Faces to Watch in ’95 : We’re Counting on Them : CLASSICAL MUSIC

Some of them you know. Some you don’t. But the following artists, entertainers and executives have one thing in common: We’re counting on each to mae a significant impact or difference in their respective fields this year. Sure, there will be thers who make a splash, but after we talked with dozens of people who work in entertainment and the arts, these were the names mentioned most often. You might say that Jim Carrey was a face to watch in ‘94, and you would be right. But, based on “Ace Ventura,” “The Mask,” and “Dumb and Dumber,” Carrey’s ’95 should bear watching. Another pair of familiar faces--Jay Leno and David Letterman--appear on our list. Why? Haven’t we looked at these guys enough? Well, truth be told, how do you know what’s going to happen to them this year? Fame can be sooooo fleeting.

Brian Asawa

Countertenors used to be regarded as wondrous vocal freaks--men whose extended top registers were artfully cultivated to simulate the timbre of a woman. With flexible falsetto tones, they often sang Baroque scores intended for the gratefully extinct castrato. Unlike his predecessors, Brian Asawa commands a lovely, pure, wide-ranging mezzo-soprano--virtually the real thing--and he uses it with equal parts sensitivity and extroversion.

After training at UC Santa Cruz and UCLA, he appeared with numerous early- music ensembles in Southern California before braving the world of opera. He made history winning the Met Auditions, not to mention the Merola and Richard Tucker competitions and Placido Domingo’s ballyhooed Operalia ’94. Having found congenial work in San Francisco and at the Met, he recently astounded Los Angeles with Handel’s “Xerxes” at the Music Center, followed by a very sophisticated recital at the Japan America Theater. Only 28, he could become the first American superstar in his vocal class.