He really ought to be Scottish
I sang in a masterclass on Tuesday night given by Greer Grimsley, a bass-baritone of some repute with a growing reputation as THE Wotan of the current generation. He's also the husband of Luretta Bybee, who teaches voice here at NEC when she's not touring. He may not be hugely famous now, but he will be someday, and I feel very honored to have been chosen to sing in this masterclass -- though I'm a little bemused why they chose me, seeing as I don't normally get chosen for things. I'm not exactly an upper-echelon undergrad around here, as far as I can tell. But no matter. The head of the voice department informed me last week that I'd be singing for Greer Grimsley, and I was in no position to ask why. And in the end, I think I showed myself off nicely. Although I was very disappointed to find that he's not Scottish in any way. Greer Grimsely is the best Scottish name I've ever heard.
Anyway. Here's Greer:
He looks like Fabio with dark hair, doesn't he? He's a handsome devil. He's also got the hugest, most resonant bass-baritone voice I've ever heard. GIGANTIC! He's like a human P.A. system. Even his speaking voice is massive and deep and Wagnerian. He sang one of Wotan's arias from Die Walküre, and just about blew the roof off the building. Everyone in the hall had hearing damage. :-D After he sang, and with no small measure of intimdated-ness, I got up and sang Ich atmet' einen Linden Duft from Mahler's Rückertlieder. It was a decent performance, and then as Mr. Grimsley worked with me I continued to improve -- I was concerned that he would have me doing technical things which were contrary to what my teacher advises, but he was basically saying all the same things that she does, which bodes well for his teaching career in my opinion. By the time he was through with me, I sounded absolutely fantastic, the way I do in my lessons on good days.
The hall was full to capacity with all the people whose opinions I respect and admire -- most of my studio were there, and half of the voice faculty, and a bunch of administrators (including the Dean), and a whole mess of grad students -- and they all got to hear my performing at my very best, which was lovely because I rarely get the opportunity to show myself off like that. Ich atmet' is REALLY excellent in my voice right now, a perfect piece for practicing and improving things like breath support and onset and spin and legato line (all of which I'm working on dilligently at the moment), and I feel really good about how I performed. Afterwards, my teacher came over to me with a gigantic teary smile, and hugged me and told me how proud she was -- which, coming from her, was high praise indeed; she's not a very huggy person, normally.
So. A pat on the back for me. ;-) Though I'm still not happy about Greer Grimsley's failure to be Scottish. But what can you do?
Anyway. Here's Greer:
He looks like Fabio with dark hair, doesn't he? He's a handsome devil. He's also got the hugest, most resonant bass-baritone voice I've ever heard. GIGANTIC! He's like a human P.A. system. Even his speaking voice is massive and deep and Wagnerian. He sang one of Wotan's arias from Die Walküre, and just about blew the roof off the building. Everyone in the hall had hearing damage. :-D After he sang, and with no small measure of intimdated-ness, I got up and sang Ich atmet' einen Linden Duft from Mahler's Rückertlieder. It was a decent performance, and then as Mr. Grimsley worked with me I continued to improve -- I was concerned that he would have me doing technical things which were contrary to what my teacher advises, but he was basically saying all the same things that she does, which bodes well for his teaching career in my opinion. By the time he was through with me, I sounded absolutely fantastic, the way I do in my lessons on good days.
The hall was full to capacity with all the people whose opinions I respect and admire -- most of my studio were there, and half of the voice faculty, and a bunch of administrators (including the Dean), and a whole mess of grad students -- and they all got to hear my performing at my very best, which was lovely because I rarely get the opportunity to show myself off like that. Ich atmet' is REALLY excellent in my voice right now, a perfect piece for practicing and improving things like breath support and onset and spin and legato line (all of which I'm working on dilligently at the moment), and I feel really good about how I performed. Afterwards, my teacher came over to me with a gigantic teary smile, and hugged me and told me how proud she was -- which, coming from her, was high praise indeed; she's not a very huggy person, normally.
So. A pat on the back for me. ;-) Though I'm still not happy about Greer Grimsley's failure to be Scottish. But what can you do?