Merola's L’Anima Napoletana

* Notes *

Merola presented a charming evening of Neapolitan-inspired songs entitled “L’Anima Napoletana” (tenor Chester Seungyup Han and soprano Shannon Crowley pictured, photograph by Kristen Loken) on Thursday at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The young singers all have a lot of power and conveyed emotions of the texts with ease.

The recital, curated by Mario Antonio Marra, was accompanied by the various collaborative pianists in the Merola program. The performance started strong with the lilting “Santa Lucia” sung by mezzo-soprano Stella FitzGerald with pianist Deven Shah. Her voice has some beautiful resonances.

They were joined by tenor Cole McIlquham in a scene of romantic love, and toward the end of the set the piano was taken up by Sakurako Jayne Abe. FitzGerald and McIlquham are well-matched, both are loud but they did not overpower each other in their duet “O paese d’o sole” by Vincenzo D’Annibale.

All the tenors were quite distinct. Tenor Logan Wagner is more plaintive than the aforementioned McIlquham. His “Occhi di fata” is expressive. Tenor Chester Seungyup Han has a lot of charisma, his sound solid and well-supported. His duet with soprano Shannon Crowley “‘O marenariello” was delightful.

Likewise the two sopranos were rather different from each other, Charlotte Kelso has an icy tone while Shannon Crowley is brighter and very full.

The one bass, Theo Harrah, has a pleasant reedy tone. He seemed much beleaguered in his love triangle scene with Crowley and Han.

* Tattling *

There was someone in the first row that kept taking photographs on his phone during the performance, but since he was off to the side, it wasn’t too distracting. Otherwise, the Merola audience tends to be respectful and quiet, which is very welcome.