Listening at the Keyhole, Pt 4

Our final conversation will be questions from Hallie Spoor who will sing "November" from Theme in Yellow on our Women's Voices Concert on March 9 at 6 p.m. at Syntax Physic Opera.

Here is the response from Juliana:

Thank you, Hallie, for singing my song "Mother" and for sharing it with your Denver audience.  While I cannot travel to all the places I would like, it is a real gift that my music can travel to those places, and meet those people I would like to meet, and be a part of people's lives far from where I myself live.

My most heartfelt thanks for including my songs in your March 9th program, Eapen, and to all your beautiful singers, and beautiful pianist as well, I send my very warmest wishes.

Juliana


What drew you to the letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay, as opposed to her poetry/plays?

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we lived in New Haven, CT.  For several years a man there had a wonderful used and rare book shop that my husband and I used to frequent; he had lots of gorgeous first editions and very unusual books.  One day we found a copy of the complete letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay, one poet whose words I have always loved.  Previous to this, in 1989, I had written a song cycle on letters of Emily Dickinson which had been a very different and beautiful experience for me; letters, even poetic ones, can be a very different type of writing than setting poems.  When I saw Edna's letters, I knew there must be a song cycle in there somewhere...and there was!


"To Mother" begins very melodic and then shifts into a more speech-like and dissonant tone.  What was your thinking behind this?

As with all my writing, I take my cues from the text...for the most part, the song is quite lyrical and full of vocal and piano lines that "arch" almost in celebration of this person in Edna's life, her mother.  There are some dissonant moments speaking of parents who do not support their children who are "different" and hinting at the more common response by parents to childrens' interest in poetry and the arts in general...so the music mirrors, I hope, Edna's mother's nurturing spirit and the contrast Edna discusses that might have been her fate, had not her mother so thoroughly supported her natural interests and gifts.


What was your inspiration for the cycle?

Letters open a different view into a poet's work and life, and I found Edna's letters to have such a fun-loving spirit and a deep joy in being alive.  Many of her letters describe her various relationships, youthful excitements, and places around town (in New York City) that made up her youthful life while she lived in New York; I myself lived and worked in New York when I was a similar age...so I felt a kinship with what she was going through, and a closeness to her, having had such a lively four years living in the city myself.  Places she describes in her letters as being important in her life are also places I lived in and walked through, and they were important to me as well...the best example being her mention of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church...where she worshipped, and where - during my own stay - I sang in the choir, practiced piano, and in which I was later married!


Is there any significance in the syncopated rhythms?

The rhythms of the vocal lines are taken mainly from the spoken rhythms of the words themselves...for it is my main desire for the words to speak out clearly...and much of the piano writing supports that ideal with a gently rocking feeling (the feeling perhaps of a lullaby) - as if in some sense, Edna still feels a type of very deep, almost physical, connection to her mother...who appears to have been a rather remarkable woman herself to be able to support Edna in such a loving way that conveyed to Edna what firm conviction she had in the rightness of Edna's chosen path, and the confidence she felt in Edna's ability to travel that chosen path.


I hope you enjoy this blog series, "Listening at the Keyhole."  Thank you to Juliana Hall for taking time out of her schedule to talk with our artists and share her insights into her songs.  Please come to our upcoming show, "Women's Voices" live at Syntax Physic Opera on March 9, 2017 at 6 p.m.

Listening at the Keyhole, Pt 3

Our next conversation will be questions from Kristen Smith who will sing "Sonnet" from Night Dances on our Women's Voices Concert on March 9 at 6 p.m. at Syntax Physic Opera.

Here is the response from Juliana:

How was Night Dances conceived?  Did you compose the set of songs to share a similar theme, but could stand alone as solo pieces, or are they part of a cycle?

Each of my song cycles from 1985 to the present - including NIGHT DANCES - is designed as a "set" of songs; the theme or main idea of the cycle gives each individual song its strongest context...and this is why performance of entire cycles is preferable when possible.

That said, however, many singers have opted to perform individual songs (as you are doing in this performance) and that is also great.  My songs can certainly stand on their own, and can be enjoyed when included in small sets of my songs (again, as you're doing here) or when they're included with songs by other composers...so the song "Sonnet" is both an essential part of this song cycle, its ending song, but has also on many occasions been performed, and even recorded, as an independent song outside of the song cycle context in which it was originally conceived.


Where the poems suggested when the cycle was commissioned or did you select the poetry?  What was it about the poems you selected that seemed to fit within the idea of the song cycle?

When I was commissioned, I was given complete freedom to choose a theme and to find whatever poetry I felt would best illuminate that theme musically.  All the poems touched upon one aspect of the night in one way or another, from the chirping of crickets to the experience of nightmare, a lullaby and a song about insomnia, a song about a spider sewing its web at night, and finally "Sonnet" - about the healing power of music that leads to the rhythm of sleep.

How did the text of 'Sonnet' by Elizabeth Bishop influence your composition of the music?

"Sonnet" was unusual (and still is within my whole body of work) because it begins with the soprano singing unaccompanied through three lines of music, sort of a declaration of the singer's need for music, with the piano joining only when that declaration is over and the poem turns to describing the qualities of music.

I notice a lot of text painting in 'Sonnet.'  What were your reasons for aligning text with musical representations?

That has to do with the purpose a song serves, to me at least, which is to convey to the audience the words of the text (whether that is a poem, a letter, a fable or a diary entry) with a focus on illuminating in musical form the magic within that text, the authentic voice of the text's author, and the various meanings held within the poet's words.  When composing, I try to supply a sense of color, atmosphere, a sense of time and rhythm, that will open the listener's imagination to what the words of the text are saying, and in a way that will help the listener connect deeply with the words...text painting plays an important role in much art song composition, as it speaks to that listener's imagination directly.

What to you, is the  most important part of composing an art song?

That is the most important question one can ask, and my answer is always: the text.  Poetry, and other types of personal and literary writings, capture many amazing things that we often take for granted in the most ordinary of circumstances, bringing out beauty, and magic, and meaning where we might overlook them during our busy lives...so the purpose of the art song is to transport that special text to the audience, to share those wonderful, beautiful, magical insights with the audience...with the goal of writing music that allows those texts to be heard without the aid of printed copies of the texts.  As much as possible, the composer should strive to write in a way that makes it easy for a singer to project a text out to an audience member with clarity and beauty, so that listener in the audience may be touched by the poet's words.

I hope you enjoyed this article and please come to our upcoming show, "Women's Voices" live at Syntax Physic Opera on March 9, 2017 at 6 p.m.

Listening at the Keyhole, Pt. 2

Our next conversation will be questions from Sarah Reynolds who will sing "November" from Theme in Yellow on our Women's Voices Concert on March 9 at 6 p.m. at Syntax Physic Opera.

Here is the response from Juliana:

Where did you grow up? And/or is there a region of the country you have an affinity with? This song (& cycle) reminds me of living in New England.

I was born in Huntington, West Virginia - right on the Ohio River - and grew up in the tiny village of Chesapeake, Ohio (opposite Huntington on the other side of the river).  However, I have lived in Connecticut for nearly 30 years and New England feels like home to me.  Amy Lowell lived in Boston, and her work really does have a New England feeling to me...this poem - November - especially...and I have tried to capture that feeling in my song.

How did you come across this poem of Amy Lowell's? What about her poetry grabbed your attention?

I design my song cycles differently today, but back in my earlier days when this song was written (1990) I would choose a topic for a new song cycle, then research poets to find poems I thought would go together well for the chosen topic.  November is one of six songs that comprise the song cycle THEME IN YELLOW, which has as its topic the season of Autumn.  While searching for new poets, I happened upon a book of poems by Amy Lowell and liked them quite a lot; they have a dark lyricism that is very appealing to me.  She is good at painting a picture that very effectively conveys the emotional feeling underlying whatever physical scene is portrayed in that picture.

What do you imagine prompted the sadness of the speaker in this poem?

November in New England has a certain feeling, a quality that is different from Autumn in other parts of the country.  The kind of wistful sadness in the poem feels very much to me like Fall really feels here.  The type of rain, wind, the dusky darkness of the light in late afternoon.  The sadness of the speaker in this poem "trying to write down the emptiness of my heart" is not an overly emotional sadness, but is more stoic...which is a New England trait.

The use of triplets seem to indicate the time it is taking the poet to write about the images, giving weight (maybe even struggle) to finding the right words.How did you intend them to function? How would you like the singer to interpret this rhythmic element?

There are two types of triplets, each of which serves a different purpose.  The eighth-note triplets are descending notes, "illustrating" a sigh...the type of sigh one feels in the dark of Autumn when sadness lingers in the air and time seems to stand still.  The quarter-note triplets serve to expand, or stretch, the vocal line, "painting" words like "rusty" and "emptiness" - words that communicate a sense of Autumnal colors and a dark state of mind...such stretching helps to emphasize the "broken" quality of Autumn, with colors fading and darkening, leaves withering and falling to the ground, and time slowing down and seeming to come to a halt as the darkness of the Autumn sky envelopes everything, giving the scene a sense of the physical world decaying into Winter, losing its grip on life and giving rise to that Autumnal feeling of the emptiness of life now gone.

I hope you enjoyed this article and please come to our upcoming show, "Women's Voices" live at Syntax Physic Opera on March 9, 2017 at 6 p.m.

Listening at the Keyhole, Pt 1

Our first singer to participate in the conversation was Stephanie Ann Ball. Stephanie will sing "What is Paradise" from Paradise by Juliana Hall on our Women's Voices Concert on March 9 at 6 p.m. at Syntax Physic Opera. 

Here is the response from Juliana:

Thanks so, so much for singing my songs, Stephanie, I'm so happy; you're both so kind to share my songs with your DASP audience!!!

If you'd like to send more questions about other songs, please feel free, and I promise to write back quickly.  :-)

Warmest,

Juli

1. What composers inspired you to begin writing?

The two composers who probably had the greatest influence in me writing music - not beginning to write, but in actually becoming a composer - are Darrell Handel and Martin Bresnick.  While I was an undergraduate piano major at CCM in Cincinnati, I took a "composing for performers" class, in which I wrote a couple of works.  After hearing performances of those works, Darrell Handel (a faculty composer) told me I really ought to become a composer.  That seed was planted; while I continued to study piano, I slowly began to write more.  Later, when I entered the Yale School of Music as a graduate piano major, I signed up to take private composition lessons as an elective (pretty nice to be able to study composition with someone like Frederic Rzewski as an elective!).  So, as I had done earlier, I wrote some songs and when they were performed, another faculty composer - Martin Bresnick, this time - encouraged me to switch my focus from playing to writing.  With Martin's assistance, I was able to change majors in mid-stream and work as a "real" composer.  I think I would have eventually become a composer on my own (it feels like the "real" me), but the strong encouragement from these two outstanding teachers directed me in a powerful, and gently supportive, way to my "new" life.

2. Many of your songs are set to the words of Emily Dickinson. What about her poetry makes it a good fit for your songs?

I have composed more songs on poems and letters of Emily Dickinson, than on any other writer.  She writes in such a naturally musical way, there is an ebb and flow to her thoughts, a type of rhythm that is very nearly music itself.  Her thoughts are not grounded in the Victorian age, but are modern...and they seem modern to me continually, they seem timeless.  Her imagery is so vibrant, her insights so direct and pure, her depth of understanding so bottomless.  AND...very important for me...she has a wonderful sense of humor, of playfulness...a sense that I think many readers do not necessarily appreciate to the fullest.  We have a sense that the "great" poets are "serious" - but Emily was a regular person, with daily life full of observation, interactions with family friends and relatives...and she put a lot of humor in those daily observations, alongside her profound insights.

3. What is Paradise has lots of rhythmic sections mixed with lyric phrases, what effect are you hoping the singer will acheive with this piece?

As with all my songs, my main intent is to let the words speak...to share the thoughts and truths set down by the poets, and to illuminate the magic they shine upon even the most ordinary of experiences.  "What is Paradise?" is a perfect example of Emily's sense of whimsical playfulness while entertaining serious ideas - in this case, the lyric phrases present the many questions and the many concerns going through her mind, as she compares the life she knows here on Earth with what that afterlife might be like.

4. Is there a specific story you are telling with this cycle, and if so, how does this song fit into that arc?

The song cycle "Paradise" has a loose narrative arc going from waiting for Heaven ("I Sing to Use the Waiting"), to a mid-cycle sense of drama when Emily realizes she may not get into Heaven ("Why - do they shut Me out of Heaven?" and "At least - to pray - is left") to, finally, a sense of faith that Heaven awaits her ("Tie the Strings to my Life, My Lord").  This song - "What is Paradise?" - is the sixth of seven songs, and is reached after she has waited, experienced doubt about her reaching Heaven, and hoped for someone to consider her for Heaven - in this songs she seems to face the actual reality of a place known as Heaven and she is questioning what it will actually be like.  The seventh and final song of the cycle ends with Emily proclaiming that she is "ready to go" so this sixth song allows her to consider what she may be in for, and to be at peace with the idea of the place she hopes to reach.

Hope you enjoyed this letter and please come to our upcoming show, "Women's Voices" live at Syntax Physic Opera on March 9, 2017 at 6 p.m.

Listening at the Keyhole, Pt. 0

Did you ever wonder what might happen if an artist had the opportunity to talk to a composer about their compositions before they go into performance?

In this series that leads up to our "Women's Voices" show, Juliana Hall will share her thoughts on composition as she corresponds with our singers who will be performing her songs.  You'll hear questions from Sarah Reynolds, Stephanie Ann Ball, Kristen Smith and Hallie Spoor as they chat with Juliana.

Don't forget to buy your tickets to our Women's Voices Show on Thursday, March 9 at 6 p.m. at Syntax Physic Opera.

See you tomorrow!

Meet Juliana Hall:

American art song composer Juliana Hall has composed over 50 song cycles and works of vocal chamber music, which have been described as “brilliant” (Joseph McLellan, The Washington Post) and “the most genuinely moving music of the afternoon” (Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe), and her songs have been regarded as “legitimate modern heirs to the great tradition of German lieder” (Philip Greene, New Haven Register).

A review of several of Hall’s song cycles in the January 2017 issue of the Journal of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) notes that in her work,

“The tonal language is adventurous, and Hall’s text setting is spot on and exquisite, even when she elevates the text to the vocal stratosphere” and notes, further, that they are “artful and adroit expressions of superb poetic and musical choices.”

Hall’s music has been heard in 26 countries on six continents, in venues including the 92nd Street Y, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Morgan Library & Museum, National Opera Center, Spectrum, Trinity Church Wall Street, and Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall) in New York; Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles; Herbst Theatre in San Francisco; the French Library and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston; the Kemper Art Museum in Saint Louis; the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford; Strathmore Hall Arts Center in Bethesda; the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst; the Museum of Art in San Diego; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, and Singapore Embassy in Washington, DC; the McKnight and Ordway Theaters in St. Paul; Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris; and St. Paul’s Cathedral, Wigmore Hall, and The Warehouse (Waterloo) in London.

Hall’s songs have also been presented at music festivals and intensive art song training programs, including the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, London Festival of American Music, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Ojai Music Festival, Schubert Club Song Festival, Song Collaborators Consortium Art Song Festival, SongFest, and Tanglewood Music Center.

Radio broadcasts of Hall’s works have been heard on the BBC and NPR radio networks, stations in Canada, England, France, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and South Africa, and many throughout the U.S. as well, including Boston’s WGBH and New York’s WQXR.

In addition to concert performances and radio broadcasts, Hall’s vocal compositions have been recorded on the Albany and Vienna Modern Masters record labels. Her newest CD, “Love’s Signature” (MSR Classics, MS1603), was made possible by a Recording Grant from the Sorel Organization in 2015; “Love’s Signature” was issued in 2017, and presents three complete song cycles — her countertenor cycle O Mistress Mine (countertenor Darryl Taylor with Hall at the piano), and two soprano cycles, Syllables of Velvet, Sentences of Plush and Propriety (Grammy-winning soprano Susan Narucki and pianist Donald Berman).

Hall has received a number of commissions, and has composed song cycles and vocal chamber music for singers and organizations including baritone David Malis, countertenor Brian Asawa, sopranos Gwen Coleman Detwiler, Steffi Fischer, Martha Guth, Amy Petrongelli, Pamela Jordan Schiffer, and Dawn Upshaw; tenor Joel Burcham; Feminine Musique (the vocal duo of soprano Korliss Uecker and mezzo soprano Tammy Hensrud); Los Angeles’ SongFest; New York’s Mirror Visions Ensemble; Philadelphia’s Lyric Fest; and Baltimore’s Women Composers Orchestra.

Ensembles programming Hall’s work include groups such as the 016 New Music Ensemble, ANA Trio, Calliope’s Call, CHAI Collaborative Ensemble, Ensemble for These Times, Fourth Coast Ensemble, Lynx Project, Mallarmé Chamber Players, Voices of Change, and Zenith Ensemble.

Presenters of Hall’s music include organizations such as Capital Fringe, Casement Fund Song Series, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Contemporary Undercurrent of Song Project, Denver Art Song Project, Joy in Singing, Project 142, Song in the City, and Sparks & Wiry Cries.

Special performances include selections from Hall’s song cycle Night Dances on Dawn Upshaw’s First Songs project at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York in 2013 and a performance of her tenor song cycle The Holy Sonnets of John Donne at a Holy Week meditation service in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in 2015.

Special projects include a commission by the Lynx Project for its 2017 Autism Advocacy Project, for which she composed the song cycle Great Camelot to the words of Sameer Dahar, a gifted teenager with autism.





Highlights of the 2016-2017 season include a number of world premiere performances:

O Mistress Mine (12 songs for countertenor and piano on texts from plays of William Shakespeare) on August 5, 2016 at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, by countertenor Darryl Taylor with Hall at the piano

Upon This Summer’s Day (8 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Emily Dickinson) on November 10, 2016 at the London Festival of American Music, by soprano Nadine Benjamin and pianist Susanna Stranders

A World Turned Upside Down (7 songs on entries from “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank) on March 10, 2017 at the Song Collaborators Consortium Art Song Festival, by soprano Kathleen Roland Silverstein (pianist tba)

The Bells (song setting for soprano and piano of the poem by Edgar Allan Poe) on March 25, 2017 on the Contemporary Undercurrent of Song Project’s “Juliana Hall Composer Portrait” concert, by soprano Alexandra Porter and pianist Brent Funderburk

Christina’s World (5 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Christina Rossetti) on April 8, 2017 at the Cincinnati Song Initiative, by soprano Gwen Coleman Detwiler and pianist Marie-France Lefebvre

When the South Wind Sings (7 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Carl Sandburg) in June, 2017 (date TBA) at SongFest, by a professional fellow soprano and pianist (TBA).

Other recent highlights include:

Propriety (5 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Marianne Moore), Music like a Curve of Gold (2 songs for soprano, mezzo soprano and piano on poems by Sara Teasdale), and Dreams in War Time (7 songs for mezzo soprano and piano on poems by Amy Lowell) on the Casement Fund Song Series/Sparks & Wiry Cries concert entitled “Celestial Refrains: Songs of Juliana Hall” at the National Opera Center in New York, by soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, mezzo soprano Hai-Ting Chinn, and pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough

Night Dances (6 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, and Edna St. Vincent Millay) at the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, by soprano Amy Petrongelli and pianist Bridget Hough

Letters from Edna (8 songs for mezzo soprano and piano on letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay) on the Joy in Singing’s annual “Edward T. Cone Foundation Composers Concert” in Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, by mezzo soprano Abigail Levis and pianist Miriam Leskis

Julie-Jane (5 songs for baritone and piano on poems by Thomas Hardy) on the Zenith Ensemble series in Melbourne, Australia, by baritone Michael Lampard and pianist Rhodri Clarke

Night Dances (6 songs for soprano and piano on poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, and Edna St. Vincent Millay) and I sing to use the Waiting (song for soprano and piano from the cycle “Paradise“) on the Calliope’s Call art song series in Boston, by soprano Maggie Finnegan, soprano Sonja Tengblad, and pianist Clare Longendyke

Syllables of Velvet, Sentences of Plush (7 songs for soprano and piano on letters of Emily Dickinson) at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA, by soprano Molly Fillmore and pianist Elvia Puccinelli





Hall’s songs have been taught in song repertoire classes and student composer seminars at numerous academic institutions, some of which include the Bard College Conservatory of Music, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Hartt School of Music, and the Juilliard School, in addition to the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, SongFest, and the Tanglewood Music Center summer programs.

Hall’s compositions have been studied academically by a number of university students and college professors who have made presentations about her work and a few who have written their Masters theses or Doctoral dissertations on them (both in the U.S. and the U.K.) Conference presentations about Hall’s songs have been made at the Athena Festival in Kentucky, the Women Composers Festival of Hartford, meetings of the College Music Society, and the “Conference in Music Performance Studies” in Portugal.

Interviews of Hall and articles about her work have appeared in the Journal of Singing (National Association of Teachers of Singing), the Journal of the IAWM (International Alliance for Women in Music), and the online journals Art Song Magazine (Sparks & Wiry Cries) and Musica Kaleidoskopea.

Juliana Hall began her musical career as a pianist, studying with Boris Berman, Jeanne Kirstein, Seymour Lipkin, and Lee Luvisi. She became a composition major at the Yale School of Music, where she earned her Master’s degree in Composition studying with Martin Bresnick, Leon Kirchner, and Frederic Rzewski, and she completed her formal composition studies with composer Dominick Argento in Minneapolis. In 1989 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition.

Non-Profit Startup 1.2 Hardly Original

Many of you will notice that there is absolutely nothing original about this series of blog posts.  I'm aping the style of Gimlet Media's brilliant Start-up Podcast.  While the similarities are obvious, I think that starting a non-profit is different than a traditional for-profit enterprise.

The output of this project is not to make vast amounts of money or have a large staff producing different shows, but rather to focus on one of the smallest niches of the Classical Music genre, art songs.

My goal is to tell you the story of art songs, get you excited about these short, pretty pieces of music and create employment for Colorado-based artists to perform, experiment and collaborate on Art Songs.  I'll expand on these goals as I share with you the new Mission Statement for the Denver Art Song Project as we convert from a small side-project to a registered non-profit.

Do you know what an Art Song is? (tip: click the link to the left)

I'll be reposting some of my blog entries to get you caught up if you are new to this site and the Denver Art Song Project.

Please share your thoughts and ideas about these posts one one of our many social media sites like Facebook or Twitter or the comments below.

Non-Profit Start-up 1.1

"Are you thinking about turning the Denver Art Song Project into a non-profit?" my friend asked.

I paused for a moment and my mind raced through all we had accomplished in 2015--  A successful release on Bandcamp led to our digital release of a full album on iTunes, Spotify, and many other digital platforms.  The Denver Art Song Project's first recital which incorporated songs, a piano solo, supertitles and curated art paired with chatting with the audience and a Q&A followed the release.  A third trip to the studio to begin our next cycle of releases for 2016 had already begun.

"Yes," I said, "I have thought about it.  But I don't know where to begin or how.  I suppose I should take a stab at it."

"Well, if you do, please add me to your mailing list.  I would love to support your next projects."

"And that is the kick the pants that I need to get started.  Thank you." I replied.

And so today, I start the first step in moving the Denver Art Song Project from a strange little business to something else.  I am starting with a whole lot of googling.  In this series of posts, I'll be sharing with you as much as I can about the process.  I'll talk about the process of getting registered with the State of Colorado, the IRS, developing By-Laws, enticing victims volunteers to be a part of the Board of Trustees.

At the same time, I'm going to... take a deep breath... share my feelings about the process of setting up a non-profit that is dedicated to the niche of the niche of Classical Music.  I'll open up about my fears of fundraising, the complexities of grant writing and all of the joys that keep me going and the small failures that will make me want to give up.

Thanks for following along and thanks for supporting the Denver Art Song Project and Eapen Leubner's opera career.

Denver Art Song Project- 2015 in Review

The Denver Art Song Project hit a number of milestones this year.  You likely have heard about these successes if you follow us at our website, fan page or Eapen's fan page.

2015 began with Eapen and Mallory collaborating on a "micro-album" of Donaudy songs which were released on our Bandcamp Site.  Soon after, we created a recording of Beethoven's "An die ferne geliebte" and released the record digitally via CD Baby, iTunes and via streaming on Spotify.  Please consider buying or streaming the album as it supports our future work as the Denver Art Song Project and provides residuals to the artists.

Our Album release party was at the Arts at Cabrini Series where we performed the album and coupled some of the sets with supertitles, visual art and informative narration.  At the end we shared a Q&A session with our audience (with a glass of wine in hand).

Just before Eapen departed for gigs in New York, the Denver Art Song Project returned to the recital/recording hall and began work on their 2016 releases which will be announced soon.

I've already started a series of posts about what the Denver Art Song Project will be up to over the next year.  I'll be posting here at my blog and also via Facebook, Twitter and more!  There are so many ways to stay in touch.

As 2015 comes to a close, thank you to all for supporting our nascent group and for making  us welcome in the Colorado Music community.

Thanks to Mallory Bernstein, collaborative pianist extraordinaire, and Michael Bevers, our intrepid sound engineer who is about to become one of our featured artists in 2016.  Without your help and good cheer we could not have achieved so much with so little.

And for you, my fans, friends and supporters, thank you for making 2015 an unforgettable year of music.

My best wishes,
Eapen Leubner
Founder, Denver Art Song Project

Living in Song

The past few weeks have been full of some fascinating work on Denver Art Song Project's next recording.   In addition to rehearsals, we brought in Denver coach, Andrew Adams, who listened and gave Mallory and I some great feedback on ways to approach our next recording.

Simultaneously, I had a lovely conversation by email with Charles Ralph, over at Opera Pronto.  When I relocated out here, I decided to drop him a line to connect up to the opera and singing world.  Our conversation lead to my being featured as the artist of the week and Opera Pronto's newsletter was the official announcement of the next Denver Art Song Project recording, Beethoven's "An die ferne Geliebte."

In the next couple of weeks I'll be posting more about the work itself.  Mallory and I will be back in the studio at the end of August and we will be announcing our release schedule.

As always you can check at our digital store to listen to our first album, "Donaudy Songs" and please consider buying our digital album.  Your purchase of $4 (or more, if you wish) will support the cost of our recordings and our future plans for Denver Art Song Project.

Let's start at the very beginning! #yearofplay

For those of you who are not in the field of music or voice, let me fill you in on the "inside baseball" of Art Songs.

When a freshman voice student arrives at a music school, fresh-faced and 18 years old, in most cases, they are not ready to tackle the challenges of opera roles and arias.  Typically, they don't have the stamina or vocal strength and they arrive at school ready to sing.

Most voice teachers supply voice majors with a steady stream of art songs to help build their vocal technique and stamina and prepare them for the rigors of opera to come.  Art songs teach a young singer the process of learning music.  A good voice teacher can use art songs to create a checklist for singers to use so that they can approach any singing project:

1. Translate the words and study the poetry
2. Learn the history of the song, including about the poet and the reason the pome was written
3. Think about what the poem means to you as an artist
4. Learn the notes and rhythms (wait... that's step 4?)
5. Collaborate with a pianist again and again until you can perform the song well

I would not ask you, the casual listener, to go through these steps.  Hopefully by seeing this approach, you can get a sense of why art song is so important to young singers artistic growth.

I have had a great deal of fun returning to my art song roots over the past couple of months to create my new Denver Art Song Project collaboration.  Please do check it out and remember, there will be more to come on June 15, 2015.

Happy Listening,

Eapen

What is an Art Song? (Continued) #yearofplay

Yesterday, I wrote a bit about why we are called the "Denver Art Song Project" and why I chose Art Songs (yes, still pretentious) as my genre of choice to work with during my #yearofplay.

Today, let's dive into a way to experience an art song.  Sure, I could give you a lot of "homework" to prepare to experience this little song.  Instead of throwing work at you, let's do a little experiment:

Read the instructions first... then do the steps... then, if you want, comment below and let me know what you thought, experienced, felt or how you were inspired.

1.) Hit play on my song "O del mio amato ben".

2.) Now listen as you look at this picture:

Learn more about this picture here

3.) Was there anything about the picture that you noticed as you listened to the song?  In your opinion, how did the picture and the music match?  Feel free to comment below!

Score some bonus points... Cruise through the amazing MET online collection.  Is there a picture that captures the spirit of the song to you more than this one?  If so, why?  Post a link to the pic in the comments below!

Hope you enjoy this little game!
Eapen

Why art songs? #Yearofplay

With the launch of the Denver Art Song Project, a number of people have sent messages to find out "What is an art song?" and "Why aren't you recording opera arias?  You are an opera singer!"

Great questions and thanks to all of you who asked and thanks to all who have already pre-purchased the album.

Let's start with the second question first.

"Why aren't you recording opera arias?  You are an opera singer!"

I love opera.  I've been singing opera for years now and it has been the largest part of my career.  I chose art songs for my #yearofplay because making a high-quality opera aria album would be a larger project than I could have managed.  Operas are presented with an orchestra, I would have wanted to do the same for my album as well.  It would mean pulling together a lot of talent and the logistics of recording might have overwhelmed me.  I've always said, that I should keep my goals modest at first and focus on achieving a final product, not get stuck half-way because my ambitions outstrip my organizational skills.

"What is an art song?"

Art songs are poems set to music.  Generally, they are meant for voice and piano and are meant to be shared in a small setting with friends.  There are many exceptions to this rule, but let's keep it to this simple definition for now.

Since an art song is a poem set to music, this makes life easier for you as an audience member.  Here are some pros and cons:

Pros:
- You don't have to learn the whole long story of an opera.  These are little bite-sized musical experiences!
- You don't have to learn the translation of an entire opera.  (bite-sized!)
- You don't have to keep track of characters in an opera.
- Art songs are shorter than opera (3 minutes vs. 3 hours).
- As with most poetry, you get to do your own interpretation.  Take a look at this poem:

One's-Self I Sing

  One's-self I sing, a simple separate person,
  Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse.

  Of physiology from top to toe I sing,
  Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse, I say
      the Form complete is worthier far,
  The Female equally with the Male I sing.

  Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,
  Cheerful, for freest action form'd under the laws divine,
  The Modern Man I sing.

(Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass. Text from Project Gutenberg)

Your interpretation could likely differ quite differently from mine based on your own personal experiences.  This could conflict with your values or support them.  With an opera, you have more to learn about the story and that could slow or cause you to misunderstand the song.

Cons:
- Art Songs.  What a pretentious name.
- They are short and we always want more.  (We do, don't we?)
- Sometimes we have to learn a bit about why the poem was written or sometimes about the poet themselves. (I'll look to provide that context in my liner notes and blog posts!)

Over the next few days, I will be posting some more thoughts about Art Songs and why we chose this genre for our recordings.

Newly announced: Denver Art Song Project #yearofplay

By now you have probably seen the stories posted on this site.  These stories all link to the song text of art songs by Stefano Donaudy.

So what do we know so far for my #yearofplay?  I've been exploring art songs in a new way outside of learning the notes and rhythms and collaborating with a pianist.  I am focusing on three songs by Stefano Donaudy.  I am focusing on playing with social media to announce and drive a personal artistic endeavor.  And you may have seen some weird pics pop up on Instagram

All of that leads up to this announcement:

Introducing the "Denver Art Song Project".

This musical cooperative is dedicated to exploring and sharing art song repertoire and giving voice to new, high-quality recordings from Denver area artists.

The first collaboration of the DASP is a micro-album of three Donaudy songs sung by Eapen and accompanied by Mallory Bernstein.  Michael Bevers is our engineer.

You can listen for free at the site and, if you'd like, pre-order all three songs for $4.  We will release the full set of songs on June 15, 2015.

You can follow Denver Art Song Project on Facebook and at the newly redesigned and mobile-friendly www.eapenleubner.com.