The struggle has injected a dose of real-world politics into the melody-basted halls of the Manhattan School, one of the city's top conservatories and the producer of legions of highly skilled singers, pianists, fiddlers and other performers.
"La Clemenza di Tito," on Friday night, offered a highly skilled and excellently matched ensemble of singers, including Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Kristine Jepson, Joyce DiDonato and Isabel Bayrakdarian.
A highly skilled musician on the tin whistle, Packie was also a singer, with a repertoire that ranged from humorous songs to classic ballads, and a storyteller with a wealth of tales from his native Donegal.
He drew an electrifying, sumptuously colorful and commanding account of this eclectic score from the Philharmonic players and Synergy Vocals, the highly skilled eight-member ensemble that sang the Sinfonia's experimental vocal component, originally conceived for the Swingle Singers.
She did so by becoming a highly skilled, pragmatic, and indefatigable administrator who was "very straightforward, always calm, collected, looking for ways to make things happen," Singer says.
The best known, "Lágrimas Negras" (Calle 54), was a rapturous meeting with the Spanish flamenco singer Diego El Cigala; the latest, "Bebo de Cuba" (Calle 54), is a brilliantly sprawling showcase, featuring a coterie of highly skilled New York musicians in both arranged and ad hoc settings.
Were they highly skilled?
And Jade is highly skilled.
Lawrence was a highly skilled draftsman.
