Gus Mercante sings very high notes – and when he does you
can feel the audience jerk awake wondering how a man can produce notes in the
stratosphere normally reserved for altos and mezzosopranos. Yet, the quality of upper notes in a
countertenor are smoother than a soprano voice, more boyish and without that
extra strain that can irritate the listener when an untrained soprano reaches a
bit too high in her range. The
countertenor uses a trained upper range that is not a falsetto like Smokey
Robinson’s voice (which I also love, by the way), but more like a pure and
directed sound which many describe as ‘head voice’. The trick is to make the transition from that
upper range to the lower notes without changing the quality of the vocal
production.
When Gus sings his very high range, it seems as if his voice
is landing downwards from a gentle height.
His rounded, well-controlled tones are exactly what has garnered him
myriad awards. He won the 2007 Austrian
American Society prize, a 2009 Fulbright scholarship to Germany which included performances with opera
companies in Augsburg, Nurnberg and Munich.
This week Gus will perform in the Tanglewood Music Festival
– a summer training and performing school which has been used to launch giants
of American music such as Leonard Bernstein.
Originally, Tanglwood was the site of summer concerts for the Boston
Symphony under the baton of Serge Kousevitsky, and it has now grown to a
full-time music center which attracts over 350,000 visitors and attendees each
summer. For Gus to perform in the
American premiere of George Benjamin’s Written
on Skin, conducted by the composer – one of Britain’s prominent musicians
- is quite a coup for our local
talent.
Fame won’t change Gus.
He is always helping others – making calls to organize musicians and
delivering scores to be transposed, handing out programs at the Italian
festival with the calm of any old volunteer – yet, minutes later, he is singing
his heart out to give a startlingly passionate rendition of Di tanti palpiti from Rossini’s Tancredi
. His voice soars and resounds – especially in such a reverberant church. In spite of thunderous applause, Gus’s first
reaction is to study what he could have done to improve, which is no doubt why
he is so good.
When he is not studying or helping others organize concerts,
Gus is an active contributor to charities and worthy causes. He makes his music work for others with his
organization Lifesongs with which he
raises money for charities and individuals as well as community-centered
projects.
I encourage you to listen to Gus while he is still a local
artist, because those days may be limited.