Saturday, March 1, 2008

Coburn Sparkles in Tulsa Performance

No, this time we're not talking about the senator.

We are talking about Muskogee native and senatorial daughter Sarah Coburn, the star of the Tulsa Opera's production of Lakme, which has its final performance Sunday night at the Tulsa PAC. It's a great role and, based on the sustained applause at Friday night's performance, Ms. Coburn is a rising star.

She and Priti Gandhi were, to our (admittedly untrained) ears, absolutely gorgeous in their rendition of the "Flower Duet" in Act One, a stunningly seductive melody that we cannot (and could not) resist.

We confess that we knew little about Lakme or its composer Delibes. (Okay, we never even heard of Delibes, the French composer.) But we had heard the Flower Duet and we knew it was sublimely beautiful, worth the price of admission.

As it turns out, there's more to this opera than the Flower Duet. The story has its dramatic moments and score is lovely, with many other opportunities for Ms. Coburn and other singers to show off their voices.

But the wonder of the evening was Sarah Coburn, who is a stunningly beautiful presence with a voice to match.

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