"Angel of the Amazon" Tries Its Wings with Blue Ash/Montgomery Symphony Orchestra

 For a bargain price (free),  attendees heard music by Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and even a world premiere, three excerpts from “Angel of the Amazon,” a brand new opera by Evan Mack.  BAMSO music director Michael Chertock was on the podium.

The latter was a true event.  Not only is Mack’s opera headed for a New York City premiere in May, 2011 (by Encompass New Opera Theatre), but it celebrates a local heroine, Dorothy Stang, a native of Dayton, Ohio and Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, who in 2005 at the age of 73 was murdered by logging interests in Brazil because of her work to improve the lives of the poor and prevent destruction of the Amazon rain forest.

Heard were “Three Reflections of Sister Dorothy” for mezzo-soprano and orchestra featuring Cincinnati mezzo-soprano Catherine Fishlock.  Mack, who earned his doctorate in composition from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, was on hand to put the music in context.

Another CCM graduate, violinist Timothy Schwarz performed J.S. Bach’s Violin Concerto in A Minor and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (the first movements of each).

Mack, 28, whose artistic efforts are matched by his marketing and public relations skills (see www.angeloftheamazon.com), may have a blooming success on his hands and one looks forward to hearing the complete opera when it is finally produced.  The “Three Reflections,” arias by Sister Dorothy, were lush, urgent and neo-romantic, with Latin percussion (marimba, claves) and a full string sound.  Musically and perhaps inevitably, this listener was reminded of Daniel Catan’s similarly lush “Florencia en el Amazonas,” performed by Cincinnati Opera in 2008.

The three excerpts reflect Mack’s ultimate goal, to set the opera for full orchestra.  At the moment, it is scored for piano, marimba, guitar, two violins and two cellos, the better to get it produced and premiered.  In two acts and 14 scenes, the opera is tightly constructed.  It opens on the day of the murder in 2005, which is interrupted by a flashback to 1969, when Sister Dorothy first arrived in the Amazon.  Scenes alternate from there, with “a” scenes moving backward and “b” scenes moving forward until the last “b” scene (the finale) returns the listener to the day of the murder, which then takes place.

Sister Dorothy’s first aria, “Have I Not Wept?” is taken from act I, when she has just arrived in the Amazon and is challenged by a peasant farmer who doubts her knowledge of their plight and her ability to help them.  Chertock and the BAMSO began softly, with tentative harmonies, that sounded almost as if they were tuning.  The mood turned noble and hymn-like when Fishlock entered with Dorothy’s plaintive question, “have I not wept for those in trouble?”  It grew passionate with her vow “this time I won’t fail,” supported by the full orchestra.

 “The Mountaintop,” from act II, borrows from Martin Luther King’s “Mountaintop” speech (delivered the night before his assassination in 1968) with lines such as “I’ve seen the promised land” and “I may not get there.”  With Sister Dorothy on the road to martyrdom like King, the effect was intensified, reaching another big climax on her declaration, “We will go to the mountaintop,” again sung over full orchestra.

“Will They Listen?” from act II, as Sister Dorothy is about to speak before the Brazilian National Assembly, had an elevated, almost Lincolnesque feel (as in Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait”), before fading out at the end.  Fishlock displayed a full, rich voice throughout the three excerpts, which won a standing ovation from the crowd.

Schwarz, who like Fishlock, had to be heard through Blue Ash Towne Square’s distinctly unflattering sound system, showed his mettle, too.  Performed with a baroque bow, his Bach was tasteful and idiomatic, with selective (or no) vibrato and meticulous intonation.  He switched gears (and bows, taking up a modern one) in the Tchaikovsky warhorse, where he demonstrated a solid technique and considerable flair (give or take a few off-pitches, mostly in the daunting cadenza).  There was a sublime moment near the end, played softly and impossibly high on the violin’s highest string, which cut diamond bright through the distracting sound system.

Chertock opened with the National Anthem and Beethoven’s “Coriolan” Overture, the latter performed with fitting gravity.  He closed with, what else, Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture, where the sounds of battle emerged with noisy amplification through the Towne Square speakers.  Cincinnati Symphony double bassist James Lambert cued the Towne Square carillon and there were cannon-like drumbeats from the BAMSO, making for quite a rout, to the delight, nonetheless, of the holiday crowd.

The 45-piece BAMSO, which is 23 years old this year, depends for part of its support on the cities of Blue Ash and Montgomery, with donations and grants making up the rest.  (BAMSO volunteers, a dedicated and very effective bunch, passed the hat, as it were, just before intermission, as the orchestra played “In the Hall of the Mountain King” from Grieg’s “Peer Gynt.”)  There are three or four BAMSO concerts a year, all free and performed in various sites in the Blue Ash area.  Next up is their annual holiday concert December 5 at Montgomery Assembly of God Church, 7950 Pfeiffer Rd. (free).  Information at http://www.bamso.org/