Dear Editor: Thank you so much for the terrific piece on Helen Donath! I have admired her and her fascinating background for years. She has been too neglected in her native land.
The rest of the issue was excellent as usual. I told [CS founder and editor] C.J. [Williamson] (of blessed memory) and reiterate—had the magazine been available when I was young, my life would have been very different.
—Erik Johanson, University of Toledo, Ohio
Dear Editor: Thank you for the marvelous interview with Helen Donath. When I was a student in Vienna, I saw Ms. Donath perform the role of Zerlina at the Wiener Staatsoper. It was a revelation. The beauty of her voice combined with her charm, vibrant personality, and generous spirit enabled her to steal the show from her larger-voiced colleagues.
Today when I work as a vocal coach with soubrette or lyric sopranos, some of whom say they wish they could sing Puccini or Wagner, I try to help them discover the passion and humanness in the roles nature intended them to sing. By using the text idiomatically, and by creating a subtext that releases a full spectrum of colors in their sound, these roles can really come to life. As Donath implies, ultimately it is the love of others and of sharing your love of singing that allows you to reach the hearts of your listeners.
—Roger Malouf, Assistant Conductor, Metropolitan Opera
Dear Editor: First of all, many thanks for [Dr. Jahn’s] informative and entertaining articles in Classical Singer, which I always enjoy reading. There’s one aspect of running that I believe singers should know, but which he didn’t mention in his recent article [see October 2009].
Six years ago I noticed that after approximately 15 minutes of singing, my onsets would cut out and phonation in the middle register became somewhat fuzzy. Videostroboscopy revealed slight bilateral swelling. I was surprised and stumped, as nothing of note had changed in recent months vocally: I wasn’t singing more frequently, for longer duration, or more difficult repertoire.
As I was leaving the clinic where I was strobed, I ran into Dr. Mark Courey, laryngologist at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Courey has been a runner for many years, and I mentioned that I was in the middle of training for the Honolulu Marathon. I told him I was raising money for the Aids Foundation, which trained us according to the Jeff Galloway run/walk method and divided us into pace groups. Dr. Courey immediately asked, “Do you talk while you run?” The training was up to about 18 miles per run by that point and, yes, we did a lot of chatting, as the training pace was intentionally on the slow side.
Although I’ll never have proof, I’m pretty certain that “RWC” (i.e., Running While Chatting) was the culprit behind the swelling. I ceased talking while running, the swelling subsided, and I’ve never had any vocal issues since.
—Ruth Rainero, Ruth Rainero’s Voice Studio, San Francisco and New York City
[Several voice teachers and coaches listed in Classical Singer’s online directories have reported similar stories as the one below. We are printing it here to make you aware of such scams. -ed.]
Dear Editor: Over the last several months I have been subjected to very dangerous e-mails from individuals allegedly wanting to take vocal lessons who reside in foreign countries.
I was corresponding with two such individuals during December 2008 who urgently wrote saying they were coming into town during January 2009 and wanted to schedule 10 voice lessons for the two of them. They stated that they were being sent to the States to study voice so that they could better lead and teach their choral students in Sweden. They gave the name of a choral group out of St. Louis and said they were a branch of that group located in Sweden.
They requested my tuition for each, as well as books and supplies needed to study, saying they wanted to pay in advance for them and then they could start studying as soon as they hit New Orleans.
I gave them my quotes for 10 lessons each, and then added my books and supplies for each. I also gave them my address to mail their cashier’s check, and said that they needed to send it Fed Ex in order for it to clear both of our banks so they could start in January. I also told them I would give no lessons until the check cleared both banks.
When the check arrived, I noticed that the address was from Maryland and not Sweden on the envelope. They said they were in Maryland, having just arrived Stateside. When I opened the envelope, I noticed that the check was drawn on a Texas account of a doctor with a Middle Eastern name. This sent up red flags immediately. I called someone I knew in Homeland Security. He said that I should not cash the check, but bring it to the FBI.
I did this, and the FBI said initially that they were not allowed to handle cases of this type of theft for anything under $100,000. Later they said they could handle multiple small claims as one, if they added up to that amount, but would only investigate if the checks had been cashed and later bounced and services already rendered. I asked them to keep a copy of my check and please to investigate for me since it was definitely an odd thing to have a Maryland mailing address and an enclosed check with a Texas address.
They called several hospitals in Texas to ask if the doctor worked at any of them. None had heard of him, but a clinic had a doctor with a similar name, but he worked in a different discipline. The FBI knew it was bogus, but were perplexed about how the perps intended to collect.
Homeland Security suggested that these types of scams are successful because they demand a refund because they have to cancel lessons. When the check is cashed and refunded, the victim ends up paying horrible fees plus the cost of the check itself back to the bank.
The latest thing that has occurred is when you answer one of these original e-mails asking for lessons, another bunch of e-mails start arriving from Nigeria stating that they can vouch for the settlement of the claim, and that they will repay the claim plus damages in the 100 thousands of dollars for these people. Then they say the money will arrive in two separate packages directly to your door.
It is anyone’s guess what is actually in the packages when they finally arrive, but meanwhile they require name, address, phone, social security number, date of birth, place of birth, etc.
Please warn teachers and performers who have websites of the potential dangers of getting involved in these types of scams. Anyone who has fallen for this kind of scam needs to go to the FBI and present documents as proof such as e-mails, checks, and receipts.
—Patti Christopher, Vocal Ease Studio Supplies, Metairie, La.
Errata
The photo on page 42 of the October issue, featuring the cast and composer of Lori Laitman’s new opera The Scarlet Letter, should have been credited to Eric Deitz.
In the article “Acting Out or Acting Up?” in the October issue, complete information on Ellen Rievman was not given. In addition to her work coaching singers in New York City, Rievman was a member of the Metropolitan Opera for 24 years, is entering her sixth year as a founding member of Martina Arroyo’s summer workshop Prelude to Performance, and is currently a senior consultant with the TAI Group in New York City.
