It was an opera crowd at the Governor’s Mansion on Tuesday night, which explains why the governor was gone (no, no, he was at the Hoops for Kids’ Sake charity basketball game). The annual Valentine gala supporting the vocal arts program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock welcomed more than 100 supporters to the Grand Hall for a night of dinner, wine, and several arias from the Western world’s most celebrated operas.
To accompany the parmesan and pesto chicken and cauliflower and potato puree, program director Rosella Ewing gave us “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini, “De’ miei bollenti spiriti” from La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, and two Mozart arias. Someone missed a punny opportunity to pair the Black Mission fig salad with Mozart’s Figaro, but instead dished up “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein;
“Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” from Show Boat by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein; and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain” from The Fantasticks by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones.With the bread pudding dessert, two more numbers by Verdi and Puccini, and “O mon Fernand” from La favorite by Gaetano Donizetti.
Performers included sopranos Shay Watson, Camren Kvaternik and Melissa Wilcox; mezzosopranos La’leata Westbrook and Erica Finnie; and baritones Daniel Morris, Derrick Herman and Daniel Foltz-Morrison.
High Profile, Pages 44 on 02/23/2014