[Adrienne
Danrich]
Soprano
Adrienne Danrich recently performed in the Vocal Arts Series of the
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Margaret A. Bonds and William
Grant Still are
profiled
at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works
List for each composer by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma,
http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com:
ThirdCoastDigest.com
February 26th, 2012
By
Tom Strini
“An
echo of not only the sounds but also the excitement of the Harlem
Renaissance electrified the Peck School of the Arts Recital Hall
Saturday.
“Adrienne Danrich,
a world-class soprano with blues in her soul, put on her Evening
in the Harlem Renaissance
on UWM’s Vocal Arts Series. I talked with Danrich Thursday, but
didn’t realize the scope of her show until I experienced it. She
brought along Will Johnson, a spectacular bass-baritone with
international credits, to give a spine-tingling account of Old
Man River,
among other numbers.”
Danrich, who wrote
this show, shines as its sun, and not just because of her gorgeous
singing. Her passion for that admirable group of black Harlem artists
and intellectuals, some famous and some forgotten, came through in
her body language and in every word and note. She read the poetry of
Langston Hughes, whose work is at the heart of her show, as
brilliantly as she sang them. She wrote a punchy, efficient script;
she gives us the facts of Harlem life quickly.” “Danrich made
clear the great achievement of a small group who set out, in the
1920s and 1930s, to create an African-American high art with
techniques borrowed from Europe but an essence rooted in black
experience and tradition.”
“And brother, can
Adrienne Danrich sing. Her richness and clarity, her seamless tonal
quality throughout the range, her deft articulation and emotional
commitment to the sentiments of the music dazzled at every turn. She
brought out the big, operatic guns for Alexander von Zemlinsky’s
setting of Hughes’ Misery
(Zemlinsky! Who knew?), art songs by the nearly forgotten but
compelling Margaret Bonds, and the still-current William Grant Still.
She hit her operatic peak in My
Man’s Gone Now,
from Porgy
and Bess.
You can’t have a champagne reception for this singer; that voice
would break all the glasses.”
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