Daily Blague

What a pleasant surprise, to turn the page of the Times and find a super write-up, by Steve Smith, of Thomas Meglioranza's Monday night recital at Pace. With a picture!

A free concert on a Monday evening, an auditorium off the beaten path — it was a perfect opportunity for the bright young baritone Thomas Meglioranza to shake off the conventional solemnity of the lieder recital, and simply indulge in a few of his favorites from the repertory he has performed with the pianist Reiko Uchida during the last few years.

Sitting in the audience during the performance, I simply enjoyed Tom's beautiful singing. I didn't think much about the recital until yesterday, when it occurred me that Tom is reinventing the art-song recital. Not content to show off a great gift, he has put a lot of thought into constructing programs that I must regretfully - being a pious devotee of classical music - call "entertaining." Serious singers are not supposed to be entertainers. I can think of a few musicians whom I would dismiss as entertainers - mere entertainers. With Tom, it's just the opposite: he makes serious music entertaining on its own ground.

But don't take my word for it. Scroll down through Tom's schedule - he'll be touring with Marlboro musicians in the Midwest, with two recitals in California, in the fall.