By MARGARET SHAKESPEARE

Mark Wood
“In the pop arenas, there is encouragement and demand to be unique, different, and there is approval for expressing your own story.”	Photo by Mark Weiss

Rising composer Mason Bates (M.M. '01, composition) has won the Rome Prize, the Berlin Prize, and the Charles Ives Award, and accepted commissions from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and from his alma mater as part of The Juilliard School's centennial celebration last season. Yet, when not writing works that refer to Beethoven symphonies or capture color in acoustic orchestral sound, Bates spins his talents as D.J. Masonic in late-night San Francisco-area clubs and Berlin warehouses that feature edgy sounds of contemporary culture—electronica. Both are serious, if seemingly startlingly opposing efforts for him.

Likewise, Kate Rigg (Group 26, drama), a comedian ("a modern Lenny Bruce," according to one critic) and creative force (writer/producer/songwriter), has plotted her career on what might look to some like dual tracks. "I was raised on Shakespeare," she says. What could be more classical? "And I love a fart joke." How pop is that!

Ecce Cor Meum, an oratorio by Paul McCartney (yes, that one), received its U.S. premiere last fall by the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall. Sting, the British pop star, after spending years personally engrossed in the music of John Dowland, recorded Songs From the Labryrinth, a CD of Dowland's songs, with lutenist Edin Karamazov, that has gotten radio play on classical and rock stations. Yo-Yo Ma (Professional Studies '72, cello), critically called "the world's most popular cellist," glides with ease from Bach suites and Beethoven sonatas to bluegrass, tangos, and Kyrgyz traditional music.

What is going on these days in the world of the performing arts? Or is that worlds? Are they colliding? Coexisting? Complementing and entwining?

The answers, intriguingly, may not be clear. And they can vary widely, depending on whom you ask. And I did, in fact, ask some Juilliard graduates and faculty whose art-making reaches into both classical and pop arenas. Their answers are individual and personal, sometimes incomplete and often evolving along with their art. Do they struggle between two poles? Compromise? Concede? Follow two masters? Develop dual personalities? Make practical choices? Is it confusing? And how did they plot multitrack careers?

Edward Bilous (M.M. '80, D.M.A. '84, composition), chair of the Literature and Materials of Music Department and founding director of the Music Technology Center at Juilliard, says, "I have thought about this a lot. Certainly there are stylistic differences in the world of music—you can hear them. In the 19th century music had a broader appeal. Any number of composers wrote operettas. [Think of Jacques Offenbach, Franz von Suppé, Johann Strauss Jr., among others.] And parlor songs. And other works that were for amateurs to perform and mass audiences to appreciate. Then in the 20th century it became more of a challenge. At the same time, pop started to develop—and pop music in the U.S. has been more multicultural than has classical. Look at the diversity in [the pop] audience. Its sounds, spirit, and soul are rooted in several places—this makes it so powerful. In the U.S., pop—or nonclassical—has a strong influence from non-European sources, especially Africa, in rhythmic organization, and the Caribbean. [Today] there is a popular element in every genre of art."

"A groove," describing rhythmic character, is the major pop element usually heard in music. Composers, including Bilous and Bates (whether he's creating electronica, acoustic music, or a combination of the two), often start with a groove in mind. Bilous grew up when things were more "segregated artistically and culturally, wanting to do both," he said. "But pop was dangerous, provocative." Nonetheless he followed both muses, studying at Juilliard with Vincent Persichetti and Elliott Carter while paying his rent by arranging pop scores. "I'd deliver an R&B or funk or rock score to a studio and then sometimes I would play some of this for Carter. It actually enhanced our relationship." Bilous has gone on to compose for the American Composers Orchestra and Pilobolus Dance Theater as well as film and television, including scores for Scottsboro and Mickey Blue Eyes. And now it's all part of the same continuum to him. Or nearly so. He thinks of it as "a healing process, this bridging of cultural and aesthetic worlds."

Mason Bates
Photo by Mike Minehan	“Crossover is when you skate the surface of two different things and don’t get into either one. But cross fertilization—yes. That’s when things happen. And it’s critical to keep many things going. Changing gears is inspiring.”

"With younger composers there is less of a problem, less of a schizoid element in their visions of who they are as artists," Bilous said. In fact, he recalls discussing rhythmic patterns and groove with Bates that seemed to "liberate" the then-student composer. "I don't know of any classical composer under age 50 who doesn't own and listen to and enjoy pop music—and most composers wish somehow to capture that in their work." As for students, who are exploring, starting to find their ways and forge individual artistic paths, Bilous says, "I stop students at Juilliard, when I see them wearing an iPod, and ask what they are listening to. It's always pop."

So, then, are they "crossing over"? Well, maybe, but not exactly. Bilous points to the music of Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, certainly two of the greatest among all American artists. "They blurred the lines, didn't they?" he asks. Well, yes: West Side Story and Appalachian Spring seem and sound to burst out of any clearly defined territory. "It's American music," he emphasizes. Whereas, he said, music labeled "crossover sounds like 'classical lite.' I think it's classical music with the teeth stripped out. And I don't like the term."

Neither does Kate Rigg, whose band Slanty Eyed Mama ("two classically trained good Asian girls gone badassed," according to her Web site), with its "new messages about a new movement in Asian-American culture (I like to call it the Nuyorasian aesthetic)," was formed with violinist Lyris Hung (M.M. '97, violin) during their student days at Juilliard. "I don't know what crossover is," she says flatly. "I am an artist. And my taste, media, and appeal are diverse. I speak comedy, tragedy, burlesque, kid in ripped jeans, and old white guy with a season's pass to the theater." She refers to several recurring characters she has created for stand-up comedy. "Each language informs the other. Is this crossover?"

Whatever it is, the backbone of her work, the tools she uses on the job, were honed by classical training, like the foundation of a house which is the same sturdy construction whether the house itself is ultra-contemporary or classic colonial. "I did not want to attempt to write a play without knowing the work of some of the masters," she says. "I did not want to get on stage in a burlesque club without being sure my articulation was crystal clear. I figured that getting training at a school like Juilliard would allow me the most freedom in my artistic career—and indeed it has. Juilliard taught me to respect the art in me."

That worked for dancer-choreographer Mark Burrell (B.F.A. '04, dance) too. "My training prior to Juilliard [he danced with Michigan Ballet Theater] was the opposite of Juilliard, which is mainstream classical and modern (like Martha Graham, José Limón). And I had felt like there was something missing." In the dance world there was a long, firm line that "dared not be crossed"—jazz bunnies here and classical ballerinas over there. "Then Bob Fosse crossed it. And Jerome Robbins." And now Burrell, who aspires to choreograph for Broadway. "When I worked at Jacob's Pillow [as an emerging choreographer] I was amazed to see how many times you have to fall back on classical elements. I love long legs, long lines—but at the end, a flex in the foot or the hand. I have discovered I enjoy the freedom of movement too much to restrict myself to a really strict vocabulary," he says, calling dance-making "hard as hell" in any arena. "I am asked so much 'what is jazz dance?'—and I don't know at this stage." Labels, he says, merely enable people to make easy associations. But for him, "It's all dance, the world of dance, the world of movement."

There is, of course, a practical side to all of this, and some may wonder what making a living from one's art has to do with artistic choices: Have you chosen the pop side of things for its wider audience and commercial appeal? Greg Knowles, longtime record producer (for classical and popular artists including debut albums of the Juilliard Jazz Quintet and Juilliard Jazz Orchestra), touring drummer, and member of the Juilliard music faculty, realized early on that pop "is where the money is." Indeed, he paid his own college tuition by playing in a punk band. Whatever a performer chooses to do professionally, though, Knowles ac-knowledges that nothing beats classical training. "I can't stress enough its relevance," he says. "[Before college] I was a good drummer but not a musician. You need ear training and harmony and the knowledge of how chord progressions are put together." But, he goes on, "one of my main roles at Juilliard is teaching these guys to survive when they get out there."

Shelly Watson
“I can’t honestly label myself with just one art form. I regularly sing, write, act, do comedy, and improvise—I use every outlet to perform.”
		“I am an artist. And my taste, media, and appeal are diverse. I speak comedy, tragedy, burlesque, kid in ripped jeans, and old white guy with a season’s pass to the theater.”
	Kate Rigg

Mark Wood ('76, viola), who learned "nothing" about pop culture at Juilliard, says that being a crossover artist (he doesn't mind the term) has expanded his "pipeline to additional revenue tenfold." He started out as a violist and now has a career as a seven-string electric violinist-composer-instrument builder who plays Vegas, The Tonight Show, tours with Billy Joel and Celine Dion, and stars in a Pepsi commercial. "To be successful, one must multitask and broaden distribution networks," he says, adding that there can be reward and frustration in making any type of music. "I balance a lot of styles and talents. But, at least in the pop arenas, there is encouragement and demand to be unique, different, and there is approval for expressing your own story."

Sort of what dance teacher-dancer-choreographer-producer-director Jason Reed (B.F.A. '00, dance) has found in the real world too: "I use ballet, modern, and jazz techniques in my hip-hop choreography." Among other things, he is executive director of REACH in Carlisle, Pa., a program that fosters academic achievement through the arts, which he has strengthened by broadening it to include cinematography and music production. "I feel strongly that it is much easier to make it as an artist when you can do several things in many directions. It's much harder to make it as an artist if you are not multitalented and versatile. I certainly didn't feel comfortable putting all my [financial] eggs in one basket." And Shelly Watson—who received B.M. ('96) and M.M. ('98) degrees at Juilliard in opera performance after touring in a rock band—says, "I can't honestly label myself with just one art form. I regularly sing, write, act, do comedy, and improvise. I epitomize the meaning of crossover artist. By that I mean, I use every outlet to perform. Crossing over has made me more money and it's also been more exposure," explains Watson, who has done everything from the Metropolitan Opera's outreach program to MTV to Cat Chow commercials. "I frequently make more money making fun of my opera voice [e.g., in rap spoofs on operatic voices] than I do when I'm utilizing it for real."

Jason Reed
“It’s much easier to make it as an artist when you can do several things in many directions. It’s much harder to make it as an artist if you are not multitalented and versatile.”	Photo by Eduardo Patino

Actually, listening to these artists describe their growth and maturity as working professional performers led me to think of their common experience—the state in which they think and create and produce—as one of cultural fluidity. Doors to areas of exploration open more easily for them than for previous generations. Actor Steve Boyer (Group 30, drama)—who says he's been acting all his life—hit a dry spell with stage jobs, wrote five-minutes' worth of comedy that he performed at a stand-up club, and found himself almost immediately on the road opening for established comics. "And once I did the tour I thought, 'That was fun and I learned a lot.' I had gotten tired of scrounging for stage time. And I saw that there was a different way to go about things. You do have choices," he says. He is now developing some sitcom ideas and characters for a one-man show. "If one thing's not happening and you have something unique to show, then you just find another way for people to see it. You have to define your talents and create a vehicle to showcase them."

Are these fluid performing artists trend-setters? It's hard to confirm that one way or another just yet. But art and creativity—and moving forward in that universe—has always meant exploring and experimenting. And they certainly are continuing to pioneer along paths blazed by Bernstein and Cop-land, Robbins and Fosse. Mason Bates, for one, has learned to drop the labels and simply follow the muse. "When I think of people I admire—John Zorn, Frank Zappa—I can't put them in one category," he says. "Crossover is when you skate the surface of two different things and don't get into either one. But cross fertilization—yes. That's when things happen. And it's critical to keep many things going. Changing gears is inspiring." Although he felt some conflict in his student days—Juilliard by day, downtown clubs by night—now when he hears electronica and orchestral music, similarities occur to him. "Even though they seem far apart, there are areas of overlap. The listener focuses on textures, harmonies, and rhythm. And that is a pretty pregnant place to explore."

Return to Center Stage

New York writer Margaret Shakespeare frequently writes about music for the New York Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Town & Country magazine, and others. Her articles on southern Africa, food, wine, and lifestyle appear regularly in Wildlife Conservation, Wine & Spirits, Preservation, and Endless Vacation, among many others.