• Operatic singers to give intimate recital at the Z

  • There are few art forms that express the human experience as sweepingly as opera. And there are few themes as rich as love.
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    On April 17, the two will come together.
    The internationally celebrated Diana McVey and Tianxu Zhou will perform in the rare intimate setting of "Stage Door Live" at the Zeiterion Theatre in a duet recital titled "The Many Moods of Love."
    "Opera is a good vehicle to express the many layers of love," Dr. Zhou says. "We've chosen a variety of love songs based on style and language. Opera is musical drama — it sets the backdrop of the story and dramatizes the feelings. It can explore any emotion.
    "The human voice is capable of doing so much," Zhou says. "The color that we have in our voice can be so powerful. As trained vocalists we usually have a few more tools in our tool box to express these feelings. The format of piano and singer really gives you the chance to express your feelings through the songs in much more of a detailed way."
    Zhou has his doctorate in music; he teaches voice and conducts the choral program at UMass Dartmouth.
    McVey is a Rhode Island native. She speaks to the difference between singing for an intimate audience or in a larger theater.
    "This format is exciting but daunting," says McVey. "The audience is right on top of you and they see every little movement you make, head to toe. There's no room for any errors, which is a good thing, but it makes it tougher. You can't hide what you do like in larger settings. In opera we may sometimes turn to clear our throat or remove an eyelash from our eye, but you can't do anything like that in a recital.
    "They'll be able to see every tooth in my mouth."
    The most enjoyable element for McVey in this recital setting is that she is able to choose the music, as opposed to a full opera performance where she has the music decided for her.
    "I'm always attracted to the text first," McVey reveals. "And if I like the text and the music I'll want to sing it as often as possible. And at the same time it has to be something challenging for me."
    McVey will be performing 13 selections including arias from Puccini, Dvorak, and Verdi. Those will be followed by songs from Schumann, Puccini, and Richard Cumming, and concluding with "To Keep My Love Alive," by Rodgers and Hart.
    Dr. Zhou will be performing 14 selections including Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro," two pieces by Paolo Tosti, "A Shropshire Lad" by George Butterworth based on a poem by A.E. Housman, selections from "Blue Mountain Ballads" based on a poem by Tennessee Williams, the American folk song "Shenandoah," the Chinese art song, "Longing for My Homeland," by Qing Zhou, and "Don Quichotte a Dulcinee" by Maurice Ravel.
    They singers will share the Violetta-Germont duet from Act II of "La Traviata."
    Each singer's set will be a little more than half an hour. McVey will perform first, followed by the duet, followed by Zhou's performance.
    Tickets are $25 — only 125 are available — and the show begins at 7:30 p.m. The Zeiterion box office can be reached at (508) 994-2900.
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