Flicka's "Goodbye without tears"

Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade - "Flicka" as she has long been known - called it quits this past weekend, at least as far as Boston recitals are concerned. At her Farewell Recital (and Celebrity Series 09-10 season opening performance) with her friend Dame Kiri Te Kanawa on Sunday she seemed to be serious about retiring, but it was not a sad occasion. As farewells go, this one was mostly about smiles, lightness and a fun afternoon with good friends: remarkable perhaps for its unremarkableness. But Flicka has always known how to put audiences at ease; melodrama is not her style. David Perkins, reviewing for the Globe, put it well:

"The afternoon ended, as it should have, with von Stade by herself, in a
favorite encore, "La Vie en Rose." She sang it with a perfect blend of
tonal warmth, expansive phrasing, and fine guttural French. It was a
goodbye without tears."

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