Duo combines guitar, opera-style vocals

The audience fell silent after Daniel Bolshoy and Julie Nesrallah struck the last chords of a passionate, Spanish-influenced guitar ballad. The crowd waited for the duo to say something insightful about the song.\n"Singing that song makes me feel like I'm about to grow a mustache. It's so deep," Nesrallah instead joked. \nThe Nesrallah-Bolshoy Duo performed Saturday night at the John Waldron Arts Center. Bolshoy and Nesrallah combined classical guitar with opera-style vocals for what Bloomington Classical Guitar Society President Mark Bisesi called a truly unique performance.\nThe couple played against a stark, black background with only a bouquet of pink roses on a white stand as a decoration, showing that the focus of the evening would be the duo and their music. \nThe Nesrallah-Bolshoy Duo performed five sets of 27 songs written by four different Latin composers. Most of the songs were relatively short, lasting about two minutes each, but they reflected a spectrum of emotions, ranging from happy and nostalgic to mournful and distressed.\nDuring the performance, it became obvious that Nesrallah is also an actress. Even though the songs were sung in a foreign language, the mezzo-soprano's expression revealed their exact meaning. In "Cuba dentro de un piano" ("Cuba Within a Piano"), Nesrallah evoked a sassy, defiant Cuban woman, and in "La rosa y el sauce" ("The Rose and the Willow"), her strong voice held such a sadness that the audience was clearly moved. \nThe duo's classical guitar style was different from normal rock 'n' roll strumming. \n"It's comparable to piano music as opposed to pop music," Bolshoy said. "You use all five fingers instead of a pick. You hear so much more music at once."\nHowever powerful their music might be, Nesrallah and Bolshoy didn't seem to take themselves too seriously. The couple joked with the audience and each other throughout the entire concert. \n"We have a comedy routine at the Holiday Inn that runs every Friday night," Nesrallah joked.\nAfter the concert, Nesrallah and Bolshoy graciously thanked everyone for coming and chatted with people in the audience. Bolshoy praised the Bloomington Classical Guitar Society for its work.\n"It's a really nice thing they do for the community. The society is all nonprofit, and it's great that they think classical guitar is an important cause," Bolshoy said.\nMembers of the audience told the duo that the smaller size of the auditorium and the audience made the event more personal and special. \n"It was just wonderful," said Ginnvor Bullard, a member of the guitar society. \nJudging by the standing ovation after Nesrallah and Bolshoy finished their performance, the audience seemed to agree. \nBolshoy and Nesrallah are award-winning artists who perform throughout the world, both individually and as a duo. Both artists will have CDs out this year. For more information regarding their music, visit www.julienesrallah.com and www.danielbolshoy.com.