Baritone Stephen Salters: A Most Engaging Fellow

The most important function of concert life may be the discovery of gifted composers and performers. Toward that end, the admirable and successful Jose Iturbi Gold Medal series at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts bears close watching.

More than usually engaging, Stephen Salters, a young American baritone who appeared on the series Monday night, gave notice of a big talent and considerable musical accomplishment. In his recital with pianist Linda Osborn-Blaschke, Salters showed resourceful vocal technique, deep stylistic conviction and a caressing manner with poetic texts.

Yet he is not easily classifiable, and he may not find a place on the opera stage. The talent is word-oriented and attuned to subtleties; the voice is sizable but not ringing and Italianate; blessed with volume but not with point. In other words, as nice as it is, it doesn’t have the edgy, aggressive sound that is in demand today.

Yet Salters’ gifts are many. In four representative song groups, he excelled at three and proved never less than interesting in the fourth.

He brought liveliness, poetic awareness and abundant dynamic variety to six Rachmaninoff songs--sung in Russian but, alas, not translated in the program book.

He introduced composer Elena Ruehr to his rapt audience through a radiant and pungent cycle of songs to poems by Langston Hughes, called “Lullabies and Spring Songs.” He sang Ravel’s “Histoires Naturelles” exquisitely and with effortless but projected wit. And he gave new twists to Falla’s ubiquitous Seven Popular Spanish Songs.

His single encore was a poignant and inventive arrangement of “Shenandoah” by Michael Ching.

Osborn-Blaschke’s pianistic partnership proved thoroughly satisfying, colorful and supportive throughout.