The young British countertenor Hugh Cutting only recently graduated from Royal College of Music, but his performance at Zankel Hall, with The Orchestra of St. Luke’s, under the baton of Bernard Labadie, proved that this young singer already figured out how to master the concert stage. Cutting exhibits an authoritative and joyful ease that made me think of young Mikhail Baryshnikov’s early appearances in the West after defecting from the USSR: just like the great Russian dancer back in 1974, Cutting seemed to almost gleefully flaunt his astounding technique while delivering a highly charismatic performance that pulled all the emotional registers without ever indulging or pushing too hard. Energetic and handsome (and equipped with a very effective and stylish mop of blond hair,) Cutting cuts a striking figure, completely inhabiting both music and lyrics, as engaged as engaging, now and then breaking free from the contained recital posture to let his full body express the requisite rage, sadness, pain or spite of any given musical moment. In the first half of the concert, he brought an earnest intensity and even an unexpected sensuality to Bach’s Aria cycle, Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, thankfully leaning more into the pure emotion of the music than the excessively pious lyrics. In the second half, he dove with gusto into some handpicked Händel repertoire, which Labadie and the fantastic orchestra brought up to a dizzying, dexterous speed that made my heart bounce. Taking his cues from Händel, Cutting has understood that high drama is most effective when handed out in small but sharp, precise doses. He seemed to simply allow the music to flow freely through the vehicle of his body to reach us. We never saw the work – and what an incredible amount of work it is to both deliver and hide it – we saw the unabashed result of it that perfectly balanced control and abandon. His beautifully fluid coloratura passages, with occasional, fast leaps into his very pure, high register that lingered just long enough to resonate without being indulgent, contrasted with almost lusty dips into growling, low territory, caused increasingly palpable waves of excitement to ripple through the audience before it erupted into explosive applause. Closing the show with a fast and furious “Furibondo, Spira il Vento” that kept climbing into ever more impressive crescendos, he left everyone baffled, elated, and clamoring for more. Despite his busy schedule that will fill up ever faster as the music world wakes up to this budding superstar, I hope he will be back soon. When it happens, do yourself a favor: do not miss it.
Cutting’s performance made me think of how rare it is to see a young singer who has figured out how to deliver what I call a complete performance. From my experience of working with singers who are either still in or just graduating from vocal programs, I can attest that teaching stagecraft does not seem to figure as prominently in their curriculum as it should. What’s more, while I am keen to plant in my students seeds of awareness of their individual stage presence and show them how to shape it through a connection to the music, the lyrics, the character, and the audience, I often need to first make them aware of many a bad habit they have acquired in the studio, such as ticks, mannerisms, ineffective poses and meaningless gestures, that negatively affect their overall performance. It’s very hard work to shift from unconscious habit to active engagement and a creative process, but the good news is that, ultimately, it makes everything easier. Cutting, having started early in his life as a Choral Scholar, seems to have bypassed the detour: his ease is organic. Some will call it talent, but talent is a great mystery. Rather than defining it as one thing, we might be better served by breaking it down into a register of specific innate qualities such as musicality, charisma, courage, drive, and nerve. Considering the complexity of the demands of a solo performance, it’s only natural that true and complete mastery is rare and usually achieved fairly late in a singer’s life. The exception to the rule, such as everyone at Zankel Hall witnessed that evening, proves that helping young singers reach a higher level of their craft and artistry through better, more comprehensive training of these multi-level challenges, ought to be a priority.