Maren performed Lansing McLoskey’s One Book Called Ulysses, a tour de force written for mezzo and sinfonietta, with Ensemble Ibis in Miami on Saturday, October 5. This was the second performance of that work, which she premiered with Network for New Music in Philadelphia in 2022, on the centenary of the publication of Joyce’s novel.

South Florida Classical Review found Ms. Montalbano’s performance “superb.”

Joyce made the ordinary profound through the genius of his language, so of course turning his writing into music requires a voice. For McLoskey’s piece, that was mezzo-soprano Maren Montalbano. She was superb, so fine that it was difficult to separate the quality of her own artistry from the quality of the composing.

George Grella, the reviewer, went on to speak about the difficulty of fitting the complexity of Joyce’s novel into one piece of music.

With Montalbano’s lovely sound, her tasteful portamento, the feeling that she was expressing things from the gut, this was still an enjoyable musical experience.

This review was posted on October 6, 2024 in South Florida Classical Review.