Achtung, lieder-lovers. Fans of French mélodie, listen up. Aficionados of canciónes Españoles, get ready. Mark your calendars for Santa Fe’s premier vocal recital of the season when soaring lyric soprano, Ailyn Pérez, sings a multilingual concert with pianist Gary Matthewman in a program sponsored by the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. The event takes place Tuesday, March 29, at the Lensic.

She’s a jewel, beguiling and pathetic by turns. Can Pérez float a note? Don’t even ask. Her voice gleams with expression, making coloratura seem effortless. Above all, there’s personality in her technique. She combines feeling and power with the deft phrasing that characterizes everything she sings.

Wait a minute. Doesn’t that last paragraph sound familiar? Yes! It’s plagiarized! Busted! SFR published those self-same words in a review of Pérez singing Marguerite in the Santa Fe Opera’s 2011 opening-night Faust. The byline?

Well, mine. Is self-plagiarism such a horrendous sin? Handel got away with it, plenty of times. Why should the present writer be given an exception? Especially since recent hearings do absolutely nothing to amend his opinion of that glowing soprano voice.

Read the entire feature via the Santa Fe Reporter