Fennessy, Allegro Offer Night Of Roses Will Play Two Shows At The Met

Valentine’s Day is upon us, and if you have not yet planned an evening activity with your dream rabbit, Allegro’s “Roses and Lace” concerts could rescue you both.

This biennial event has proven popular enough to warrant two performances, Friday and Saturday nights at The Met.

Soprano Ann Fennessy, well known to Spokane audiences, will be Allegro’s guest for the programs. The dynamic diva will be slinging Cupid’s arrows past the footlights in the form of love songs by Stephen Foster and Franz Schubert.

Foster’s quiver includes “Beautiful Dreamer,” “Sweetly She Sleeps, My Alice Fair” and “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair.” Allegro’s David Dutton will play Foster’s haunting “Anadolia” for solo oboe, and will join Fennessy in a duet, “Wilt Thou Be Gone, Love,” a song Foster penned for Romeo and Juliet. These American ditties are meant to be arrows to the heart.

Schubert was the master of song, and his darts also have a prick. The three selected for this concert are on texts of Goethe. All rely on Nature and its many metaphors to make their points. The two more innocent songs in the set refer to finding reminders of the loved one in the birds and the stars (Allegro’s Beverly Biggs and her fortepiano get to be a bird) and seeing love in moonlight and water.

The third, “Cupids for Sale,” refers to birds in the marketplace as “wares from distant countries.” These birds and their various qualities are offered for sale with the following disclaimer: “You can try them out as much as you wish, but there is no guarantee of fidelity. After all, they do have wings.”

The concert will be rounded out by some French pieces for oboe and piano. These include the “Souvenir of Old Quebec” by Verroust and several movements of a charismatic suite by Barthe.

And how could any evening’s entertainment properly call itself romantic if it did not include poetry? Allegro’s presentation relies on verse supplied by the audience. Poetic submissions are drawn randomly for romantic prizes, such as a gift certificate for the Fotheringham House Victorian Bed and Breakfast.

A cursory survey of submissions will also yield a few poems to be read from the stage during the second half of the program. Poems also will be displayed in the lobby of The Met, including selections from years past.

Biggs says poems from previous “Roses and Lace” concerts have ranged from humorous to sentimental and have been dedicated not only to valentines, but also to pets, the weather, composers and instruments and The Met itself - “Brick wall at The Met; Adds color to the set.”

Amore comes in all varieties, but if your romantic side leans toward love songs and poetry, Allegro has your number.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT Allegro’s “Roses and Lace” concert will be presented Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at The Met. A pre-concert talk will be offered by poet James McAuley beginning at 7:15. Tickets range from $8 to $18, available at G&B Select-a-Seat outlets or call (800) 325-SEAT.