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."

Read all of Von Stade bids farewell to Boston.

Flicka & Kiri's additions & encores

The "TBA" selections and encores have all been sung and a good time was had by all. The two illustrious singers may have had the best time of all ...



Additional selections announced from the stage:



Ambroise Thomas


"Me voici dans son boudoir" from Mignon

Daniel Schmitt & Marc Berthomien


from Jardins de Paris


Jardin d'Albert Kahn


Bois du Boulogne

 



George Gershwin


Summertime

 

Cole Porter


By Strauss

 

Carol Hall


Jenny Rebecca

 

Jake Heggie


A Route to the Sky 



Gioachino Rossini
Duetto buffo di due gatti  



Encores:



Cole Porter


True Love

 



Louiguy


La Vie En Rose

Dame Kiri fishing ...

Brief clip of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa fishing in Norway. Really.

Dame Kiri will, no doubt, leave her fishing pole behind when she comes to Symphony Hall as special guest with Frederica von Stade on October 4.