#artsongsforeveryone No. 1- Jen Davis

Welcome to a new feature here on Tenor Eleven Miles Away!  Art Songs for Everyone is my way to introduce you to people from all walks of life that have discovered art songs and found fulfillment.  It is my hope that you will enjoy their work as I do.

A few weeks ago, I posted a request for people to share their YouTube and SoundCloud recordings.  I've received some submissions already from students.  I'd love to get some from amateurs and professionals as well, so please pass them along along with your a photo, a brief bio, your website and Facebook links and perhaps a bit about why the song is so special to you!  You can send them to Denverartsongproject@gmail.com

Meet our first Art Song Singer!

Name: Jen Davis

Bio: Jennifer is completing her studies as a doctoral student in the voice department at the University of Northern Colorado. She is a frequent recitalist and concert soloist. In August 2016 Jennifer returned from two months in the Czech Republic where she studied and gave performances at the Janáček Academy of Music (JAMU) in Brno, and has been invited by Zdeněk Šmukař to return for the 2017-2018 academic year. Jennifer’s research includes Czech vocal music and she has been invited to give a concert in Prague of the music of Zdeněk Trnka in November 2017. Recent performances have featured a concert as part of a series at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Denver, and New Year’s Eve appearance with the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra (GPO) with Maestro Glen Cortese as conductor, as well as her final Doctoral Recital. Her roles have included Micaela, Pamina, Susanna, Despina with Rome Festival in Rome, Italy, Marie in La Fille du regiment with Opera Theatre of the Rockies, and Alice in Verdi’s Falstaff with the GPO.  Jennifer is the proud sole recipient of the 2015 Dante Alighieri Music Scholarship, which has been "established to enable students to advance their studies in operatic and classical music."  

Links:
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The Year of 2015... A retrospective

I'm going back and I realize that I missed my "Best of" lists for 2015 and 16.  Can you believe it?  I'm going to fix that starting now..

As always, Kitty and I collaborate on a "Best of" list to end each year.  It is always fun for us to think about the experiences, restaurants and products that have defined our year.  As always, this list is in no precise order and there is no relation between the different items.

10.) The immersion blender
Smoothies for the kids for breakfast, creamy soups without the mess of a blender and an easy way to chop onions.  This was our product of the year.  If you like to cook, this is a great tool that probably would not anger Alton Brown.

9.) Home Depot (as relates to # 1)
I spend at least a little time each week at the Home Depot.  I take the Spud, LHB and Baby Maraca to their Saturday workshops to build some sort of project and they always enjoy the satisfaction of working on a project.  More importantly, I am inspired to try my hand at building small craft projects like bookshelves and a gaming table for myself.

8.) The Best Bahn Mi in Denver (finding happiness in a new City)

When we moved to Denver a little over a year ago, I was worried that I would lose touch with the great ethnic food that defined my time in New York City.  I was afraid of not getting to take my children on "Food Adventures" that would expand their palate.  Thanks to the internet, I was able to find New Saigon Bakery, which makes a delicious Bahn Mi sandwich.  I look forward to discovering many more food adventures.

7.) Denver Activities

Moving to a new city requires exploration and an openness to appreciate the differences from home.  Early on in 2015, Kitty recommended I try going to a weekly "Adventurer's League" at Enchanted Grounds.   When I'm not gigging, I go every Wednesday night to play Dungeons and Dragons (5th Edition!) and socialize.  I've made some wonderful friends and shared in many exploits in the world of D&D.

6.) Home School

This year we decided that the Spud would be homeschooled.  We had experimented with homeschooling for half a year in New York City for kindergarten.  Kitty has spent an enormous amount of time and energy giving a rich education to our oldest child.  There are many wonderful resources in Colorado to support our decision and it has brought our entire family closer together.

5.) Renewal and Collaboration (Opera Colorado)
Years ago, I began my professional career outside of New York State by heading to Opera Colorado to be an Outreach singer.  During my tenure at Opera Colorado, I was introduced to a variety of top tier professionals and was inspired to go to New York and transition my career from being a character tenor to a lyric (leading) tenor.  It was an unconventional path to take when I had a good career ahead of me and the challenge and rewards have been deeply satisfying.

This year I returned to Opera Colorado to step in as the Second Priest in Mozart's The Magic Flute.  We had an stellar cast, crew and direction team and I was thrilled to reconnect with my former colleagues after so many years.

4.) The Royal Carriage
We bought a mini-van.  We drive it everywhere.  'nuff said.

3.) Connection and Collaboration (Denver Art Song Project, Boulder Opera, old friends at the show)
Likewise, I started off 2015 making new musical friends.  Opera on Tap, Boulder Opera, the Messiah Chorus of Grand Junction and founding the Denver Art Song Project filled my year with many musical treats and surprises.  Coupled with trips to New York for singing, I made the most of another year as a professional musician.

2.) Encompass New Opera Theatre's comedic gold.  I continued my long term series of collaborations with my good friends at Encompass, joining them in Richard Pearson Thomas' "A Wake or a Wedding".  It was an opportunity to play in a true comedy and push my comedic skills as far as I could.  And go topless.  And grow a slick mustache.

1.) The new house
After many years in NYC, we relocated to Denver and this year we took the huge step of putting down roots and buying our first house.  It is an exciting new beginning for our family.  After the five of us shared a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, we are almost overwhelmed with the space!

And so... there it is.  2 years late!  Watch out for 2016 coming soon!

Non-Profit Startup 1.5- Man, I am Board!

The Mission Statement is live.  The vision is starting to clarify for what we are and what we believe.  And now, we need a board.

I have a joke in my show, "The Denver Art Song Project combines two of my favorite things, singing and PowerPoint."  It is funny because it is true.  Unfortunately, I don't get to sing when I take my pitch slide deck out to meet with potential board members.

I've been working on a 3-year plan for about 4 months and yesterday I took it out to my first potential board member.

When I started this process in January, I spoke with the founders other performance groups.  They had the nerve and chutzpah to go out and fulfill their dreams to create art.  They inspired business leaders and their community to support their vision.

Considering the amount of rejection that an opera singer can receive over the course of their life, one would think that I'd be ready for whatever lies ahead.  I think that the difference is that in the past, I would go out and audition and there were a million variables of what I sounded like, what the audience panel was looking for and the color of the sky.  In this case, I've got a very clear vision of the future of Denver Art Song Project and the vision is entirely my own without any audition panel coming with their own needs and desires.

It shouldn't surprised you that I rehearsed this a great deal with Kitty and my parents-in-law.  We worked out a great number of kinks.

In the end, I realize there is a potential for really making a difference in the artistic community of Denver through a performance group dedicated to art songs.

Oh, and he said yes!

And this afternoon I'm off to meet with potential board member #2.  We need three to incorporate.

Non-Profit Startup 1.4- Mission Control

On Saturday night, the Denver Art Song Project performed their first "experimental" show at Syntax Physic Opera.

The show included supertitles, songs paired with famous (or infamous) works of art and narration.  We featured songs with piano, songs with oboe and unaccompanied songs.

Looking to the future, to make the Denver Art Song Project a reality and a viable group to last for years, I have been reading that a "Mission Statement" is essential.  Our mission statement should encapsulate quickly and easily all the aspects of what we hope to accomplish.  It should be easy to use in an elevator pitch with donors, potential board members and concert attendees.

Probably the most important purpose of our mission statement is that every recital, project and action our group takes should accomplish some (or all) of the principles.

Without further ado, here is my first draft.

• To educate and extend the appreciation of the Art Song genre by creating both traditional and experimental performances
• Traditional: concerts of art songs in a traditional concert hall environment
• Experimental: art song performance with video elements, staging or in collaboration with artists of other mediums
• To create a library of classic and newly commissioned art song recordings by artists living and working in Colorado
• To provide paid artistic opportunities for local musicians
• To create a musical legacy for the organization and the artists
• To develop educational curriculums for young listeners to learn about music through the Art Song Genre both in person and online

Our recital on Saturday has lived up to these standards and with our work preparing our second album, I think the mission has already begun.

A Skier's Guide to Opera Singing 5. My Left Foot.

I will keep this one brief.

I was thinking back to my first day of ski season.  It had been years since I had put on skis.  After a couple of glides around the bunny hill, I thought that I had rediscovered some semblance of skiing form.  Keeping in mind that I only skied about 4 times in my life before this.

That first run down, I started off feeling confident.  As I started my first turn, my left foot entirely failed me.  I started to snowplow and I had no strength to coordinate my legs.  For the remainder of the day, I wondered what on earth could be the matter that I could not move my left foot and leg with the same skill and precision of my right leg.

In a way, I was taken back to being a young opera singer.  There were so many things wrong that I had to manage and figure out.  I'm a notoriously slow learner about some things and it took awhile for me to get some equilibrium about performing and learn the skills so that they were reflexive.

So my advice as a skier to an opera singer? Keep track of all the left feet you have.  Deal with them.  It will make the subsequent trips down much more fun.  And then don't forget to repeat again and again... that will help to fix it.

A Skiers Guide to Opera Singing 4. Insanity.

If you are on social media, you may see this meme around:



First off, it is very likely that Einstein did not say it.  Let's put that aside for now.

As a new skiier, I would say that repetition has been my greatest friend.  I started out barely creeping down the green slopes and with more and more runs under my belt, I found that making the leap to more challenging slopes was not nearly as scary.

And besides, the first time I looked down from the top of the mountain I was petrified.  I thought I could see for far too many miles than was humanely safe and the bottom was completely out of sight.  That first run was a blur and it was only with repeating the runs down that I could take in more of the scenery.

Does this sound at all like singing to you?  There is a reason that I spent a month in NYC for rehearsals of my last show.  We were performing a new work that had never been staged and, in addition to giving the music the attention it deserved, my colleagues and I had to spend time figuring out how our characters would interact and what our stories were when we were not on stage.  By the end of rehearsals we were running the show twice per night.

Repetition leads to strength.  Repetition leads to the ability to recover from mistakes.  Repetition leads to confidence.  Repetition gives you the opportunity to look with a wider field of vision and appreciate different nuances.

And soon I began to realize that with repetition, the adventure was in the journey and not the destination.

Letters to my Mentors 5. Oh, oh, oh... it's Magic.

Dear Mentor,

When I met you, I did not yet have any children.  I was working as your executive assistant in a large non-profit and your background as a titan of the financial world had preceded you.  Imagine my surprise when you called me into your office.

"Find out Tannen's Magic Shop's hours today.  I need to get some shopping done," you said.

My usual office demeanor cracked with this surprising request and the questions started rolling out.  "Are you a magician?" "When did you start doing magic?"  "Why would you be doing magic?"

You began doing magic tricks at your children's birthdays when they were very small.  There was a hiatus during their teenage and young adult years, but when the grandchildren arrived, you picked up where you left off, buying one to two magic tricks a year to add to your repertoire.

As for me?  I can now do a rope trick, cut a card into pieces and reassemble it and I am starting out with card tricks now.  I have some linking rings that absolutely blew the mind of the kids who were attending The Spud's and LHB's birthdays this year.

For at least a couple more years I will be happily performing these tricks, learning more and, hopefully, making memories for my children.

Sincerely,
Eapen