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March 17, 2010

A piano and two voices

Grande Romanza comes to Simmons Center

Jeff Kaley

Two voices and a piano. Sometimes, simple is eloquent.

When Grande Romanza appears at 7 p.m. Saturday, as the fifth act in the Chisholm Trail Arts Council’s Live From the Center season, the audience at the Simmons Center will hear vocal music in its purest form.

Whether the gig is at Carnegie Hall in New York City or an auditorium in Duncan, Stefano and Nina Tanchietti travel light. In their carry-on bag, the husband-wife team pack only their voices; human instruments that are unamplified and unaltered by even the most common technology — like microphones.

“Amplification distorts the human voice. Everything’s amplified now, so the audience doesn’t get the real sound of the voice,” said Nina Tanchietti, the soprano half of Grande Romanza. “(Amplification) cuts down on your intensity, and distorts and changes your tone.”

In addition, tenor Stefano Tanchietti said, when a singer uses a microphone, they tend not to project with as much energy as they would without the crutch of amplification.

“A microphone brings out all your flaws, and it limits you in your movements.”

Physical movement is important in the program presented by the couple, who met 20 years ago, when they were students at the Boston University School of Fine Arts. Based for many years in New York, a performance by Grande Romanza includes duets and solos that require frequent costume changes, as well as dance that is choreographed by Nina, a former ballet student.

“We don’t like to just stand there and sing,” Stefano noted. “I stage scenes from the shows, Nina choreographs them and we both wear costumes from the shows.

“There’s a real dramatic quality to our selections.”

Along with pianist Maria de los Angeles, the program Grande Romanza brings to Live From the Center covers the range from the mega-successful modern Broadway works of Andrew Lloyd Webber to the classic light operettas of Franz Lehar, such as the “Merry Widow Waltz.”

Lerner and Loewe’s “Brigadoon” is a focal portion of the program, and the Tanchiettis also pay homage to Rogers and Hammerstein, including numbers from “Oklahoma.”

In addition to the concert on Saturday, the Tanchiettis will conduct a vocal music master class that focuses on theatrical singing. It’s a free class at 4 p.m., in the Simmons Center theater. For information, call the CTAC office at 580-252-4160.

Advance tickets for the concert are now on sale at the Chisholm Trail Arts Council office, 717 W. Willow, Suite 6, or by calling the CTAC office. Tickets are also available online at the CTAC Web site www.chisholmtrailarts.com.

Special rates for groups of 20 or more are available.



— Jeff Kaley is editor of the Waurika News-Democrat and a Duncan Banner columnist. He can be reached at 580-228-2316 or e-mailed at jeff.kaley@duncanbanner.com.

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