Profile reviews
8American baritone Stephen Gaertner is...intense and impassioned. His first aria, when he learns from the Old Man of Fleana’s love for Radu, is truly anguished, but his baritone throbs with passion when he declares his own passion. Tamar’s ‘canto notturno’, first heard off-stage and then reprised at the end of the opera, before the final love duet, is beautifully phrased above delicate pizzicato strings with woodwind murmurs interjecting.
Baritone Stephen Gaertner has a solid, handsome timbre with a particularly appealing, Björling-like vibrato.
Past Production Reviews
8...Stephen Gaertner’s Carlo demonstrated a true Verdi baritone force. His opening aria ‘Son [Pereda], son [ricco] d’onore’ was given a darker color and there was some restraint as he emphasized certain words to really create the story he was telling. But it was his ‘Urna Fatale’ that really demonstrated his range. Gaertner showcased torment in Carlo as he delivered each line. While there was no prop he could work with, Gaertner used the audience as he looked into it, expressing the uncertainty in his vow. But as he concluded the aria, he regained his vocal strength and delivered the final note with assertion. And in the second part ‘Ah! Egli e salvo! Oh gioia immensa,’ Gaertner savored each moment. The torment was gone and his voice regained the strength of a man ready for revenge. The cabaletta was propelled by his swift tempo, which only made for a more passionate delivery. That strength was once again emphasized in his second duet with Alvaro...Gaertner’s Carlo was firm, cutting each phrase short with a staccato sound. That...gave the duet dynamism. The final duet allowed Gaertner to once again show that muscular strength. But this time, he was allowed to demonstrate his legato line in full force.
In the title role, Stephen Gaertner cut a suitably changeable figure, ranging from stentorian ruler to the pathetic lost soul Nabucco became after being struck by lightning when he had the impiety to declare himself a god. Gaertner’s burnished baritone imbued the demented monarch’s machinations with an elegant sheen.
American baritone Stephen Gaertner acquits himself splendidly...rendering Tamar’s transition from spurned suitor to illicit love-interest (in Pagliacci terms, from Tonio to Silvio) more convincing than it looks on paper, and investing the ‘Canto Notturno’ which recurs in both ‘episodes’ with real poetry.
...[the equally magisterial Stephen] Gaertner commands a rock-solid technique which, in true bel canto style, allows him to gloriously spin the line in Tamar’s ‘Canto Notturno’ and reach notes above the staff with no seeming effort.
The most commanding voice of the evening belonged to baritone Stephen Gaertner, who sang both the roles of Malatesta in the Rachmaninoff and Gianni Schicchi in the subsequent Puccini opera. Mr. Gaertner is a veteran of the Metropolitan Opera, and had no trouble taking over the stage and convincing the audience of [Malatesta’s] torment...Mr. Gaertner returned in the title role [of Gianni Schicchi], still commanding the stage, but relaxed in intensity and clearly enjoying the comedic physicality as he elaborately scammed the rest of the family.
So kommen in Macbeth die Charaktere der Personen nicht allein szenisch, sondern auch durch die Musik, durch die vokale Gestaltung der Partien prägnant zum Ausdruck. Mit dem Amerikaner Stephen [Gaertner], der an diesem Abend die Titelrolle verkörperte, war dies in exzellenter Weise erfüllt. Nicht allein seine kraftvolle, im Klang runde und schöne Stimme beeindruckte, sondern auch seine intensive stimmliche Gestaltungskraft, die Macbeth als den bösartigen und zugleich von seinem Gewissen gepeinigten Täter vollkommen glaubhaft machte.
