Pene Pati to be Third Liederabend Vocalist

Tenor Pene Pati and pianist Ronny Michael Greenberg (from the Eventbrite event page for this recital)

It is not often that the Liederabend (evening of songs) Series presented by LIEDER ALIVE! offers two recitals on successive weekends, but that is exactly what will happen during the transition from September to October. This past Saturday this site announced the second recital in the series, which will take place on the last Sunday of this month. That performance will be the second of three concerts to feature an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program; and the “designated alumnus” will be baritone Eugene Villanueva.

The following Sunday will be devoted to that last of the three alumni, who will be tenor Pene Pati. For those following the San Francisco Opera (SFO), Pati was thrust into the headlines, so to speak, when it was announced at the beginning of this month that he would replace Bryan Hymel in the role of Romeo in the first six of the seven performances of Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Pati was already scheduled to sing this role at the final performance on October 1 with his wife, soprano Amina Edris taking the role of Juliet; but the change in plans meant that he would also be partnered with Nadine Sierra (who is another Merola alumna). Having attended Pati’s performance this past Friday, I can say that his rise to this extended challenge was distinctively impressive.

Thus, his final Romeo performance on a Tuesday will be followed relatively quickly by his Liederabend recital on Sunday. Like Villanueva, his program will include a collection of songs by Paolo Tosti. The second half of that program will be devoted entirely to five of those songs. Also like Villanueva, Pati will devote the first half of his program to settings of text in German. He will begin with four songs by Richard Strauss, drawing upon the Opus 10, Opus 21, and Opus 27 collections. This will be followed by Franz Lehár’s “Dein its mein ganzes Herz” (best known when sung in English as “Yours Is My Heart Alone”), a song from the operetta Das Land des Lächelns (the land of smiles). Pati’s accompanist for this recital will be pianist Ronny Michael Greenberg, another Merola alumnus currently serving as both rehearsal pianist and vocal coach for SFO.

This performance will begin at 5 p.m. on Sunday, October 6. The venue will be the Noe Valley Ministry, which is located at 1021 Sanchez Street, between 23rd Street and Elizabeth Street. Single tickets for all concerts in this series are $75 for reserved seating and $35 for general admission and a $20 rate for students, seniors, and working artists. These may also be purchased in advance through Eventbrite. Tickets at the door will be $40.