In Review: Mayes and Mechavich in San Diego’s “Great Scott”
“Character parts — Garrett Sorenson as a flashy tenor, MICHAEL MAYES as a buff baritone, Philip Skinner as a conductor and also the Ghost of Bazzetti — were exactly as they should be. Conductor JOSEPH MECHAVICH supplied essential musical personality.” -LA Times
“And, as the hottie baritone (who’s never sure if the audience is applauding for his voice or his bod), the highly engaging Michael Mayes…. As the bari-tenor comedy team (the hunky and the chunky?), Michael Mayes and Garrett Sorenson make a hilarious pair; they shine both vocally and dramatically. . . Heggie obviously had a grand time toggling between modern and classical genres, and the San Diego Symphony, under the baton of JOSEPH MECHAVICH, is persuasively along for the ride.”
-Times of San Diego
“Baritone MICHAEL MAYES and Tenor Garrett Sorenson pretended to labor at impersonating stereotypical operatic baritones and tenors, preening and attempting to outsing one another in clever duets—of the “Anything You Can Sing, I can Sing Louder” genre—designed by Heggie to do nothing more than that. Rich, flexible voices that complemented each other—I was surprised that they did not launch into an “impromptu” rendition of the tenor-baritone blockbuster from The Pearl Fishers just for the fun of it. Sorenson took pride in his tenorial girth, and Mayes allowed us to take in his baritonal buff physique. Folks who did not know the term “barihunk” before they came to Great Scott surely understood it after watching Mayes perform shirtless in scenes from Rosa Dolorosa. . . Conductor JOSEPH MECHAVICH, whom San Diego audiences remember for his masterful work with the orchestra in last season’s Nixon in China and the 2012 Moby-Dick, again proved his skill in drawing bright, cogent responses from the pit.” -San Diego Story
“Maestro JOSEPH MECHAVICH brought out the San Diego Symphony Orchestra’s ability to play the music of both bel canto and twenty-first century opera with consummate skill. This was a wonderful night at San Diego Opera and a most auspicious rendition of a fabulous new opera.” -Opera Today
“MICHAEL MAYES charmingly played the Casanova-like Wendell Swann. This complicated mixture of styles requires added skill from the singers as well as dexterous handling in the pit. Conductor JOSEPH MECHAVICH, last seen here helming Nixon in China, provided strong leadership in the complex score.”-Broadway World/Bachtrack