over the
>radio on live Saturday afternoon broadcasts from the Met:

>Marilyn Mims
>Ruthann Swenson
>and something like Kathy Esebian.

Is the third one perhaps Kallen Esperian?

>These voices seemed to me to be fine natural instruments
>with excellent technique.  I was particularly glad
>to hear sopranos without edgy high notes, nasal
>middle registers, or wobbles (faults I have noticed frequently
>in the last decades).

Amen to all your last sentence.  I would concur with your praise in all
3 cases, though in some cases with minor reservations.
  Marilyn Mims has been nurtured up-through-the-ranks by the Met, I
believe.  She studied for a while at Indiana U (my alma mater) though I
was not aware of this till recently (apparently she didn't stay long).
I find her a solid vocalist rather than a really interesting artist so
far, but that ain't a bad start.
  Ruth Ann Swenson impressed me mightily on the new Sony recording of
"Kismet" (she plays the ingenue).  In terms of sheer sound (in which I
include intonation and getting from note to note) this is one of the
most ravishing new voices I've heard in years.  I love just hearing her
vocalize, for the sensuous pleasure of it.  She is to be in the new
production of "Ariadne auf Naxos" at the Met next season.  At first I
thought "Oh, how nice, a soprano Composer again after all these mezzos,"
but on reflection she's probably doing Zerbinetta.  Everyone around here
tells me that her Rosina (Rossini) in Philadelphia recently was
absolutely stunning.
  Kallen Esperian (assuming that's who you meant) is a student of a
friend of mine, and a friend of good (local) friends.  It's a beautiful
voice, full-bodied and dark while still being youthful.  I have become
aware of a danger that she gets tempted to darken or "cover" the middle
still more, and then her high notes do get edgy.  (The Met coaches have
encouraged her to do this, but I'll spare us all another diatribe at our
modern coaching mafia.)  Her calling card is Mimi, which she has done
all over with great success.  Pavarotti (whose Philadelphia competition
she won in the early 80s) and Domingo both love to do that opera with
her, and have often recommended her to managements.  She has also had
successes at La Scala in Luisa Miller and Vespri, and has lately been
much in demand as Desdemona.

Incidentally, Kallen got a big boost from Gabriela Benackova's
cancellation of a run of Boheme's at Chicago Lyric Opera, which was then
made available to her.  How many young sopranos have benefited similarly
from Benackova's propensity to cancel?  I can think of Cheryl Studer
(Tannhaeuser at Bayreuth) and Nadine Secunde (Katya Kabanova in
Cologne), in both cases their first real exposure to the international
limelight.  Any more?  Hey -- maybe there's an article in this!  "The
Benackova Legacy," anyone?  :-)

Jon Alan Conrad