WHASINGTON, DC (OPERA MUSIC THEATER INTERNATIONAL/ www.omti.org/competitions.html) - Opera
Music Theater International (OMTI), under the direction of
James K. McCully, presented the concluding concert of the Marjorie Lawrence International Vocal Competition featuring the competition winners.
The concert occurred at the
National Museum of Women in the Arts with accompanist Maestro Neal Goren. Underwriters for the performance included the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, USAirways, Yamaha Artist Services.
The Competition Winners Concert following the Marjorie Lawrence Competition presented excellent young talent and showcased a vocal selection by each winner that emphasized their level of accomplishment.
First to perform were the Studio Artist Division Winners. These three performances were followed by performances from the three winners in the Artist Division.
The event clearly was a success.
All six were accomplished singers with clearly defined technique and obvious good training. As might be expected, the Artist Division winners were most professional - offering a higher degree of vocal expertise - though all six gave excellent performances.
The concert was well attended, and judging by the applause, a most appreciative audience was showing its support of the quality of each performance. Clearly the audience wanted to acknowledge and support the achievement of these six artists.
The presentation itself was both professional and entertaining. The event highlighted the benefits of concert recital performance, offering young artists the opportunity to perform before a knowledgeable and critical audience. That the Competition culminates in live public performance is to be commended.
Michele Gutrick, third place winner in the Studio Artist Division, began the concert performing "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" from "
La Rondine" by Giacomo Puccini. She did an admirable job, particularly considering that she opened the program with a lesser-known selection. She exhibited good breath control in some extended passages and clearly understood the context of the piece.
Chen Reiss, second place winner in the Studio Artist Division, performed next and did a show-stopping performance of Adele's Laughing Song ("Mein Herr Marquis, ein Mann wie Sie") from Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss. Clearly relaxed and at ease with the repertoire selection, Ms. Reiss got into the role and showed mastery of her selection.
First place winner in the Studio Artists Division, Cristina Nassif, exhibited why she was the winner of the division with an expressive "Bel raggio luginghier" aria from Gioacchino Rossini's "Semiramide". Ms. Nassif was very relaxed and well into the character. With a quality of sound that was striking for her age, she projected very well into the hall. Her excellent vocal technique made her performance memorable.
Third place winner of the Artist Division, Anna Tonna, followed the Studio Artist performances. Ms. Tonna exhibited excellent technique in her aria "Cruda sorte" from Gioacchino Rossini's "L'Itaiana in Algeri". Her diction was clear and her characterization enticing. She proved to have a lovely tone and warmed into her performance admirably.
The concert continued with
Lorraine Hinds, 2nd place winner of the Artist Division. Ms. Hinds gave a very expressive performance clearly exhibiting the mastery of her range in a beautiful rendtion of "Je suis encor tout etourdie" from Jules Massenet's "Manon". Ms. Hinds clearly was knowledgeable of the role and defined the character throughout with clear diction and purposeful phrasing.
The final performance was by the 1st Place Winner of the Artist Division, Charles Reid. Mr. Reid demonstrated clearly why he won the competition with an excellent rendition of Tamino's contemplative aria "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schon" from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "The Magic Flute". Well into character, Mr. Reid gave an animated and defined performance. He had a clear mastery of his range and technique. The sound that he brought forth was beautiful.
The Marjorie Lawrence International Vocal Competition is an excellent opportunity for young singers to hone their craft and perform competitively with their peers. The competition is open to all singers whose operatic repertoire and vocal caliber meet the demands of an international career.
The Competition Concert was completely in keeping with the goals of the competition and exhibited fine talent who are beginning to experience or are on their way to experience performance opportunities.
Opera
Music Theater International, a nonprofit organization, sponsored the Marjorie Lawrence International Vocal Competition at the
National Museum of Woman in the Arts in Washington, DC and the Marjorie Lawrence International Vocal Awards at the
Embassy of Colombia in Washington, DC.
Marjorie Lawrence has been recognized as "one of the truest Wagnerian interpreters of our time, unchallenged for the stirring magnificence of her Brunnhilde and the tender simplicity of her Sieglinde, or the stately loveliness of her Elsa and the compelling malevolence of her Ortrud."
Marjorie Lawrence won an operatic contest sponsored by the Melbourne Sun which sent her to Paris to study with
Madame Cecile Gilly. After three years of hard study learning roles and vocal technique, she made her Monte Carlo Opera debut as Elisabeth in "Tannhauser," and shortly there after at the Paris Opera. Wisely at her audition for the Paris Opera, she chose some of Ortrud's music, knowing there weren't any singers around the French capital who could handle those cruel pages; and sure enough, her Paris Opera debut was as Ortrud in "Lohengrin." The mezzo range held no hardships for her dramatic soprano voice.
Her versatility was remarkable. She sang Tosca as well as all three Brunnhildes and Sieglinde. At the Paris Opera, she sang Alceste, Carmen and Rachel in "La Juive" in addition to "Thais" in French. Miss Lawrence danced the role of "Salome" as well as sang it with all the seven veils coming off on schedule in a dance outdaring even Mary Garden's. She relearned the role of "Salome" in German for the Metropolitan Opera, having previously recorded it in French, the language in which Oscar Wilde wrote his play.
Miss Lawrence's Metropolitan Opera debut as Brunnhilde in "Die Walkure." There is little doubt that the most startling event of the Metropolitan Opera season was the dashing exist of Brunnhilde on horseback in the last scene of the "Gotterdammerung" For years buxom prima donnas had led ancient nags across the stage by the bridle or left them in charge of a stable groom. Marjorie Lawrence charged boldly on her horse in the direction of the funeral pyre.
Marjorie Lawrence is probably the only soprano in history to carry out Richard Wagner's specific stage directions and actually ride her horse into the flames in the immolation scene of "Gotterdammerung." She devoted the entire first chapter of the autobiography, "Interrupted Melody", to the incident. Everyone in the opera house was against it including the stage director, the conductor, and the general manager. But Miss Lawrence risked it all realizing if she failed, it would end her career at the Metropolitan Opera.
In all honest sentiment many people don't realize what a magnificent voice Marjorie Lawrence possessed, and what an excellent singer she was. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut the season after but the same calendar year as Kirsten Flagstad, and she held her own in a company that numbered in addiition to the great Norwegian tenor Lauritz Melchoir, Lotte Lehmann,
Elizabeth Rethberg, Kerstin Thorborg, Karin Branzell and Friedrich Schorr.
Marjorie Lawrence International Vocal Competition
www.OMTI.org/scholarships.html Marjorie Lawrence Vocal Competition was Clearly A Success
www.OMTI.org/competitions.html Evelyn Lear and
Thomas Stewart Master Class
www.OMTI.org/LSMC.html Ryan Edwards Master Class
www.OMTI.org/REMC.html 
