All of our singers come from opera programs, and while they know perfectly well that song demands more intimate and personal communication, the constant need to cut through an orchestra or impress an audition panel can leave an unwanted imprint on the way they make music: an ingrained habit of “big delivery” which can make their phrasing somewhat stiff. To counteract that, I sometimes go through a song with them and improvise a new accompaniment, something less formal, more freewheeling, a bit less rigid in tempo. Same music, same vocal line, but more relaxed. The most fun is when Bénédicte plays the printed score and I dance around it in a kind of fantasy improv. This worked wonders with Sophia Baete, who has a tremendous flair for American popular music. (She’s singing Sam Cooke’s “Cupid” in our recital, and she’s knocking it out of the park.) In classical music she is extremely impressive too—I mean, that sound!—but she is so scrupulous about being accurate and true to the score that she almost needs to be encouraged to be sloppier. Sloppiness happens to be one of my greatest skills, so I am the right person knock the starch out of Sophia’s phrasing.
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