I attended a recital by this wonderful young tenor, Dmitry Korchak, at St John's Smith Square, part of the ongoing Rosenblatt Recital Series. Pianist Simon Lepper.
I had first heard Dimitry two or three years ago in a gala of ten tenors at the Festival Hall, and I decided to book for this.
A lovely evening.
The first half consisted mainly of Rachmaninov songs, all of which were unfamiliar to me. As I was listening I was thinking, yeah, he's good, but I'm not convinced he's the finished article. He finished the first half with a stunningly gorgeous Kuda kuda (Lensky's Aria) from Evgeny Onegin.
In the second half he concentrated on non-Russian stuff. Dies bildnis ist bezaubend schön from Magic Flute; Je crois entendre encore from Pearlfishers; Una furtiva lagrima from L'elisir d'amore; A te o cara from I puritani; & Seul sur la terre from Dom Sébastien, with the encores being Mattinata by Leoncavallo and another Rach song.
I thought he was gorgeous in the opera stuff, a sweet lyric voice and an engaging stage manner. He is very cute - the woman next to me commented that she found it difficult to believe he is as old as 28, and when he saw and heard the applause of the audience, he grinned irrepressibly. When he was singing Una furtiva, I seriously believed he was singing it directly to me, for me only. Definitely one to watch. But you know that anyway, being a prizewinner at Operalia three years ago
It was a shame that the hall was only half full, but, I have to say, I remembered why I am so reluctant to attend St John's Smith Square. There seems to be a cliquey bunch of people who attend religiously - with so many venues in London I don't see the point about being a venue-obsessive - and they have this unveiled hostility to incomers under the age of fifty. To my left and behind were obnoxious boors.
So, while I welcome Ian Rosenblatt's matchless contribution to tenor (and other voice-types!) worship in London, I am rather glad that the next one will be at Cadogan Hall where the SJSS bullies won't be so conspicuous.
Update: Available to download here
