Dec 05 2010
Exultate Jubilate with WSO, Winnipeg
Singer proves less can be more in thrilling Mozart piece
By: Gwenda Nemerofsky
Dece,ber 3rd, 2010
If you've never heard soprano Suzie LeBlanc before, run, don't walk to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra box office and buy tickets for Saturday night's repeat of Friday's concert, Beethoven's Mass in C.
This was LeBlanc's debut with the WSO. She was last in Winnipeg in 2004, with countertenor Daniel Taylor and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.
The Acadian singer was filling in for Winnipeg coloratura Tracy Dahl, featured in Mozart's thrilling Exsultate, jubilate, while another Winnipeg treasure, soprano Monica Huisman took Dahl's role in the mass.
And then Suzie LeBlanc stepped onto the stage and changed everything. At first, her voice seemed somewhat small -- but as our ears adjusted, we revelled in the wonderful clarity of her tone and ultimate musicality.
There is a rare simplicity to her performance -- no flash, just clean beauty that is refreshing in its uniqueness. In a time when so many audiences equate power with quality, LeBlanc is living proof that less can be more. She makes you feel like she's singing right to you.
