Hi all!
I've been away from the list for a good three weeks, and have just returned.
I wanted to give a report on Songfest, in Orange, CA. In short, I really
loved it!
This program admits singers AND pianists; there is no age limit and that
attracted a lot of older singers, many of whom are teachers. I found this a
little intimidating b/c many people seemed to have so much more experience
than I do, but this wore off - I DO want to stress that the calibre of
singing and playing was very high and that impressed me! Each singer gets
to sing quite a few times each session, and is generally paired with
different pianists for each piece (makes for efficient rehearsing) I went
to Songfest with a pianist friend of mine, and we worked together a fair
bit, but also got paired with others and that was fun.
The first session concentrated on Spanish and American song, with Martin
Katz. It was a very intense set of days, often with classes in the morning,
afternoon and evening!! I think we covered something like 130 songs that
week...most of which were new to me. Unusual or little known repertoire,
much of which is unpublished, was common. Katz is absolutely amazing. In
addition to classes with him, there were a couple of sessions with Ruth
Golden,who worked on technique. We also had a class on musical theatre and
opera arias.
The second week foccused on French songs and arias with Graham Johnson.
Johnson is entirely different from Katz - and he presents his information in
a lecture kind of way. He certainly knows his stuff and I took lots of
notes. This week wasn't quite so packed with stuff, but again, a lot of
unusual repertoire was covered, and a whole session was spent on the songs
of Jacques Leguerney with Carol Kimball (she's involved in writing a book
about him).
I enjoyed both weeks and found that in general, the program was well
organized. I've had a few friends from Vancouver go there before me, and it
sounds like my experiences were different from theirs, which leads us to
conclude the program has expanded and is being very well run indeed. It
wasn't cheap, but that may partly be because I am a Canadian going to do an
American program and paying those exchange rates...! We were told there is
little scholarship money - the program I believe is only in it's 6th year.
I highly recommend Songfest, and would be glad to answer any questions!
Hope to hear more about other summer programs people might be involved
in...! Glad to be back on the list.
Fiona
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