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Reflections

Known for his intensely passionate portrayals, Neil Shicoff ('75, voice) has sung all the lead tenor roles at major opera houses around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Salzburg Festival, Paris Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Bavarian State Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. On the concert stage, he has sung with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein, the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa. The Brooklyn-born Shicoff now lives in Vienna with his second wife, the former singer Dawn Kotoski, and their son, Alexander.

Neil Shicoff as Lenski in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.

How does what you learned at Juilliard shape your daily life?

Everybody who knows me might laugh at this, but Juilliard made me more disciplined, it focused me on my goals. Being a singer is like being an athlete—it's a grueling career in terms of mental and physical attitude, and if you want a long career as a singer, you have to be disciplined. This I learned very early on at Juilliard.

Can you recall a specific Juilliard experience that resulted in an important insight?

One of the most important people who influenced me was Peter Mennin, the president of Juilliard at the time. I had started in the voice department and quickly moved into the American Opera Center. I remember wanting to sing heavier parts. Maria Callas had come [to do] master classes and they held auditions for a new production of La Bohème. She liked me when she heard me and I thought they were going to give me the lead tenor part of Rodolfo, but instead they gave me a tiny, tiny tenor role. I was very upset. I went to Mennin and complained. He just pointed to the Met and asked me, "Do you want to sing there one day?" I said, "Of course." He replied, "Well, you have to move very slowly. The slower you move in these years, the longer your career will be."

Mennin was right—next year will be my 30th year at the Met. He was a key player early on in my career, as a mentor, giving me advice on how to go forward. I haven't forgotten it to this day.

What do you remember about your first day(s) as a Juilliard student?

The first day at Juilliard was a revelation for me. When I went into my first classes I realized that trumpeters are crackerjack musicians and I was in totally over my head. I was sitting in a class trying to do notations; those guys could notate anything, but I was totally lost. I realized early on that I had a lot of work to do. Also, I realized that there was a lot more to music than simply singing.

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What Juilliard teacher made the largest impact on you and what was that impact?

No question: George London. He was one of the fantastic bass-baritones in the history of opera and he was the head of the American Opera Center when I switched into it. George was always so accessible—you could sit down in the lunch room with him and talk about what went into a career, what it was about, and how people go about it. For example, "How many operas do you sing each season?" or "What was the repertoire you chose?" "What was it like to work with difficult conductors?" "How did you deal with bad reviews?" It is so incredibly valuable to have a mentor, a teacher of such caliber.

If you could go back in time and change one thing about your years at Juilliard, what would it be?

I would like to have focused more on all the things that go into making a career as a singer. I was very focused, perhaps too focused, on the voice department and its teachers.

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