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Lorraine Nubar
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| Nubar with Gerard Souzay in St. Jean de Luz, France, in the early '80s. |
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Born in Detroit, Mich., to Armenian parents, Lorraine Nubar grew up in Los Angeles and earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in voice from Juilliard. A member of the Pre-College faculty since 1978, she also teaches at New England Conservatory, Bard College, and Curtis. She was the first American voice teacher on the faculty at the Conservatoire Nationale Superieure de Musique in Paris.
When did you first know you wanted to be a musician?
I was completely enamored with music ever since I can remember. When I was 8, I heard my neighbor playing the piano and I said to her, “How did you learn to do that?” and she told me about her teacher down the street. So I walked over there and said I wanted to take piano lessons. The teacher said, “Please bring your mother here,” and my mother came and said we had no money for a piano, and the teacher said, “If she wants it that badly, she can come here and practice”—which I did every day. I’m not really sure I consciously decided to be a musician; it just unfolded day by day.
Who were the teachers or mentors who most inspired you?
Jennie Tourel, the mezzo-soprano who was a great friend of Leonard Bernstein and premiered so many of his works (including the song cycles I Hate Music and La Bonne Cuisine, and the Jeremiah Symphony) and recorded so many Mahler works with him. I met her in Aspen, Colo., and studied with her for 12 years. When I was 19, I went with her to Paris, Greece, and Israel—people said I looked like her, so we had a joke that I was her illegitimate daughter. She taught me so much: how to sing, how to make a phrase, how to eat, walk. I had a lesson every day, whether I wanted it or not; it was not always easy. Later, I became her teaching assistant at Juilliard and Aspen. After I graduated, Dalton Baldwin and Gerard Souzay were the two men who opened up a new world to me, of teaching and singing internationally. Dalton and I have given recitals and classes around the world.
What was the first recording that you remember hearing?
I remember waking up in the morning to my mother playing the hi-fi at full volume—the Bruch Violin Concerto and the singing of Maria Callas, Jan Peerce, and Renata Tebaldi. It set off a spark that made the human voice the main focus of my life—its beauty and its infinite possibilities of expression. And whenever I hear the Bruch Concerto it always brings back my mother and our special lives together.
What’s the most embarrassing moment you’ve had as a performer?
After winning a competition to sing the soprano solo in the Mahler Fourth Symphony, I performed it with Jean Morel conducting the Juilliard Orchestra. When I got to the phrase in the last movement, “Sanct Ursula selbst dazu Lacht,” where you sing down to a wonderful, low B, I was so enamored with the depth of feeling that I forgot to come in on the next phrase—and Mr. Morel was holding the orchestra suspended until I woke up!
If you could have your students visit any place in the world, where would it be, and why?
Probably Paris, because it is the most beautiful city in the world and represents such a rich mixture of art and history (so many great musicians, painters, and writers of the last century!). But really, they should go to all the capitals of Europe where musical culture (and the art song in particular) still lives and contributes to the beauty of everyday life.
If your students could only remember one thing from your teaching, what would you want it to be?
To find truthfulness in everything they do—in their personal discovery of their inner voice and the ability to express it. Despite all the technical knowledge of the voice I have accumulated over the years, I realize every day that the act of singing is still a mysterious, magical one.
If you weren’t in the career you are in, what would you be doing?
Serving hamburgers, or being the female version of Larry King.
What book are you reading right now?
I read several books at the same time. Always a spiritual one (Dr. Wayne Dyer), and Nora Ephron for fun—I can identify with her years of living on the Upper West Side. I also read every vocal-technique book that comes out.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I am absolutely obsessed with luggage, and am always searching for the perfect suitcase for international travel. I’d design one, if I could!
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