Leah Crocetto's Schwabacher Debut Recital

* Notes * 
Soprano Leah Crocetto gave her Schwabacher Debut Recital, accompanied by pianist Mark Morash, last Sunday evening. The eclectic program included works from Bellini, Rachmaninoff, Barber, Obradors, Liszt, Gregory Peeples, Gershwin, and Cole Porter. Crocetto sings with an impressive effortlessness. Bellini's Sei Ariette were very beautiful, and Crocetto's phrasing was lovely and fluid. She did sound the slightest bit compressed in the very highest note of Rachmaninoff's "Zdes' khorosho," but given how high it was, this is reasonable. The selections from the Canciones Clásicas Españolas of Obradors were very cute, especially "Chiquitita la novia." Crocetto is flexible, she sounds convincing singing jazz, and she explained she used to sing Gershwin and Cole Porter as much as she could in New York, supplementing her income by working at The Olive Garden. Morash and Crocetto did not seem as together in this repertoire, though otherwise the playing and singing were both strong. The encores were wonderful, the first being a song in Spanish, and the second an aria from La Rondine.

* Tattling * 
There was some minor whispering, but the audience was well-behaved. During the last part of the program, Crocetto tipped Morash, saying he only agreed to do a jazz set under such conditions. Afterward, someone rushed to the stage with a couple of bills in hand as tips.

Most of the other Adler Fellows could not attend this event, as they were performing with the Alonzo King Lines Ballet at Yerba Buena.