Discussion, process, give-and-take, variety, chaos, and California sun are what Songfest (for singers and pianists) and its sister program for composers, the Program for New Art Song, are all about.
Both of these programs are master class-based examinations of specific topics in art song. Songfest, a long-time program run by Rosemary Hyler Ritter, has been featuring fabulous coach-accompanist, vocal, and operatic faculty for years. It draws some of the finest young singers and pianists from around the country to perfect their craft.
John Harbison has been on the faculty of Songfest before, addressing topics including his own music and the cantatas of J.S. Bach. It seemed only logical, because of his close ties with Songfest, that a similar program for composers should be developed.
June marked the inaugural session of the Program for New Art Song (PNAS) on the beautiful campus of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. The days were filled with coachings, master classes, lessons, and recitals, but I think almost everybody still managed to get to the beach!
Songfest/PNAS was a 12-day program—long for a composer’s conference, short for a singer’s summer program. Master classes at the beginning of the session were very new-music heavy, and taught mostly by PNAS Director John Harbison and Songfest faculty member Judith Kellock.
I imagine most of you are familiar with Mr. Harbison’s work. He is the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer of several song cycles and an opera, The Great Gatsby. He has been commissioned by many pre-eminent musicians (including Dawn Upshaw) and institutions, such as the State of Israel for the celebration of Israel’s 50th anniversary, and most recently, the Vatican.
You should also be acquainted with soprano Judith Kellock’s work. She serves on the performing faculty at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. and maintains a private studio in New York City. A founding member of Ensemble X, Ms. Kellock has performed with the St. Louis Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, among others. She is a recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts recitalist fellowship and sought after by many composers as an interpreter of their works. [www.judithkellock.com]
Mr. Harbison’s master classes actually were more like listening sessions. He described the circumstances surrounding the composition of each piece, let us know what he was trying to accomplish, and after the performance of the piece, answered any questions. Ms. Kellock’s sessions were master classes in which she discussed the technique of approaching new or recently composed works, and helped singers and pianists produce faithful interpretations.
A composer session featured eight guest composers and their works, some of which students and faculty in the Songfest program performed. These sessions were open to all participants of Songfest, as well as auditors. Singers and pianists had an opportunity to be coached by a living composer, and composers had a chance for immediate feedback about their works. This was invaluable.
The session gave singers a chance to engage composers in discussion about a broad variety of subjects, including tessitura, diction, articulation, transposition, and text clarity. Composers were able to guide singers by the hand to take bigger vocal risks than perhaps they had taken before. Singers were also exposed to different harmonic and rhythmic structures than many of them had previously worked with. The pianists were very helpful to composers on questions of notation, range, and voicing.
The student composers also had a chance to lead these sessions. Each shared a session with another student, so they each had an hour of time to tell people about their music.
Unfortunately, these sessions were held at the same time as other master classes in the Songfest program. I feel this was a loss to the singers, pianists, and student composers: The student composers lost a chance for exposure to a larger audience; the singers and pianists lost a chance to hear the work that their peers are doing.
The singers and pianists were roughly the same age as the student composers, pursuing a degree of some sort, whether baccalaureate or advanced. The student composers, not the guest composers, are the composers that the singers and pianists at the program would be most likely to commission, simply because of chronology.
This was a rather sad oversight on the part of the program, but as it is in its first year, we can hope this situation will improve.
Midway through the session, thecomposition students were given the assignment of writing a song on a line of text by poet Michael Fried. At the end of the session, four performers—Ms. Kellock and Gayle Shay (a mezzo-soprano on faculty at Vanderbilt University), with pianists Nobuko Amemiya, Thomas Bandy, and Reiko Uchida—read the new songs. James Primosch moderated the discussion of these works.
For me, this was one of the most memorable events of the program. It was amazing to listen to great singers and pianists interpret on the spot, and it was exciting to hear how different composers highlighted different aspects of the simple text. The four performers gave information about what makes a song easy or difficult to read. The composers had the chance to hear their scores a day or two after they composed them, and took the opportunity to change things in the moment. Mr. Primosch and the other composers, singers, and pianists who were in the room put in their two cents about each and every piece. It was exciting to watch composers change their minds, find a better way to express what they wanted to say, or stand their ground.
The program also featured several concerts, three of which were devoted exclusively to new music. Composers coached their pieces with the singers and pianists who would be doing them, and then had an opportunity to hear them in a performance and have a recording made. Several pieces were commissioned for Songfest and premiered at these concerts.
This program is truly making a valuable contribution to new art song. It is aiding in the education of gifted young composers, providing exposure to a new group of interpreters for more established composers, commissioning work, encouraging networking between disciplines, and housing a forum where composers, pianists, and singers can learn from each other.
