If comedy is all about timing, then Oberlin Conservatory’s production of Albert Herring was a master class in getting laughs. In four performances last week, professor and stage director Jonathon Field ran his young cast through whipcrack pacing, propelled by a smart performance in the pit to bring antic life to Britten’s comic opera.
When soprano Deborah Voigt entered the stage of Oberlin College’s Finney Chapel for her recital on Sunday evening, she was every bit the diva, resplendent in a sparkling gold gown, and with the equally grand setting of the chapel’s imposing pipe organ behind her.
For the past forty years the small town of Oberlin, Ohio, about a forty minute drive from downtown Cleveland and the home of Oberlin College and Conservatory, has hosted the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute (universally known to attendees and visitors as BPI).
