Stefan Szkafarowsky News
American opera singer
- bass
- United States of America
- opera singer
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2024-04-22
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2017-03-27 16:00:56
The power of fête
[…] an Aida, and she sings that role too.) Stephen Gaertner, whose dark, manly baritone thrives on such roles as Don Carlo, sang “Son Pereda, di ricco e d’onore” robustly but really hit stride in his duets with Alvaro and the double aria between those duets, the proper fiendish gleam arising in his earthy clash with Mr. Brooks’s metallic tenor. Both singers built tense excitement in this scene, and their rage had an inspiring fire. Stefan Szkafarowsky, who sang Aleko at the New York City Opera last fall, provided Padre Guardiano with a similarly woolly but highly effective instrument. Daniel Klein, whose bass-baritone is rather effective than lyrical, played Fra Melitone’s comic moments and hypocritical ill temper to delicious effect. Janara Kellerman’s sizeable mezzo and its attractive color implied that she would triumph in the proper part, but Preziosilla—to my mind the most annoying role in all Verdi—was not that part. […]
2016-09-17 16:17:45
‘Manon Lescaut,’ ‘Madama Butterfly,’ and the Met’s Latest Love Couple (Part Two): The Tall and the Short of It
[…] those gorgeous polished mirrors above and below the stage, running about — even walking from one side to the other— becomes as precarious as scaling Mount Everest. In my experience, there have been a host of fantastically costumed Bonzes weighed down with all types of Kabuki and Noh paraphernalia. Yet, the effect of their curse has been nothing less than stupendous. In this production, we had (for once) the powerfully intoned pronouncements of bass Stefan Szkafarowsky in the part. His movements, however, and everyone else’s were visibly impaired by the treacherous footing on those same polished mirrors. The Wedding Party scene, Act I of Madama Butterfly (Met Opera Photo) This effect spilled over into the singing and acting, which was not necessarily a blemish. On April 2, 2016, Latvian diva Kristine Opolais took over the title role. Opolais has sung Cio-Cio-San on prior occasions, including a memorable Friday evening […]
2016-09-10 19:05:00
But maybe I'm wrong, because it's hard to see how this got past them: The story is heavy on melodrama. After an appealing choral scene for the contented Gypsies, an old man (here the stentorian bass Kevin Thompson) tells a somber tale of a woman he once loved who ran off with a man from another camp. Aleko (the sturdy bass Stefan Szkafarowsky), who is married to the winsome young Zemfira (the dark-toned soprano Inna Dukach), says he would never put up with such a betrayal. But Zemfira has fallen for a dashing young lover (the bright tenor Jason Karn) and flaunts her affair in Aleko’s face. After an anguished aria of despair, a highlight of the score, Aleko kills the young lovers and is banished from the camp.If I need to tell you who wrote that, you haven't been paying attention.
2016-09-10 18:28:16
Cuts like a knife
[…] opera! With a few years’ experience and a proper libretto, he might have given us a worthy repertory staple. The singers gave vivid but uneven performances. Kevin Thompson, who is not Russian, possesses the sort of sizable, woolly bass that underpins most Russian operatic scores, and though his breath control was imperfect, he gave an evocative folksinger-by-the-campfire account of the Old Gypsy’s song, the only number that ever gets much independent play. As Aleko, Stefan Szkafarowsky had the build and white hair to suggest why slim young Zemfira has lost interest in him. His gritty bass did not make much of a case for him either, and his rage and loneliness both lacked tragic fuel. Inna Dukach sang Zemfira with attractive lined of both voice and hem. I was impressed by Olga Lomteva’s brief turn as an old Gypsy Woman, less so by Jason Karn, stuck with the dull part […]
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