by Kevin McLaughlin
Strange thing about masks: they sometimes reveal more than they conceal.
In “Masquerading Melodies,” Studio Espressivo’s latest program, pianists Allison Hillier and Chris Neiner, violinist Zachary Brandon, and tenor Timothy Culver turned to the world of commedia dell’arte with its clowns and lovers, disguises and reversals, and found in it a way of letting characters speak plainly from behind their disguises.
The program, presented on June 7 at the Studio’s gallery in Little Italy, was cleverly assembled. The characters wandered in from different countries and across two centuries, but all belonged to the same unruly comedy troupe.
Neiner and Hillier’s four-hand account of Gabriel Fauré’s Overture from Masques et bergamasques opened the program with style and dispatch. Written late in Fauré’s life for a Monaco entertainment with roots in commedia, the piece looks backward without sounding ancient. The pianists brought out its clean lines and elegance — French wit without caricature, charm without sucre.
What do Colombina, Harlequin, Pantalone, Pierrot, and Pulcinella have in common? They are all characters of the commedia dell’arte. This weekend they will be brought to life musically when Studio Espressivo presents “Masquerading Melodies.”
When Allison Hillier was starting her graduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, she needed to find a place that was within walking distance of the school. While apartment hunting in nearby neighborhoods, Hillier found herself walking through Little Italy. “I heard opera coming from restaurants, and I thought this is a really vibrant community. There’s a lot going on,” she recalled during a recent Zoom conversation.