South Florida Classical Review

Soprano Catalina Cuervo (with guitarist Alvaro Bermudez) performed Friday night to open IlluminArts’ season at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami’s Design District. Photo: Tamara Benavente

Music of Philip Glass and the Latin American diaspora served as an aural counterpart to artwork of Olga de Amaral Friday night at the Institute of Contemporary Art. The exhibition of the Colombian artist’s multi-hued woven fabrics in Miami’s Design District provided the visual backdrop to the season-opening concert of IlluminArts.

Friday’s program was the first under composer-educator Shawn Crouch, IlluminArts’s new artistic and executive director. De Amaral provided taped commentary about her art and its inspiration for each segment of the presentation. Audience members were encouraged to walk around the exhibition room and view her visually stunning works during several walking interludes, mostly to Glass’ Metamorphosis pieces.

The evening opened with Glass’ Metamorphosis One, later followed by two others from the set. These vignettes are quintessential Glass, marked by repetitive minimalist patterns mixed with meditative undertones. Pianist Alan Johnson, who worked with Glass on several projects,  displayed real affinity for the composer’s singular idiom. Johnson, who recently retired as director of the University of Miami’s Frost Opera Theater, showed total command of the music, bringing clarity, subtlety and exactness to music that can turn monotonous in lesser hands.

Colombian-born soprano Catalina Cuervo was the concert’s featured vocalist and she displayed impressive versatility. In the “Embroidery Aria” from Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes (a canny choice  to accompany de Amaral’s work), Cuervo’s dark timbre and clear, powerful high range underscored the pathos of the schoolteacher Ellen Orford’s narrative. She brought operatic languor to Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Melodia Sentimental, her rich lower register imbuing this vision of love and moonlight with dusky fervor. Cuervo brought out the emotional undercurrents beneath the pulsating rhythm of Maria Grever’s pop standard “Jurame” to cheers from the enthusiastic audience.

Catalina Cuervo and pianist Alan Johnson performed arias and songs in front of fabric artworks by Olga de Amaral at ICA. Photo: Tamara Benavente.

The “Hymn to the Sun” from Glass’ opera Akhnaten proved the presentation’s high point. In this scene, the Egyptian pharaoh Akhnaten prays to the sun for protection and attempts to touch its golden rays. The celebrated aria combines Glass’s signature style with the austere vocal patterns of early Baroque masters such as Monteverdi and Caccini. Although written for countertenor, the aria worked remarkably well sung by a soprano. Cuervo captured Akhnaten’s rapt incantation in tones both gleaming and strong, and Johnson’s accompaniment fully encompassed Glass’ operatic voice and vision.

Guitarist Alvaro Bermudez played an interlude, setting up a more intimate, populist aura. Taking a seat next to him, Cuervo joined Bermudez for two Colombian folk songs. A fine composer (who has written choral scores for Seraphic Fire), Bermudez combined mastery of his instrument with the easygoing style of a lounge player. He joined Cuervo for one of the settings, displaying a fine light voice. In these homespun musical cameos, Cuervo sang with directness and lack of operatic pretension to delightful effect.

The concert concluded with the songful outpouring of Samuel Barber’s “Sure on this Shining Night,” sung with beauty of line by Cuervo, with Johnson providing patrician keyboard support.

The varied stylistic offerings on the program clearly bode well for Crouch’s fresh leadership of the series.

IlluminArts presents “Old Masters in Context: Naples Sacred and Profane” featuring the Ampersand Ensemble performing Medieval and Renaissance music 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. November 6 at the University of Miami’s Lowe Museum in Coral Gables.  illuminarts.org

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