EVENT WITH PANACHE PLANNED

If the title “Abandoned Heroines and Femmes Fatales” grabs attention, that’s just what British mezzo-soprano Sarah Walker wants.

“That’s the object of the game,” Walker said in a recent telephone interview from her home in London. “I just hate the word ‘recital.’ It’s so boring and (so) associated with highbrow entertainment.

“Roger and I really try to give our evenings a panache that’s not so usual and normal.”

Walker and pianist Roger Vignoles will give the “Heroines” program at 8 p.m. Monday at UC Irvine. Included will be Haydn’s “Arianna a Naxos,” Schumann’s “Frauenliebe und -leben,” songs by Liszt and lighter fare by Noel Coward, Geoffry Wright, Vernon Duke and George Gershwin.

“Other singers in this country think in terms of theme, though maybe not quite as lighthearted as this,” Walker said. “But there is more thought about recitals now generally.”

On the other hand, such a thematic approach to the lieder recital is not always possible in Europe, she said.

“In Germany, it’s very difficult,” she said with a laugh. “The Germans are turned on to the idea that recitals are rare things, that they invented them, which they partly did, and there’s no barrier to (appreciating) them. But I think there’s a barrier among English-speaking people.”

In fact, Walker said she feels that “the serious recital is almost a dying art.”

“What we’re now getting is now entirely different--it’s the operatic recital,” she said, referring to works taken from grand opera rather than the lighter fare intended for smaller stages.

“World-class recitalists like Elly Ameling, Marilyn Horne, (Luciano) Pavarotti can include extremely conventional (recital) music. But, on the whole, their recitals are angled to the operatic side of a career, which is what the audience wants. You have to give the audience what it wants. I understand that.”

Still, Walker is hoping to spark interest in the traditional, more intimate, recital form.

“The kind of evening of song we do is something different. We hope to revive it.

“I don’t know what the reaction (of the) American audience will be. But I hope it will catch on.”

Walker preferred not to give away too much about the program, however.

“Roger introduces our programs from the platform, and I don’t want to steal any of his thunder,” she explained.

But she described Haydn’s “Arianna” as “just a fun mini-opera” and the Liszt songs as “full-bodied and full-blooded.”

“We wanted to end the program with sherbet and ice cream--naughty, fattening things--and felt the need to balance that with a main meal,” she said. “Liszt fits the bill wonderfully. It’s substantial music with beautiful tunes.”

As for the last part of the program: “It’s just a little bit of light nonsense to finish the program. But I certainly believe quite sincerely that Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin wrote songs that stand equally with lieder, to not put too fine a point on it, in their own right.

“But you need the right style. You can’t sing them straight.”

Walker and Vignoles began their partnership in 1977 and have collaborated on two recordings--Cabaret Songs and French Songs.

Both also have appeared with other eminent artists, and Walker, in addition to song recitals, has built a career in opera, singing with the Royal Opera in London, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Chicago Lyric and the Metropolitan Opera, among other companies.

“It always amazes me that people should think it is difficult if you happen to like both (opera and lieder) repertories, and I do,” she said. “The only difficulty would be if I chose to do something that I didn’t like. There’s no technical problem. I automatically would adjust my voice to the size of the hall; anyone would do that.

“But I happen to like the approach of the recital platform. Each song is like a mini-opera. But it’s very underplayed. This is the important thing. You must actually provide your audience with the curtain and the drama, whereas in opera, that is provided for you.

“I find the concert platform more fun because I can characterize in a much more subtle way, not just big gestures, but more like film acting technique. And I prefer the 500-to-1,000-seat hall because I like to see the eyes of everyone to whom I’m singing, to whom I’m communicating.”

The Southern California Flute Ensemble will present its third annual Flute Festival and Concert on Saturday at Fullerton College in Fullerton.

The all-day activities, beginning at 9 a.m., will include clinics in flute techniques, ensemble workshops and adjudication of prepared ensembles. Jurors and clinic instructors will include flutists John Barcellona, Michele Berger, Barbara Barry, Teri Dombrower and Sherrie Parker.

The 8 p.m. concert in the Recital Hall will include Telemann’s Suite in A minor, Henri Soussmann’s “Flute Symphony,” Cecil Effinger’s “Cloud Forms,” Johann Christian Schickhardt’s Concerto in F and Kathleen Nayne’s ‘Sea Suite.”

The Flute Orchestra is a 10-member ensemble made up of professionals from Orange and Los Angeles counties. It was founded in 1978 by director John Barcellona, a flute instructor at Cal State Long Beach. All members of the flute family--from piccolo to bass flute--are utilized in performances by the ensemble.

For further information, call (714) 871-2185.