Alistair, Paul, John-John, Jim and I trotted off to the rather lovely St John's Smith Square again last night (12th August) for a recital of arias and operatic pieces by the Polish-Canadian Soprano Maria Knapik and British-Canadian baritone Jeffrey Carl.
Sublime and sweet, the first half consisted of a succession of short chansons by Polish, German and French composers, including Baudelaire, which were skilfully delivered if a little disjointed - the pianist Michel Brousseau certainly believed in taking his time "warming up" between numbers...
The second half on the other hand was a real treat, as the duo were given a freer rein on some bigger classic operatic pieces. Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci and Verdi's La Traviata were suitably melodramatic, and the finale pieces (also from Verdi) Eri Tu from Un Ballo in Maschera and the ultimate scene from Rigoletto were wonderful.
It was, however, Miss Knapik's shimmering delivery of Vissi d'Arte from Tosca that in my opinion was the stand-out performance of the evening - she has the makings of a real diva! This was further evidenced in the first of three encores by the pair, when she performed a rip-roaring Près des remparts de Séville from Bizet's Carmen, which we adored.
Another beautiful evening in beautiful Baroque surroundings.
Here is a sample of the talents of Maria Knapik:
And here is some of Jeffrey Carl:
St John's Smith Square
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