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Tuesday, September 23, 2003; Page C05

In retirement from star-quality careers on the opera and concert stage, Thomas Stewart and Evelyn Lear, husband and wife, are passing on the wisdom underlying their artistry to a new generation of singers. On Sunday at the Natural History Museum's Baird Auditorium, the seventh of their annual Emerging Singers Program concerts (under the auspices of the Wagner Society of Washington) featured soprano Caroline Whisnant, tenor Roy Stevens and baritone Charles Robert Austin. They were accompanied by the Friday Morning Music Club Orchestra, conducted by Sylvia Alimena, in a program of arias (if Wagner's lyrical respites can be considered arias) from the four operas of his "Ring" cycle.

These three singers already have extensive careers under their belts. (Stevens's has been as a baritone; he only recently switched to the tenor range and repertoire.) What is emerging is their maturing to the status of Wagnerian singers, something one attains, if ever, only with considerable physical and artistic development.

Whisnant opened the program as the triumphant Brunhilde at the opening of "Die Walkure" and closed it as the sadder but wiser Brunhilde immolates herself as "Gotterdammerung" winds down. She is a truly larger-than-life figure, as Brunhilde must be, with a voice to match and a dramatic presence that commands attention. Her low range has a contralto-like richness and the top of her voice is both powerful and smooth.

In scenes from "Die Walkure" and "Das Rheingold," Austin was a sympathetic and almost romantic Wotan. He sings with a mellow, intimate richness that is compelling and intelligent but lacks some of the weight and complexity needed to project Wotan's less than admirable traits.

Stevens was a splendidly devious Loge in a scene from "Das Rheingold" and a convincing Siegfried in moments from "Siegfried" and "Gotterdammerung." His diction is a powerfully dramatic tool and he sounds comfortable throughout his newly adapted tenor range.

The augmented FMMC Orchestra was remarkably persuasive (most of the 96 players were squeezed onto the small Baird stage; the percussion section played, almost in the dark, down next to the front rows of the audience), and Alimena conducted intelligently and with real authority.

-- Joan Reinthaler

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