Soprano delights audience at The Breakers

NEWPORT — From her opening notes, soprano Eteri Lamoris had the crowd in the palm of her hand at the Newport Music Festival Sunday night. Taking command of the stage in her North American recital debut, her full and vibrant voice easily reached every corner of the large ballroom at The Breakers.

She began the program with sim¬ple, folk-like songs from four venues: Spain, Latin America, Italy and Rus¬sia. They served as appetizers, which, over the length of the first half of the program, became a delectable entree. Lamoris, who speaks five languages — Georgian, Russian, Spanish, Italian and English — enunciates beautifully in her singing. The French in her arias was also finely polished.

By the time she had breezed through three Spanish songs by En¬rique Granados, she was ready for some serious vocalizing in Joseph Tu- rina’s “Songs.” A deep throaty voice emerged, with flashes of high range intensity. The audience found it diffi¬cult not to break into applause at some of her virtuoso song conclusions.

And in fact, after the compelling “Buy My Flowers” by Nadir Vietti in the Italian set, the audience did break the unspoken rule of silence between songs in each group, and erupted into applause.

It is obvious that Lamoris’ years of training rewarded her handsomely, providing great vocal control and range, stage presence and theatrical ability. Piano accompanist Thomas Hrynkiw worked seamlessly with her to present a tapestry of sparkling songs from varied cultures, filled with changing tempos, and emotional

NEWPORT — Eteri Lamoris is graceful, gracious and engaging. On the eve of her North American recital debut at the Newport Music Festival, she is composed and eager for the concert, having rehearsed for several hours.

Sunday’s concert included Span¬ish, Latin-American, Italian, and Russian songs, as well as arias from both popular and lesser- known operas — altogether a sub-stantial performance. Several of the songs can be found on “Mis Canciones Favoritas,” her CD on the Romeo Records/Qualiton label. Although Lamoris has sung several times already in the United States, including a role as Juliet in Franco Zefferelli’s production of Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette” at The Washington Opera, Sunday was her recital debut.