Tenor
Singing with firm, tireless, ardent tones, and idiomatic German, he elucidated Christ’s Passion as if speaking to us directly, while evoking the late Karl Dan Sorensen, the go-to Evangelist in Boston for decades. And his recitatives, wetted with the extremely flexible, sensitive, and nuanced continuo playing of cellist Rafael Popper-Keizer, contrabass Randall Zigler, and organist […]
The festival ended at Ozawa Hall with the Tanglewood Music Center’s orchestra in a program of audacious works, beginning with Gerald Barry’s “Canada,” a puckish piece that appropriates text from the prisoners’ chorus of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” to create a riotous mélange of sputtered words, high-pitched shouted singing and coruscating blasts from the orchestra. The tenor […]
Bright lyric tenor Charles Blandy’s dramatic interpretations, surprisingly evocative of Britten’s life partner Peter Pears, perfectly reflected the changing emotions in the texts. Several moments showed particular drama, such as when when Blandy sang “qui-et” and the piano echoed it with two solo notes, and in the powerful ending of “Oh, My Black Soule!” with […]
Review in Worcester Telegram and Gazette: The Passion story, based on Chapters 26 and 27 of the Gospel according to Matthew, is narrated by the Evangelist, which was sung by the admirable Charles Blandy. The expressiveness of his singing and the beauty of his tone drove the entire performance, a true tour du force.
The singer, Charles Blandy … joined [Alison] D’Amato in a deeply involving performance. His lyric tenor voice is flexible, with particularly fine German diction and a capacity for subtle variations in the moods of the individual songs. The pianist was a sensitive partner whose careful support offered a musical dimension of its own. -John Barker, […]
Bach: St. Matthew Passion, Emmanuel Music, 3/31 and 4/2/17 Charles Blandy shouldered the taxing role of the Evangelist with aplomb, delivering reams of text as naturally as if were discussing the Bruins’ post-season prospects. His dexterity and diction masked the tremendous vocal control required to navigate Bach’s often craggy tenor recitatives and deliver them with […]
Tenor Charles Blandy’s “Comfort ye” and “Ev’ry valley” were equally thoughtful in conception and skillful ornamentation. Michael Anthony, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“… quite breathtaking.”
“The standout was Charles Blandy, who brought his clarion tenor to the role of St. Chavez. His high notes soared effortlessly over the ensemble in his Act III solos.” – Aaron Keebaugh, Boston Classical Review
“The leads offered superlative singing … Tenor Charles Blandy was a terrific match for the part of Tom Rakewell, unfailingly, tirelessly lyrical .. Blandy’s Tom was both naïf and willing victim, ruing his own callowness while indulging the temptation to hide behind it. “… In the deceptively pastoral final parting of Anne and Tom, this […]