A Grand Night for Singing — An American Songfest

A Grand Night for Singing — An American Songfest

Ronny Michael Greenberg, Curator

Merola Opera Program

From 1300 initial applicants and 650 in-person auditions, twenty-eight singers, pianists, and directors have been selected in 2025 for the nation’s preeminent opera training program whose annual participants arrive from all over the world.  In addition to their intense training in their artistry, craft, and business, each summer the Merola Opera Scholars grace San Francisco with a series of performances that has become an annual favorite for many.  

Last evening (June 26), the first of four 2025 Merola Summer Festival offerings filled to capacity the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall as thirteen members of this year’s class soared to the heavens and back as they honored the 250-year, rich, and incredibly diverse history of American music.  With music ranging from gospel to jazz, to Broadway, cabaret, classical, pop, soul, and more, the Merola Opera Program’s A Grand Night for Singing — An American Songfest was nothing short of a lovefest highlighting the exceptional talents of these blossoming stars of tomorrow’s global opera and concert stages.

After an appropriately joyful and exuberant opening of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “It’s Grand Night for Singing” featuring the entire evening’s company, the first of six singer-pianist duets took the stage with stunning fervency.  With Ronny Michael Greenberg at the piano — a 2014 Merola graduate and also the Curator of the evening’s program — soprano Charlotte Siegel immediately left the audience near breathless as with sultry, soulful notes she sang the blues number that Etta James’ 1960 version made “At Last” forever a classic (Harry Warren, music; Mack Gordon, lyrics).  As her voice wandered through luscious pathways, one could almost see the night’s stars and feel eroticism in the air.  With a shift to more toe-tapping swing, the soloist and pianist together sparkled in their partnering with obvious mutual affection as they scored a winner in Cole Porter’s “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To.”  Their final venture into musical romance was a hypnotic, heart-melting “Fly Me to the Moon” to cap off an opening set that already was worth the price of the evening’s ticket.

With a bass voice that from the get-go trumpeted with force and resounding fury, John Mburu brought down not only the walls of Jericho but sent near shudders throughout the auditorium as he belted the traditional spiritual, “Joshua Fought the Battle.”  Accompanied by Deven Shah whose keyboard also sounded in dramatic runs the crashing of an ancient city’s walls, John Mburu next brought tears to both his and our eyes as he sang the moving Charles Ives ballad, “Songs My Mother Taught Me,” relating how the songs of his mother, he now teaches to his children.  As his gorgeously deep-toned voice enveloped us with the warmth of the South Seas, our second soloist left us all amongst the swaying, balmy breezes of “Some Enchanted Evening,” another of Roger and Hammerstein’s signature masterpieces featured in the evening’s line-up.

A magnetic pull into a near dream state was the effect on us as audience as baritone Joeavian Rivera and pianist Brian McCann opened their set with Andrew Thomas (music) and Gene Scheer’s (lyrics) 1999 anthem, “Lean Away.”  From the first notes of “Pure Imagination” (Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, music and lyrics), we as audience felt invited into a magical world made all the more beautiful not only by Rivera’s rich and robust notes ever clear and pure but also by his painting a picture of a world where imagination brings countless opportunities for new discoveries.  When his notes flew with such ease into a sweet, sustained falsetto, we were definitely for a moment in another world nearly as fantastical as that of the song’s initial setting, Willie Wonka and the Magic Factory.

Tenor Tristan Tournaud took us on a journey from the idyllic shores of Ireland to the dingy streets of Rotterdam with his impressive set of two songs delivered in hugely contrasting styles.  Beautifully voiced notes lured us with an Irish tenor feel to look out into the ocean for a love now in some distant land as Tournaud delivered a traditional sea shanty song, “10,000 Miles Away.”  Along with pianist Brian Cho, the longing tone of the first sea-faring song turned dark and devilish as together they took us into back alleys where “Black Max” roamed among a host of street characters that may soon become Death’s next victims.  But an even bigger switch of song genres occurred as suddenly we were all resisting swaying and even singing along as the pair jubilantly both throbbed and swooned in the notes sung and played as they presented Irving Berlin’s “Dancing Cheek to Cheek.”

The mood quickly calmed as we leaned in to appreciate the messages and the emotions of two songs from African-American composer Leslie Adams’ song cycle, “Nightsongs,” each based on poems by Black poets of the early twentieth century: “The Heart of a Woman” by Georgia Douglas Johnson and “Night Song” by Paul Laurence Dunbar.  Bass-baritone Justice Yates brought oft-cavernous timbre to each; but when he sang Celie’s climatic song of personal independence and newfound self-acceptance — “I’m Here” from The Color Purple — his combination of powerful and compelling vocals and his ability to embody physically and emotionally the character of Celie led to what was surely the longest, most enthusiastic applause of the night, with shouted “bravos” filling the air.  Dain Yule Yoon added arresting intensity and triumphant declarations via the keyboard as Yates sang the song’s climatic “I’m living” … I’m beautiful … I’m here.”

Introducing her two numbers as dedicated to women who have survived unhealthy relationships, mezzo-soprano Ruby Dibble proceeded to sing the raw and frustrated remorse of a woman searching for answers to “How Did We Come to This?”  from Andrew Lippa’s Off-Broadway show, The Wild Party.  Beginning with notes reaching deep to reflect the pain as she sang of one who is “breaking my foolish heart,” Dibble moved into a swaggering storm of sarcastic rhymes of the word “if” as she convincingly sang with much dark humor Styne, Comden, and Green’s “If You Hadn’t But You Did” about all the things that her ex did that were wrong.  Her fabulous intonations were matched by her spot-on abilities as an actor, all made the better by the collaborative partnership with her accompanist, Tsu Kuang Tan.

As the total company returned to a rousing close of “San Francisco” from the 1936 movie of the same name, it was evident that the part of the evening’s success also was due to the fine-tuned stage direction of Merola Scholar Elio Bucky and to the subtle but highly effective lighting choices of designer Aaron Riley.  While unfortunately A Grand Night for Singing — An American Songfest was only a one-night stand, my hope as a reviewer is that my detailed descriptions will convince my readers quickly to secure a ticket to one of the other three upcoming, summer programs by this amazingly talented group of musical artists enrolled in the 2025 Merola Opera Program.  Like last night, I am sure seats will sell out fast; and to miss the opportunity to witness the next generation of opera stars would be a pity.

Rating: 5 E

The 2025 Merola Summer Festival continues with The Schwabacher Summer Concert, “It’s Complicated — Love & Opera,” 7:30 p.m., Thursday July 10 and 2:00 p.m. Saturday, July 12, 2025 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco.  Next will be Rossini’s  Le Comte Ory, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 31 and 2 p.m. Saturday, August 2, also at the Conservatory.  The summer’s program will conclude with “Merola Grand Finale: featuring all twenty-eight of this year’s Scholars, 7:30 p.m. August 15, 2025, at the War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco.  Tickets to all programs are available online at http://merola.org or by calling the San Francisco Box Office at 415-864-3330.

Photo Credits: Kristen Loken