Tenor Lawrence Brownlee’s ‘Rising’ @ Titus Family Recital

—Gregory Sullivan Isaacs

The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Family Recital series has brought Dallas audiences close encounters with some of the greatest singers alive today. The recital, an annual event for The Dallas Opera, is an experience of pure song, minus the trappings of the opera stage or the power of a full orchestra. There is a singer, a pianist, an audience—plus words and music.

The 10th installment of the series featured the international opera star, lyric tenor Lawrence Brownlee, in collaboration with pianist Myra Huang. The recital took place on the afternoon of January 21 and eschewed the grandeur of the Winspear Opera House in favor of the simplicity of the Moody Performance Hall across the street. It was a terrific and enlightening performance of carefully curated music by Black composers written over the course of the past century.

Lyric tenors once ruled the stage with their warm and flexible voices. But as time passed, they saw their favored bel canto and French repertoire taken over by a more stentorian, Italianate brand of tenor—singers who thrilled audiences with huge high notes. The pendulum has swung again, however, and lyric tenors happily inhabit their repertoire on stages across the music world.

There is no greater example of this tenor resurgence than Lawrence Brownlee. His unmistakable lyric tenor voice is burnished by a slightly baronial cast that coats his singing in pure honey. His high range is a remarkable aspect of his fame, such as his high F above high C in the aria "Credeasi, misera" from Vincenzo Bellini’s I puritani (The Puritans). We didn’t hear that, but Brownlee did sing the eagerly anticipated aria Ah, mes amis from Donizetti’s La fille du régiment (Daughter of the Regiment) as his final encore—a crowd favorite, and a wonderful way to display his effortless series of nine high Cs.

However, the recital program itself was devoid of opera arias. Brownlee sang a stunning two-hour program of music, subtly and sensitively performed.  He entitled the collection of songs “Rising.” Harlem Renaissance-era poetry was the driving force for many of the lyrics, and the songs arose from a wide variety of composers, nearly all still living. (Several were in the audience.)

The first half of the program opened with the gloriously gifted composer Robert Owens (1925-2017). We heard two of his song cycles: Desire, Op. 15, and Silver Rain, Op. 31. The composer Joseph Marx (1882-1964) was represented by a collection of his songs (sung in German). Three songs by the living composer Jeremiah Evans completed the first half.

After intermission, Brownlee sang a series of new commissions by Damien Sneed, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Brandon Spencer, Jasmine Barnes, and Joel Thompson, plus three wordless songs by Carlos Simon entitled “Vocalise.”

Brownlee’s other encore was "Una furtiva lagrima,” an aria from Donizetti’s opera L'elisir D’amore (The Elixir of Love), a favorite of all flavors of tenors. This gentle romanza of an aria is perfectly suited to his voice and exceptional breath control. Brownlee gave it a beautiful rendition before pulling out the fireworks of the afore-mentioned Ah, mes amis.

My only slight quibble was that the furnished sheet of lyrics was in a too-small typeface, and the theater was kept too dark to read it anyway. And while generally excellent, Brownlee’s diction at certain moments left some of the poetry’s subtleties unappreciated.

WHEN: January 21, 2024
WHERE: Moody Performance Hall, Dallas Arts District
WEB: For upcoming events calendar: dallasopera.org