The Opera Tattler

* Notes *
Cantori Domino gave a performance of the Passion According to St. Matthew last Sunday in Santa Monica. Though the musicians and singers were not entirely together under the direction of Maurita Phillips-Thornburgh, the overall effect was good, as the music is so incredible. Indeed, many of the soloists, whether they were violinists or sopranos, were not technically brilliant. For example, the female vocalists were not particularly strong. Tenor Jeff Greif was a bit frail as the Evangelist, but bass-baritone Leroy Villanueva (Christus) sang with warmth and beauty. The Amadeus Choir of the Los Robles Children's Choir had rather angelic voices and did well when singing at the beginning and end of Part I.

* Tattling * 
There was quite a line to get into First United Methodist Church, and indeed had we not left Motezuma early, it was quite likely we would not have heard St. Matthew Passion at all. Many proud parents were in attendance, at least for the first half. Some of them had video cameras, but at least none of these made noise. Texting during the performance was noted. One person even was going over her lines in a script.

At one point in the middle of the first half, the violinists and violist of one of the orchestras was singing along. This was clearly intentional, as they had the music, but was pleasantly surreal anyway.