March 25, 2013 By Stephanie Adrian The sound of the human voice is the result of breath flowing against an individual’s vocal cords, vocal folds closing and opening at regular intervals, essentially chopping the airstream into small pulses. Remarkable when one stops to think about how that pulsing air and vibration from an instrument so small is the means by which a great singing artist communicates with her audience. The voice that emanated from mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard on Sunday afternoon at Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall was opulent, truly the fusion of physiology and finesse. Leonard is the final solo…

Isabel Leonard sang a recital in Atlanta this afternoon which included some terrific Spanish rep and three world premieres by Jennifer Higdon, Glen Roven and Ben Moore. Here’s my daughter’s program. Notice how she drew assigned boxes in which Leonard and her pianist Vlad Iftinca should autograph, cleverly labeled ‘boy’ and ‘girl’.

March 9, 2013 By Stephanie Adrian If you’ve seen Steven Spielberg’s recent movie “Lincoln,” you’ve seen and heard soprano Mary Dunleavy. The singer, who makes a cameo appearance in the film while Abraham and Mary Lincoln discuss potential legislation in their box seats at the opera, graces Atlanta with her interpretation of Violetta Valéry, the female protagonist in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “La Traviata,” which concludes Sunday at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. The casting of Dunleavy as the 19th-century Parisian courtesan was brilliant. Violetta is apparently her signature role, one that she has reprised at the Metropolitan Opera several…