Fine singers simply do not appear like comets in cloudless skies, having been untouched and uninfluenced by other celestial forces.

Te Kanawa’s ‘arrival’ at the MET-only a month before her scheduled début-was preceded by years of preparation in her native New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, and in San Francisco and Santa Fe is somewhat less remembered. When on a storied February afternoon in 1974 soprano Teresa Stratas was indisposed and unable to sing Desdemona in the Metropolitan Opera’s matinée broadcast of Verdi’s Otello, New Yorkers and listeners throughout the world heard the arrival of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, a MET début almost as fêted by the MET audience as the legendary début of Astrid Varnay as Sieglinde in Die Walküre. Such ‘events’ can be deceptive, however, as not even the greatest artists of lore emerged from their mothers’ wombs, Athena-like, arrayed with mature instincts for performance. Nevertheless, there is something indescribably visceral about hearing an already-excellent voice at its introduction to the public, a sense of a genuine ‘event’ that has become all too rare in Classical Music. There are undeniable pleasures in encountering the work of artists who fall into either category, and as one of the great journeys of discovery in vocal music is observing the ways in which singers’ voices, artistries, and careers develop, it might be argued that finding a singer at the germination of his or her career is the somewhat more rewarding path.

There are in every generation artists who make débuts and those who, for lack of a better word, ‘arrive,’ their voices more or less fully-developed and their techniques already polished. REYNALDO HAHN (1874 – 1947): À Chloris, L’Heure exquire, Le Printemps, Si mes vers avaient des ailes, Le Rossignol des lilas, L’Énamourée FERNANDO OBRADORS (1897 – 1945): Canciones clásicas españolas JULES MASSENET (1842 – 1912): ‘ Je suis encor tout étourdie’ & ‘ Adieu, notre petite table’ from Manon JOAQUÍN TURINA (1882 – 1949): Poema en forma de canciones GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845 – 1924): Poème d’un jour MANUEL DE FALLA (1876 – 1946): Siete canciones populares españolas-Ailyn Pérez, soprano Iain Burnside, piano

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