Soprano Magdalena Kuzma

LUSTROUS VOCAL SOUND AT KUZMA'S SCHROEDER RECITAL

As the atmospheric river raged through California Feb.11, another flood was inundating Schroeder Hall, that of thrilling singing and piano playing, roaring out of the extraordinary young Polish American soprano Magdalena Kuźma and her equally gifted musical partner, pianist Marika Yasuda. These two young women, clearly friends, fellow students and now colleagues) from their Oberlin Conservatory days, literally set the Hall afire.

Sadly, it was a diminished audience due to the storm, with less than 100 in attendance. Anyone who had to skip this recital due to the weather missed an amazing local debut, one that people will be talking about years hence when “I heard her back in ‘24 when she was just starting out” will be a fond memory.

Ms. Kuźma is a big lyric soprano but with an excitement in her voice and a deep musicality that portends a dramatic future. She appears to be in her mid-twenties and is currently in her first year at the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program. We were also gifted with the playing of Ms. Yasuda. Collaborative pianists are trained specifically for the performance of chamber music, partnering with other musicians, and Ms. Yasuda is a gem among them. Her playing of the whole program was ravishing, but the Rachmaninoff songs were particularly fine. She imbued all this rich repertoire with light, fluidity, and all-encompassing passion, describing and reflecting perfectly the poetry being sung.

The program was entitled Dream and had the feel of an accomplished graduate recital. The Dream theme was ideally suited to the singer’s voice and temperament, with each song’s poetry addressing various aspects of the subject. Clad in a shimmering black sequined, slit-skirted sarong with serious red stilettos, she did not speak to the audience, and there was no encore. The program was simply a stunning glimpse of her talent, consisting of three songs by Fauré, Rachmaninoff’s “Six Romances, opus 38”, “Sechs Lieder”, opus 48 by Grieg (in German), three songs by Sibelius, and “Hold Fast to Dreams” by Florence Price. The program also showcased Ms. Kuźma’s impressive fluency in Russian and Finnish, besides her expected flawless French and German.

There was a single brief statement captioning the title of the recital which ultimately asked the question “How do we separate reality from illusion?” Unfortunately we never were able to fully follow that thesis since there were no other notes or translations provided, a surprising and disappointing omission. She was also intermittently relying a little too heavily on her music, particularly in the lovely opening set of familiar Fauré songs (“Ici bas”, “Après un rêve”, and “Clair de lune”). It would have been better not to open the evening with songs that placed her eyes so frequently on the score rather than the audience. She used music for most of the program, usually just as a prompt, but sometimes more than that, which is apparently becoming acceptable for song recitals, an unwelcome trend because it very much diminishes the art song experience, especially for a remarkable communicator such as she. Because when she did sing out to the house, her facial expression and body language fully matched her vocal, linguistic and acting abilities.

That said, this one negative was diminished considerably by the sheer impact of her voice and singing prowess. It is a God-given instrument, big, lustrous, bright and rich all at once-what the old-schoolers call “chiaroscuro” (bright-dark), with a white-hot energy coursing through it like a laser. Her technique is absolutely solid, so that her delivery always appears and sounds effortless. She modulates her dynamics and phrasing intuitively, the color and beauty of her sound perfectly balanced with the words. Interpretively, she has a remarkable amount of depth and thoughtfulness for one so young and displays a temperament and wisdom of a mature storyteller.

Although Fauré songs are generally thought of as more suitable for lighter voices, I found the ravishing sound that poured out of her in these mélodies gorgeously appropriate. If only they had been memorized! She followed the Fauré with a dramatic and beautiful set by Rachmaninoff. Her masterful singing and understanding of Six Romances (Op. 38), combined with the virtuosity displayed by Ms. Yasuda, suggested an all-Russian recital by soprano Galina Vishnevskaya and pianist Mstislav Rostropovich that I saw many years ago, where there was no sheet music in use, the entire recital performed by heart. Ms. Kuźma has the potential to develop into an artist of similar stature.

After intermission the duo returned to present Grieg’s Six Songs, Op. 48, which were also thrilling, especially the last magnificent “Ein Traum” (“a dream”). These were followed by three substantial and heartfelt songs by Sibelius. The program closed with Florence Price’s “Hold Fast to Dreams”—a wonderful end to the recital.

In short, this is a major vocal artist and career in the making. The Schroeder audience adored her and showed it loudly. She is one to follow and she makes it very easy to do, with today’s endless universe of further information about her available online.