21st Century Conductor

Last week, thanks to the Center for Contemporary Opera's competition in 2006, Mauricio Virgens and I made our debut as baritone and accompanist in the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall, New York .

 

Our centrepiece, “Tondo di Michelangelo” by Peter Maxwell Davies, was written for us in 2006 and premiered in Great Britain in October of 2007. About 15 minutes long, Max sets eight of Michelangelo’s sonnets, many addressing his tortured feelings on love. Beginning and ending with unaccompanied voice, it is cyclic in nature, as with a tondo, the circular arrangement of paintings in Italian art. In between, there are settings of poems alternating lyricism and virtuosity for both singer and pianist.  The last song laments the state of government in Tuscany from Michelangelo’s exile in Rome . Readers of this blog will recognise artists in exile as a familiar theme.

 

The twist for me came when Lars Fosser, the Danish baritone in the recital, phoned just before the concert to say that his pianist had pulled out and the composition he was to premiere hadn’t yet been completed.  The day before flying to New York, I received the 50 pages of notes by fax and booked myself into the Y, a community centre in upper East Manhattan with an excellent music department, where we could rehearse.

 

So, on March 18th, Lars, Mauricio and I performed Adams, Bernstein, Britten, Berzonsky, Matthus and Maxwell Davies in Carnegie Hall to great acclaim.

 

Mauricio changed from the Denzel Washington to the Jamie Foxx hairstyle, for Carnegie Hall.

 

Five years ago, when I was visiting a friend for breakfast, Mauricio, who happened to be there also, asked me if I knew any German accompanists who could play opera and samba.  It didn’t take long to think of the answer, so I offered to work with him instead.

 

Since then, without the support of our dear friend, Heidrun Brocker, who has offered us her Cologne flat on many occasions to perform in front of friends and colleagues, we wouldn’t have made it to Carnegie Hall.  Therein lies a powerful lesson.  You really can go a very long way on positive attitude and support from your friends, even (or perhaps, especially) when they haven’t the slightest contact with your business.

 

18 months ago, the evening after the competition semi-finals in New York, we had been instructed to phone a number after 7.30 pm where we would hear an answering machine with the names of the finalists for the next day.  Neither Mauricio nor I had mobile phones that worked in the US, so we spent the evening roaming the streets trying to find a phone box in Manhattan . Mauricio took a half hour of redialling as he and the other singers fought their way through to the answering machine. As his face lit up, I knew we were into the finals. Busily talking on the street corner about our plans, a well dressed, middle-aged woman, arm in arm with a man, walked by and said; ”Congratulations guys. I don’t know what you’ve done but I can feel the success from here!” In a flash, I asked myself where in Scotland that would ever happen. Again, it didn’t take long to think of the answer.

 

What I wish for the young people of Scotland is along the same lines as Andrew Carnegie, the courage to venture out and allow the whole world to embrace their talent so that, if they choose to return, the next generation won't be crushed by those who cling onto their jobs for dear life, terrified of change and believing that they're not good enough to make it elsewhere. 

 

The full program can be downloaded here:

Carnegie Hall Program.jpg

 

 

Our promoter, the Contemporary Opera Studio of New York:

http://www.conopera.org/

Tondo di Michelangelo: 

http://www.schott-music.com/shop/1/show,231583.html

 

Lars Fosser:

http://www.fosser.eu/

 

Martin Hennessy:

http://www.martinhennessy.net/

 

Emily Langford Johnson:

www.ada-artists.com/artist.asp?ID=65

 

The Y on Lexington and 92nd:

www.92y.org

Mauricio Virgens and Paul MacAlindin were dressed by CINQUE:

www.cinque.de

 

 

Carnegie Hall, New York:

http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/box_office/events/evt...