A SUCCESS STORY
I have been working with the Placido Domingo Young Artists group at the Washington National Opera for almost 20 years, and of course I always hope the young artists all will go on to have big careers in opera. Once in a while, though, that actually happens. Right now, I am very proud of my student Soloman Howard.
(Maddelena with Soloman in her Kennedy Center classroom) I work with my young singers to teach them how to properly pronounce the Italian words, but I also try to instill in them not just a love for opera, but also a love for the Italian language and culture - and of course the food!! These young singers don’t make much money, so sometimes I invite them to my home for dinner and some of my homemade limoncello.
The students come from all over the world with very different cultures. Soloman Howard grew up right here in Washington, DC and began singing in church at the age of three. Who could have imagined this young guy - who grew up in a tough neighborhood in Southeast - would have such a talent for singing opera? Fortunately, a high school teacher recognized his talent, which he then developed at Morgan State University, where he was given a full scholarship to sing in the choir.
This spring, Soloman is in his third and final season with the Young Artists Program at the Kennedy Center. During his time with us, he appeared in such productions as Don Giovanni, the Magic Flute, the Force of Destiny, and he had the title role playing Muhammad Ali in the world premiere of Approaching Ali. One can’t help noticing that Soloman is a sharp dresser and also a well-mannered young man, “molto educato”.
We were all very happy for him when he recently made his Carnegie Hall debut as a soloist. Now we have just learned that Soloman has been signed by the Metropolitan Opera of New York. He will appear at the Met next year in Aida, and he will also be singing with the Los Angeles Opera. When I was helping him with his diction in preparation for the audition at the Met, I felt that he could do it.
Now it’s a dream come true, and I could not be more proud. (If you would like to watch a video of one of my lessons with Soloman, please go to http://www.kennedycenter.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=80576&source_type=A) And this month, Soloman was in the opera “An American Soldier,” based on the true story of Private Danny Chen, a Chinese-American soldier who was allegedly driven to suicide by his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan.
Soloman plays the role of the military judge who gave light sentences to the soldiers who threw rocks at Danny’s head and made him endure physical abuse and racial slurs. The review by the Washington Post’s opera critic said Soloman is “shaping up to be one of WNO’s success stories.” After the opera’s premiere at the Kennedy Center on June 13, there was a panel discussion with Danny Chen’s mother and others, and some of the audience members were in tears. Io lavoro per l’Opera da quasi vent'anni, e non ho mai incontrato un essere più gentile di Soloman, ed un talento più vero. Si può dire veramente di lui che lui, grazie alle sue qualite morali e canore, è salito dalla stalla alle stelle. In other words, his story is truly a “rags to riches” story!! I am also very proud of another singer I worked with who sang the title role of Andrea Chenier at Casa Italiana on June 7.
My former student Jesus Hernandez gave a wonderful performance, and the audience seemed to really appreciate him and the other performers from the Riverbend Opera Company of Fairfax, Virginia. Jesus is from Mexico. He joined the U.S. Army and was deployed to Iraq, where he saved a fellow soldier’s life. After his service in Iraq, he came back to the U.S. and came to the attention of Placido Domingo himself. As soon as he heard Jesus sing, he immediately hired him for his Young Artists’ Group, where I had the pleasure of teaching him for three years. I wish the best of luck to my two students Soloman and Jesus and hope they have wonderful careers in the opera.
PUGLIA EXPLORED
by Nancy DeSanti
A few months ago, the Order Sons of Italy (OSIA) Fairfax Lodge officer Joe LaMarca invited three AMHS members to give a presentation on the southern Italian region of Puglia (the “heel of the boot”). Joe and his wife June went on a trip to Puglia with me in October 2013 which we all enjoyed very much. So on May 3, 2014, Cecilia Fiermonte, Antonio Bianchini and I traveled to Fairfax, Virginia to speak to the members of the OSIA lodge. Cecilia had prepared a wonderful powerpoint presentation on Puglia, an area she knows well since her parents and sister were born near Bari and she has been back there a number of times. She showed us some photos of her family including her father who was an alpino (elite mountain soldier).
Before she became a lawyer, Cecilia was an art history major, and so she gave a very knowledgeable and informative presentation on the art, architecture and history of Puglia. She talked about the beautiful mosaics of Otranto, the Roman amphitheater and the Basilica of Santa Croce in Lecce, the famous Castel del Monte (pictured on the one-cent euro coin), the churches of Trani, the rocky cliffs of Polignare a Mare, the trulli (conical houses) of Alberobello, the beautiful beaches along the Gargano coast and so much more. Cecilia also told 7 us a lot about Bari, the capital of Puglia, with its Swabian castle, its maze-like old quarter (Bari Vecchia), the more modern part which has wide avenues such as the Via Sparano lined with palm trees and many high-end designer stores, and the beautiful waterfront area Passegiata Lungomare. Cecilia also played a video of the pizzica folk dancing which originated in the Salento area of southeastern Puglia and has become so popular that every summer there is a Notte della Taranta, an all-night affair featuring well-known musicians and pizzica orchestras.
Then Antonio showed his mosaic of the famous trulli of Alberobello. He brought his tools to better explain to the audience how he made this beautiful mosaic through a painstaking process over a period of 45 hours. To learn more about Antonio’s work, we invite you to come to our July 27 program at Casa Italiana (see related article in this issue). Hopefully the audience was left with an appreciation of - and desire to go to - this wonderful region which does not see that many visitors.