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At Voice Master Class, Focus Is on 'Class,' Not 'Master' By DAVID KECK
When reflecting upon a master class, the primary consideration coloring further discussion is really whether the experience was more about the master or the class. Certainly a nebulous distinction, it is as much determined by the audience as by the actual "master." In the case of Edith Wiens's master class in Studio 335 on March 17, there was no question as to whom the class would focus on. After a brief introduction by collaborative piano faculty member Margo Garrett, Ms. Wiens said to the students, faculty, and staff in attendance: "If there's anything you want addressed, let me know!" Rarely is an audience (let alone a student participant) invited to influence the direction and content of a master class. It was quite clear—both then and in retrospect—that the class was to be about the students.
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| Voice student Leena Chopra and Edith Weins share a laugh during a vocal master class in March. (Photo by Lisa Yelon) |
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This was (as Ms. Garrett pointed out) the first master class given by Edith Wiens in New York City. Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Ms. Wiens grew up in Vancouver, where she attended Bible college (she is the daughter of a Mennonite preacher). She then studied on scholarship at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik, earning the German Concert Performance Diploma in 1974—at which point she returned to North America to continue her studies at Oberlin, where she received her bachelor's and master's degrees (and, 20 years later, an honorary doctorate). Ms. Wiens then returned to Germany to study with Ernst Haefliger and Erik Werba, winning the gold medal at the Schumann Competition in Zwickau the same year. In 1980, the manager of the Berlin Philharmonic, Peter Gierth, heard her sing and hired her immediately—the beginning of a five-year period in which she sang there 14 times, with conductors such as Kurt Masur, Klaus Tennstedt, and Seiji Ozawa.In 1986, Ms. Wiens made her opera debut as Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera Company and was also the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro. Later she added roles in Idomeneo, The Magic Flute, and Fidelio to her repertoire. She has sung at the Amsterdam Opera, La Scala, Teatro Colón, Canada's National Arts Center, and in Japan. Since her 1981 debut in Berlin, Ms. Wiens has sung with Daniel Barenboim, Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Bernard Haitink, Gunther Herbig, Sir Neville Marriner, Václav Neumann, Krzysztof Penderecki, Helmuth Rilling, and Sir Georg Solti—and with major orchestras around the world (including many in her native Canada, for which she was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2000).Ms. Wiens has always specialized in the interpretation of German lieder, and thus it seemed appropriate that the predominantly Canadian students participating in the master class (of the two non-Canadians, one was born in Canada and the other was German) presented a program of lieder by Strauss, Wolf, Brahms, Schubert and Schumann.Leena Chopra, a soprano in the master's program, and Paul Kwak, a collaborative pianist also pursing his master's degree, began with Die Georgine of Richard Strauss. Ms. Wiens began by focusing on the color of Ms. Chopra's voice. Opening discussion to the audience, Ms. Wiens wanted to define vocal color, and also to discuss the ways in which it can be modified. With Ms. Chopra, this involved a reconsideration of vowels—their length, height, and brightness—and also the need to inflect text in an extremely meticulous and sensitive fashion.Ms. Wiens then shifted to focus on the performer's responsibility for bringing the audience into his or her world. This involved invoking the magic of the music itself, but also focusing on warmth and text so that each audience member feels that the message is for them. Part of this comes also from the performer's sense that the song is personal: "Believe," Ms. Wiens told Ms. Chopra, "that this song was written yesterday, just for you." Not one to ignore the pianist as half of the collaborative team, Ms. Wiens worked with Mr. Kwak on bringing out a more orchestral sound—particularly in the introduction, in which more sound would emphasize the colors Strauss intended, buoying the singer's entrance.With each participant to follow, Ms. Wiens would return to diction, yet also address individual issues, never generalizing her "remedies." The next singer was Ainsley Soutiere, a third-year undergraduate soprano, accompanied by Joel Ayau on Wolf's Mausfallensprüchlein and by Paul Kwak on Wolf's Die Bekehrte. With Ms. Soutiere, Ms. Wiens focused on using breath and consonants to drive sound, releasing tension in the lips through energized diction.Alex Hajek, a baritone in the master's degree program, and Keun-A Lee, a master's student in collaborative piano, afforded Ms. Wiens the opportunity to work on the message of the poetry (in Dein Blaues Auge of Brahms). She continued her previous discussion of bringing text out and using the breath to drive the legato, while also drilling Mr. Hajek on his interpretation of the text. She was not interested in the general message, but rather, the progression of thought throughout the piece. "Be clear with your emotion," she advised, telling him to make a choice and go with it—whether we agree with it or not is secondary. With Keun-A Lee remaining at the piano, third-year undergraduate baritone Adrian Kramer performed Schubert's Ganymed and second-year tenor Nils Neubert sang Meine Rose by Schumann. With each of these singers, Ms. Wiens continued to work on breathing—first stringing Adrian up on the ballet barre at the back of the studio to release the tension in his arms, then asking Nils to bend at the waist and sing to an audience behind him."Every song has so many possibilities … that's the fun of it," Ms. Wiens said at the end of the class. And indeed, this seemed to be her overriding message. With each performer, Edith Wiens focused on whatever she saw as inhibiting a clear and focused interpretation of the music and poetry. As a result, performers and audience alike left her class with, if not specific individual guidance, then at least a fresh perspective and set of ideas to bring to their own music making.David Keck is a diploma candidate in voice.
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