> Craig wrote:
> Hi Karen:
>
> I had the opportunity to attend a performance by Cathy Berberian when I was a student at Queen's in the early 70's. She performed Sequenza, Stripsody, Debussy, Monteverdi, Beatles and other repertoire in a fascinating program that was indeed a performance. No just standing there and singing!! To this day I remember the remarkable clarity of everything she spoke and sang. It's a shame that so many singers are reluctant to approach the exciting music written by the more experimental composers of our time. It seems that the majority of the singers who get to explore this wonderful rep. are in choirs. I wonder what that says? ;o)
>
Dear Craig, and All
Craig's description of this concert program by Cathy Berberian touched some deep springs of memory for me. Berberian's virtuosity and creativity was such an inspiration to me that I went to study with her when she gave a week of master classes in Holland (1977). At the time I was a post-grad student at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and it was a quite trip across the North Sea (well, not quick but..) to an estate near Breukelen. I coached the Sequenza with her, and had an opportunity to watch her teach many other styles as well. She performed chunks of this program, and did hilarious imitations of voice entrance auditions she had heard in the past with musical wanderings such as Baroque sequences that never quite ended properly. Cathy modified her tone quality at will to imitate many styles and even many particular singers, and she used to listen to records as a child and imitate exactly the voices of various artists. For my research I interviewed her about her life as a singer and she said that many of Berio and Cage's ideas came from their experimenting together. (Aha!) She said her contribution wasbased on performing instinct, and she admitted that though she didn't have a voice of the size necessary for much of the operatic repertoire she could make an impact. Choral singers who can sing freely in choirs perhaps are also in this category (decibelly-challenged?).
BTW Craig, who did you study with at Queen's?
Karen Jensen
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