Last June, I spent the better part of the month at the Vancouver International Song Institute, a program based at the University of British Columbia. It’s just as well that the weather was gray and dreary for the entire month, as we spent nearly every waking moment encamped in the music building at UBC. Each day was scheduled to the hilt with fantastic lectures, coachings, and performances, and missing out on any of them felt criminal! We all learned to pace ourselves as the program progressed, though, since it would have been impossible to participate fully in all of the activities offered.
VISI offered an intense and eye-opening three-and-a-half weeks of coachings, masterclasses, and performances. Months later, I am still getting my head around all of the information I received. Highlights included coaching Samuel Barber’s most challenging art song, “Nuvoletta,” with Margo Garrett; attending lectures on Brahms and Wolf by Michael Musgrave and Susan Youens; and participating in discussions on music and poetry with some of Vancouver’s most dynamic performers of contemporary art song, including Alison d’Amato of the Florestan Recital Project. For any lover of art song, this program is a must-do.
“The mandate is partnership.” —Rena Sharon, VISI Director
From the first day of orientation forward, we were greeted with a paradigm-shifting point of view about the relationship between pianists and singers in art song performance. Program director Rena Sharon explained to us that, at VISI, singers are not paired with “accompanists” but rather “collaborative pianists.” Furthermore, the pianos on which we performed and rehearsed were to always be open at full stick, regardless of the size of the singer’s voice. This would allow pianists to use the entire expressive range of the piano, its overtones ringing out with maximum clarity and fullness. Rather than drowning out the voice, this actually helped us singers to be more in tune with the piano (literally and figuratively), enveloped in its full sound world. It also demanded maximum sensitivity from the pianist in order to properly balance each singer’s voice, resulting in consistently present and collaborative playing. Sharon compared performing with a piano open at half-stick to singing with your mouth half open, an image that has stuck with me ever since.
“Don’t lose your pencil . . . and use it.” —Margo Garrett, VISI faculty
The 2012 VISI program was actually more like four YAPs rolled into one. I participated in the Theatre of Art Song Advanced Performance studies Program but also got to view some lectures and performances put on by the other groups: Song Scholarship and Performance, Songfire, and French Mélodie Immersion. The TAS program had a pretty straightforward schedule, divided into three weeks and each having an emphasis on English, German, or French repertoire. At the beginning of each week, a formidable group of expert faculty would descend on campus, giving us 110 percent of their time and energy in daily coachings and masterclasses. It was all I could do to take copious notes at every opportunity, as each master had so much to impart.
When we weren’t being pummeled with priceless instruction and advice, there were plenty of opportunities to get up and perform. In addition to participating in masterclasses and TAS recitals, I had the unforgettable experience of performing in a small ensemble with faculty members Julie Simson and Tracy Satterfield, along with four other young artists. After just a couple of quick rehearsals at UBC, we sang two of Imant Raminsh’s choral pieces for a West Vancouver audience including some of the city’s premiere composers. It was an utterly exhilarating experience to sing great music in ensemble with such powerful solo performers, and I was floating on air the entire SkyTrain ride back to Point Grey.
“Your pianist is your teammate, and shall remain so.” —Rena Sharon, VISI Director
VISI is unusual in that it is geared equally toward all performers of art song—that is, both singers and pianists. Rather than having a professional staff of pianists, VISI pairs singers and pianists together as young artists in training. For the length of the program, each singer is paired with a pianist who performs with them for all of their masterclasses, coachings, and performances. Equal attention is given to pianists and singers, as the faculty are a mix of both singers and pianists themselves. I learned a lot watching my pianist, Greg, receive instruction from our coaches. Watching him adapt to the coaches’ suggestions gave me an even deeper respect for the work that pianists do, delving into the subtleties of playing technique, phrasing, and emotional interpretation.
Besides emphasizing the equality of singer and pianist, VISI’s mission involves creating a safe and supportive atmosphere in which art song performance can truly thrive. There is little room for competitive spirit in the program, as everyone works to support each other toward their best work. This is partly accomplished by assigning small groups to be coached together for the length of the program. Each two-hour session with a coach consisted of four half-hour coachings in which we would all watch each other work.
Our group of two pianists and four singers formed a tight bond in our time together, and I found myself learning an incredible amount from watching their coachings. I felt supported and buoyed by their encouraging presence whenever I stood up to sing, and then proud and excited when it was my turn to observe. Everyone brought a spirit of compassion and empathy to our daily coachings, and I could not help but beam when my fellow group members performed their repertoire with courage and vulnerability. Some days, we’d have as many as three two-hour coachings in addition to a morning lecture and an evening performance, and there’s no way we would have made it through such a rigorous schedule without much mutual support.
The content of coachings and lectures ranged widely. We covered everything from straight vocal and piano technique to poetry analysis, requiring us to constantly flex different parts of our artist brains. Switching gears quickly became the order of the day. On one particularly varied day, I watched Cameron Stowe and Benjamin Binder give a brilliant masterclass, took in Mme. Rosemarie Landry’s clear and insightful lecture on French diction, then went straight to a coaching on Barber’s “Nuvoletta” with Benjamin Butterfield. And then that evening I sat attentive with the rest of my fellow VISI artists, watching Sir Thomas Allen give a tirelessly charming and beautiful recital.
Not only were coachings plentiful and varied, they weren’t always a straightforward exercise in singing and playing through our repertoire. In a particularly memorable session with mezzo-soprano Gayle Shay, we spent the session doing acting exercises, rather than singing or playing a note of music. We started off by standing in a circle, eyes closed. The goal: attempting to jump in the air and land as a single unit. This is harder than one might imagine. At first, one person would try to lead the charge, and everyone would take off and land at different times in a jumble of fits and starts. After a while of going at this, we began to settle into each other’s energy, sensing when the group was ready to jump and land.
To think and move together like this requires a combination of heightened sensory awareness and openness, and it was only in trying not to lead each other but to move with each other that we succeeded in syncing up. As you might imagine, this has strong implications when it comes to art song performance! When my pianist and I were performing at our best, it was an exhilarating dance of leading and following, neither of us overpowering the other.
“Music is ultimately notes, and they’ve got to be good ones. If something is still alive, that’s what matters. And that means understanding its context and perspective. We should really be looking for quality in everything. And we should be celebrating. Celebration, not judgmentalism.” —Michael Musgrave, VISI faculty
Though we were not members of the Song Scholarship and Performance program, the TAS participants still had the pleasure of attending lectures by the VISI faculty’s storied musicologists. This was one of my favorite aspects of the VISI experience—we were expected to be not just performers but also scholars about our art, and there were friendly and accessible professors on hand, ready to impart any knowledge we might seek or to recommend just the right book to read once back at home.
The main focus of the SSP program was the Lieder of Brahms and Wolf, and coming into VISI, I had little experience with performing either of their works. Michael Musgrave’s lectures on Brahms were well organized and full of great information—I now feel like I have a clear grasp of his different compositional styles. And thanks to Susan Youens’ lecture on Wolf, I now understand more about his complicated and reverent relationship with Wagner’s works and how living in his shadow shaped Wolf’s compositional life in post-Wagner Germany.
“As classical artists, you belong to a tradition. A way of thinking about art, about the role of artists. That is about as profound as it gets.” —Rena Sharon, VISI Director
Through a rigorous combination of scholarship, personalized instruction, and performance, a summer at VISI provided me with an arsenal of new skills and tools with which to approach my art song repertoire. Looking back on the notes and recordings I made while in Vancouver, I am able to draw on a wealth of practical knowledge and historical context for this unique and precious art form.
