Press
San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (April 29, 2024)
“Pierrot [Lunaire], by far the longest work in SFCMP’s festival, closed out the second program, “Pierrot RE:encountered,” on April 21 and received a bravura performance from mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway…[she] gave a virtuoso account of the demanding vocal part, which calls for a great deal of Sprechstimme (speech-voice), a vocal style that requires the performer to half-sing, half-speak the text. The score gives the singer leeway on just how to execute this, and Calloway leaned toward mostly singing. She sang with an exquisite palette of vocal color — from the driest sound to the warmest — and with exceptional, nearly instrumental, rhythmic articulation of the text.
And while there aren’t stage directions, Calloway’s posture, the angle of her head, her facial expressions, the movements of her arms, conveyed the story physically as much as her voice conveyed the texts musically.”
“Leo Zeitlin’s Five Songs from the Yiddish required the voices of mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway and baritone Alexander Tall, and the audience’s response to the glorious voice of Calloway suggested that another program better showcasing her talents might prove very successful.”