Boston Singers' Resource News
Bulletin July 9, 2002
It
is with great pleasure that we present Mr. Jeffrey Brody, composer and
musical director for Longwood Opera, in this issue. Mr. Brody and Longwood
Opera will be beginning their Summer Opera Series tonight, July 9, at
7:30 PM at Christ Episcopal Church in Needham. Mr. Brody is a fabulous
local talent, a great supporter of BSR and, we might add, a very engaging
writer. He offers some interesting stories and some excellent advice on
auditioning.
Currently Music Director of Longwood Opera and Principal Accompanist of the Paul Madore Chorale, Jeffrey Brody pursues an active musical career as composer, conductor, vocal coach,, collaborative pianist and organist. Appointed to the musical staff of Seattle Opera in 1986, he has done the musical preparation of that company's critically acclaimed production of Wagner's "Ring", serving as Assistant Conductor and Prompter. He has also done musical preparation for Sarah Caldwell's Opera Company of Boston, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera New England, MIT Chamber Opera, Janus Opera Productions and the Princeton June Opera Festival.
He made his orchestral conducting debut with the Richmond Festival Orchestra in 1995 in a program of all original works. Most recently, he guest-conducted the Salem Philharmonic Orchestra at the invitation of Music Director and Conductor Alan Hawryluk. His compositions include works for orchestra, chorus, chamber music and organ. They have been performed in Boston's Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, the Washington National Cathedral, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Altenburg and Muenster Cathedrals, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival, the prestigious festival "la citta, la musica e il sacro" in Venice, and on National Public Radio. A finalist in the 1999 European International Composers Competition, he has been the recipient of numerous ASCAP special awards. Several of his commissioned choral and organ works have been released on compact disc by the AFKA and SPC labels.
Highlights of the 2000-2001 season included the premiere performances of his choral work "O fairest Love Divine" by the Paul Madore Chorale; the first performances by the Salem Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Hawryluk of his transcriptions for orchestra of three works by Mozart for mechanical organ; the performance in the 8000-seat Cathedral of Harissa in Beirut of his Concerto for Organ and Orchestra with organist Berj Zamkochian and the State Symphony Orchestra of Lebanon under the direction of Harout Faslian, and the world premiere of his opera, The Measure of Love, hailed by the Boston Herald as a "sure-fire hit;" " 'Measure,' by Boston composer Jeffrey Brody and librettist Richard Sizensky, is an entertaining charmer, filled with in-jokes about an unnamed Boston music school (it could be anywhere, actually) and the competitive students of its opera department. But it's also a serious work that, without being heavy-handed, gives us a glimpse of what it might mean to devote one's life to something as all-consuming as a career in music...Brody's music is characterized throughout by a kind of melancholy, a sweet sadness that shows his love for these people almost because of, rather than despite, their self-deluding conceits, and it's a love that readily communicates itself to the audience." -TJ Medrek, The Boston Herald. <see article at http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/arts_culture/long06112001.htm>
The 2001-2002 season brings more European performances of his Organ Concerto; the premiere of his Nigun, an orchestral rhapsody, in performances by the Salem Philharmonic; more performances of "The Measure of Love" in Toronto, and the premiere of a short orchestral work commissioned by the Symphony Orchestra of Michigan State University in honor of its seventy-fifth anniversary.
BSR INTERVIEW WITH JEFFREY BRODY:
BSR: Where did you study and what brought you to composing?
JB: After I had learned all I could from my local piano teacher, at the age of 13 my parents sent me study piano with the late Julius Chaloff. He was born in 1892 and after teaching fort 40 years at the New England Conservatory he opened his private studio on Newbury Street. Every Saturday afternoon I would take the bus in from Marblehead and have what was supposed to be a one-hour lesson, but was usually 2 hours. It was Mr. Chaloff who perceived that I had some degree of talent as a composer and I ultimately studied harmony, analysis, counterpoint, composition and orchestration with him. When I attended Boston University's School for the Arts, where I was an organ major under the late George Faxon (himself also a Chaloff student) I did not have to take any theory courses there thanks to my private studies with Mr. Chaloff. I must say that my 17 years of study with him were absolutely a joy. He made all if his students feel like we were family and indeed, many times we were invited to his house for a festive meal and wonderful stories. He told me of the days when he was a student of Hugo Kaun and Ignaz Friedmann in Berlin from 1912-1916 and how well he knew Schoenberg as well as Scriabin. The fascinating stories he told of going to the Kroll Opera , one of three in berlin(!) and hearing Wagner, were the seeds of operatic interest planted.
BSR: Looks like you have traveled around alot for your composing success'. How did you meet Richard Sizensky?
JB: Thanks to my close association with the world-renowned concert organist Berj Zamkochian, BSO organist from 1956-1978, I have had the experience of having my solo organ works performed in so many places. With particular pleasure I recall his performances in Venice and in the Vienna Konzerthaus, and at St. Patrick's Cathedral, among so many. It is indeed a very special artistic relationship we share as my organ works are tailored precisely to his virtuoso performance style. It was thanks to him that I have had the good fortune to have three of my major orchestral works (and not all with organ), performed by the excellent Symphony Orchestra of Michigan State University under the direction of Leon Gregorian. It was also thanks to Zamkochian that I met my librettist, Richard Sizensky, who, as organ repair person, had to do maintainance on an organ in Framingham where Berj was playing my Symphony for Organ, "Visions of the Apocalypse" at the dedication recital. <Mr. Sizensky and Mr. Brody have since collaborated on three major projects including Beowulf, A Measure of Love, and O Fairest Love Divine.>
BSR: "Measure of Love" - What attracted you to this story? Have you made any other changes since your performance last year?
JB: The opera, premiered in June of 2001 by Longwood Opera (it helps to be the Music Director!) was last week completely orchestrated for a 16-piece ensemble with about 6 weeks of very intense labor . As opposed to our work on "Beowulf" Mr. Sizensky took a year to come up with the story and write the libretto. He would not allow me to see it or even hear what the plot was until he was finished. And then he was most acceptable to changes of word here and there for better singability. After our premiere performances last year, in the process of transferring my hand-written manuscript to Finale, certain textual changes were made. And, in translating the original piano part, a certain amount of added composition was a necessity.
BSR: Will you compose more opera?
JB: Yes, most definitely, even though it is an awful lot of work. The next piece will be something more along fantasy lines akin to Die Frau ohne Schatten, perhaps, according to Mr. Sizensky.
BSR: You said that being a composer affects your musical coaching. I am interested, can you be more specific?
JB: . I find it very helpful in so many ways., primarily for the speedier comprehension of a new work. Last year, for example, the estimable dramatic soprano Joanna Porackova learned with me in about two months, the terribly difficult lead role in Liebermann's Medea, which she was to sing the world premiere in Berne. My previous experience assisting several different singers to learn major roles in "Lulu" was excellent practice because this Liebermann was so awful it made Lulu sound like Haydn. It was only my left-brained analytical skill, honed as a composer, which got us through a certain number of measures every day. It was bloody awful, but she had a major triumph and then was engaged for the same role at the Paris Opera.
BSR: What a FABULOUS article about Longwood Opera in the Boston Herald last month! Congratulations! When did you become involved with Longwood? How did you meet Scott Brumit?
I first met Scott Brumit in 1983 when I was a rehearsal pianist for the Opera Company of Boston and Scott was Miss Caldwell's Artistic Administrator.. That first production was as I recall, Turandot, with Eva Marton, Sarah Reese and Giorgio Tozzi. It was quite a thrill to sit amongst the orchestra and play the celesta part. You don't really hear the sound until you sit right in the orchestra or conduct it. Along with my friend and colleague Steven Steiner, I was one of the two pianists that Scott and Johne Balme, co-founders of Longwood Opera, engaged in 1986 or "87. Been so long I forget. <They founded Longwood Opera in 1986 to give locally-based performers a chance to establish themselves as professional artists. Also committed to bringing opera to communities throughout the greater Boston area, Longwood provides professional-level performances for local audiences without the inconveniences of expense or travel.>
"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like Longwood Opera - not around Boston, anyway. .. Scott Brumit, along with former Boston Lyric Opera co-director John Balme, founded Longwood to `create a bridge between the people who want to sing opera and the people who are producing opera.'' Longwood presents its summer concert series at Christ Episcopal Church in Needham, on eight Tuesdays starting July 9.`We do a different theme each week,'' Brumit said of the popular series, now in its 12th year. ``We start with opera, then do a Broadway night. There's an opera scenes night and there's a Gilbert and Sullivan night.` Longwood's tireless music director, Boston composer-conductor Jeffrey Brody, provides piano accompaniment for all the company's efforts." - Longwood Opera plays up local talent/by T.J. Medrek; Boston Herald, Friday, June 28, 2002 <see the Boston Herald article at http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/>
BSR: You obviously love singers and love giving people opportunities to sing as well as giving audiences the chance to hear great opera without paying MET prices. As I have said before, there are many talented singers in New England who, like Mr. Brumit, choose to remain local.
JB: I cannot agree with you strongly enough that there are indeed many talented singers in New England. In our fall productions we always double cast in order to give as many folks as possible an opportunity to grow.
BSR: You have heard so many singers throughout your career. Any arias you'd rather not hear performed for awhile? Any "dos and don'ts" that you would like to share with the singers?
JB: Do not give a pianist unbound single pages. They usually fall off the music rack.
*Do not give your pianist music that is wrapped in clear, shiny plastic. It might protect the music but more often than not the glare from lighting makes the music impossible to read and impossible to mark up.
*Do not snap your fingers or tap on the piano if you are unhappy with the tempo. You should be able with your voice to indicate that you want to move ahead or slow down.
*Do not offer anything by Mozart that you cannot do without total perfection. More so than any other composer, you can pretty much tell all about a singer after no more than four measures of Mozart. If you have it on your list, you can be pretty sure that you will be asked to sing it, if it not your first choice.
*Do take great care in an audition situation that the tempo you give is really what you intend. This takes clear thinking under pressure. Take time in doing this.
*Do be sure that all retards, fermatas, etc. are clearly marked. The accompanist is not a mind reader. Anything you do that is not marked in the score it should always be indicated, including cadenzas.
*Do be sure that any cuts are very clearly marked. Ideally, the best solution is to cover up every measure not played.
*Absolutely never ever criticize the conductor in front of other colleagues, be they orchestra or chorus. I have seen this happen so many times and it is truly the kiss of death. If you have an issue, make an appointment for a private talk.
*Do think very carefully about the difficulty of the piano part at auditions, particularly if there is no opportunity to rehearse. Unless you bring your own pianist, you are at the mercy of the unknown partner. The fact that your music is clearly marked and readable does not guarantee that the given pianist can play and/or sight-read something tricky. If you are auditioning for a particular role it is quite likely, so one would think, that the pianist would be familiar with the music. In such cases it is not a concern if you are singing the closing scenes from "Salome", anything from "Elektra", "Moses und Aron", or "Lulu". But for general auditions I would never expect the house accompanist to be familiar with or be able to sight-read such pieces. The same thing can be said about Debussy's "Cheveaux des Bois" (always a good test of sight-reading!) or "Botschaft" of Brahms. Only the brave or foolish risk "Erlking"! In general, be aware of the difficulty of the piano part in whatever you audition with and if possible, bring your own person who you have worked with extensively before, if you are doing something outrageous. Otherwise, leave the piano concertos and the 12-tone stuff at home!
*Do think very carefully about the repertoire you offer at a general audition. I have seen some singers offer soubrette, lyric, spinto, coloratura and dramatic coloratura roles and then they wonder why they did not get the role. At any opera audition, do not bring in lieder or melodies or oratorio! For our fall production of Magic Flute, one singer offered as her first choice: "Rejoice greatly".
*Above all, always be sure to thank your pianist. One would like to think that this is simply basic courtesy, good manners and common sense. In a recent professional situation I had to sight-read a piece of music for the benefit of the orchestra, which did not yet have their parts. The singer, a well-known and prominent artist from Providence, with years of experience, did not have the courtesy to say thank you for helping out in that particular situation. This appalling lack of manners did not go un-noticed.
*Arias I would not want to have peformed for awhile:
From the point of view of management, an audition is the opportunity for a singer to demonstrate his/her capability to those people who are in a position to hire. It is not an opportunity to educate people by introducing new contemporary works or unknown works of well-known composers (As a contemporary American composer, it really pains me to say this!) I find myself focusing on the compositional substance of the new and unexpected when singers bring in such pieces. As a result, I end up listening more to the music instead of what the singer brings to it. There are enough obstacles for a singer already: bringing in music to educate listeners at auditions is another self-imposed obstacle that is so completely unnecessary. With that said, my current laundry list of pieces I really would not want to hear for awhile is quite short:
Musetta's Waltz.
The 2 Mimi arias.
No word from Tom ( as a pianist I hate playing it and as a compser I loathe the entire opera, but don't get me going on Stravinsky)
O mio babbino caro.
"Ach, I feel"
But I also do have some favorites arias including: Marietta's Lied and the "Tanzlied" from Die Tote Stadt, among others.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON JEFFREY BRODY AND COMPOSING:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~brumit/past/composing.html
The Longwood Opera Summer Concerts start July 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Needham. Tickets: $6 ($4 for seniors); Summer season pass: $40 ($25 for seniors). Call 781-455-0960. The BSR member line up for tonight's performance includes Tom Weber*, Penny Rubinfield*, Bill Alley*, Christina DeVaughn*, Anne-Louise Klaus*, Chung Un Seo*, Karol Carroll*, Marion de la Rambelje*, Courtney Schowalter *
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON LONGWOOD OPERA,: