To the editors:
I was fortunate enough to attend one of the Chamber Opera Chicago performances of Madame Butterfly and feel I must respond to Dennis Polkow’s ludicrous review [June 2] of my colleague Lauren Miller in the title role.
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Normally, I would assume that a bad review of any good singer could be attributable to the fact that no single voice can please every taste. However, to comment upon a performance that was exquisitely phrased and rich in musical insight and nuance with remarks like, “if the work were not so familiar, one would wonder at times what she was trying to sing,” goes far beyond expressing a distaste for a particular voice. It displays a tremendous ignorance of vocal musicianship. Judging from the sold-out house response to Ms. Miller’s singing, I can only assume that the “one” who would wonder was Mr. Polkow alone. I don’t know Mr. Polkow, nor am I aware of his credentials as a critic of opera, although in light of this review and the letters to the editor in the same issue, they seem dubious at absolute best, but what he has produced here is simply irresponsible rubbish.
It is disturbing to find in the Reader, one of the few Chicago papers that can lay a claim to any kind of critical acuity, such embarrassingly inept work. Dump this chump.
