Art Song, Human Connection: Blair Boone-Migura on Culture, Courage, and the Next Chapter of ASPSNY

0:00 Welcome back to The Pianopod, everyone. I am your host, Yukimi Song. Season 7 is centered on culture and courage, and today's guest brings both of those ideas into the world of art song in a deeply meaningful way. Our guest today is no stranger to The Pianopod. Blair Bumigura has been part of our extended Pianopod family for the past few seasons, generously introducing me to extraordinary artists and thinkers, including Mark Markham, Ophelia Gorton, Graham Fitch, and Amiel Bushkovitz. Today, I am so happy to finally welcome Blair himself to the show, not only as a supporter and friend of the show, but as a voice teacher, vocal coach, pianist, arts leader, former public radio host, and founder and executive

1:57 director of the Arts Song Preservation Society of New York, aka ASPSNY. In this conversation, we talk about ASPSNY's 17 -year journey, the Summer of Song Festival, and why art song is not just a repertoire, but as a living, meeting place for language, poetry, culture, family, mentorship, and human connection. Blair also shares the exciting next chapter for ASPSNY and reflects on preservation not as keeping something frozen in the past, but as transmission, passing music, language, culture, and artistry from one person to another. Before we begin, please like this video, subscribe to the PianoPod, and leave us a comment. Your support helps us continue bringing these conversations to a wider audience.

2:53 Now, here is my conversation with Blair Boone Megura, art song, Human Connection. Please enjoy the show. You are listening to The Piano Pod, where we talk to the brightest minds in the industry about how they are bringing the piano into the future and thriving in a complex, ever -evolving world. Welcome to The Piano Pod, Blair. Thank you so much for being here. It's great seeing you. Thank you. It's great to be here. And where are you joining us from today? I am currently in my home in Honolulu, Hawaii. So we've lived here for about a decade now from New York. And so fortunate to be able to be here, especially, you know, during the dead of winter when I don't want to be in New York. Yes. So. Well, thanks

3:47 for being here. And I'm really especially, you know, happy to have this conversation because in many ways you have already been part of the PianoPod family for the past few seasons. You know, since season five, several of my guests have been connected to you. Mark Markham, Graham Fitch, Molly Gabrion, and Amiel. And on top of that, you have been supported the show so generously over the years from, you know, being a sponsor of some of the episodes. And you also I asked you to make some videos for the sponsorship.

4:24 So I really appreciate. Oh, well, thank you. I'm such a big supporter of what you do. It's an amazing podcast. And I'm just delighted with all the growth that you've had over the past few seasons. And also, I had a chance to participate in the Summer of Song Festival for the last two years. Oh my gosh, thank you. I felt like I twisted your arm to make me participate. Are you kidding?

4:47 No, ASPS is a home. It's a refuge for artists at all stages, as long as you have a passion for piano and the voice, which you do. And your gifts were very, very well received, and we were very grateful to have you. So, you know, our conversation will begin with your 17 -year journey with the Artsong Preservation Society of New York and what you built, why Artsong matters, and what the Summer of Song Festival became, and what this next chapter might look like. But we'll also cover much more because your work...

5:28 crosses many worlds, teaching, coaching, piano collaboration, public radio, television, cultural commentary, scholarship, and arts leadership. So with that in mind, I'd love to begin with this question. When you look at all the work you do, what feels like the core mission or passion that ties it all together? You know, whether I'm working with a singer or interviewing someone on a program or curating music for Allianz Francaise or putting together a program, a festival for the Arts on Preservation Society. For me, it all comes down to communication. Communication really is at the heart of what I do and transmitting information, making it accessible so that we all are kind of on the same plateau. There definitely

6:22 does not need to be a hierarchy within arts. I think arts are accessible and it's so touching for me to see the singers and the pianists that come through the doors of my program. They come from all walks of life. I have people that come from affluent families. I have people who are striving to put together every cent that they have to just to be able to take part in this endeavor, or they have the support of their families coming behind them. So for me, what I am trying to do is just create a space, a space for communication, musical communication, cultural communication, artistic communication, because these singers and pianists, much like me, we don't arrive individually.

7:14 in the space someone doesn't just arrive at asps they arrive with hopes and aspirations they arrive with their teacher whether the teacher be there in present in person with them or having prepared them they arrive with the support of their parents their siblings their loved ones their spouses so this is really just about a meeting place for communication and connection beautifully said so what has remained constant You know, something tangible that you could rely on across all these different roles that you play. You know, an artist must have an inner life from which to draw. And so I think that's probably for me, that's what connects it all. I mean, it's personally, on a personal level, it's just

8:00 fulfilling. You know, I'm just fulfilled by being able to do a range of things. And I could never just do one thing, whether it be sit in a cubicle in front of a computer or even whether it be working at the piano all day with a singer. I just could I could never do it. That's just not in my DNA because there's so much more not only to me, but there's so much more to others around me. So I think that there is a thread, a connective thread in everything that I do. So whether every chapter of my life I've always said has just been because I've had several iterations. And I've always thought it's just another step that I've taken towards me, taken towards myself, become a fuller me. And so that's what's interesting

8:45 to me is seeing others around me take steps towards themselves, become a fuller version of themselves. Because the fuller we are, the less competitive we are, the less the less judgy we are, the less quick prone we are to criticize because you're full and you're happy and you're content. And so when I see someone who does something differently than me, why criticize it? I can marvel at it.

9:10 It doesn't mean that I need to necessarily adopt it, but why criticize it? I can love that interpretation. I can love what that person is doing with a role, with an interpretation, but it might not be what I would do with it. And why should, you know, I love RuPaul says, you know, what others think of me is no business of mine. And I kind of think that that. works well in this type of artistic environment. Be a full version of yourself and don't concern yourself so much with how others are perceiving it. Just be. Wow. Well, thank you. So now I'd like to talk about the Artsong Preservation Society of New York. So over the last two summers, as I said, I had a chance to participate in the Summer of Song Festival, which

10:00 is out of Artsong Preservation, right? Yes. So the Summer of Song Festival is a festival that's hosted by my nonprofit, the Arts on Preservation Society of New York. And it was previously we started at this little cramped space called the Singers Forum 17 years ago. I don't even think the Singers Forum even exists anymore. And I think it was primarily used by musical theater for musical theater auditions, maybe. So it was a very, very small space, but we outgrew it pretty quickly and moved on to the National Opera America Center for a few years. And then we were so fortunate to go from there to be hosted by Manhattan School of Music in New York, a prominent and wonderful music conservatory. You know, when we first started,

10:52 of course, there's no roadmap to doing any of this. I mean, these are all just kind of ideas that are springing into my head at the time because of... Maybe I like the way something sounds. I mean, even the name of our organization, the Arts on Preservation Society, I knew preservation was important, but it really came from the Shubane Society, you know, because I'm a lover of animals.

11:14 And so I thought I love the idea of a society, but instead of it being a Shubane Society, I want to help preserve song. And in the beginning, we had, we... It wasn't a two -week festival the way it is now. It wasn't compressed. The events would happen every weekend. And it would happen every weekend throughout the course of a season. So in the beginning, we had summer of song. And then sometimes I would start the program in the spring, so it was spring into song. And sometimes I would do the program in the fall, and it was fall into song. So that's actually how it all began. And it used to happen over consecutive Saturdays throughout a season.

11:55 I see. Now I understand. Then in recent years, it shifted to two week summer festival. Yes, absolutely. And that was by necessity just because in 2016, when we moved to Manhattan School of Music, that coincided with just my husband and I wanting to escape the brutal winters which had been accumulating. And so we decided we wanted to divide our time between Hawaii and New York.

12:29 And just because of time and logistics, I thought, well, I can't keep flying back every Saturday. So why don't I compress everything? Instead of having it happen over Saturdays throughout a season, I'll just have it two weeks within a season. And it's just easiest to make it consistent. So let's make that season summer. And we'll call it Summer Assault. I see. Tell me why you wanted to do this. What was missing from the field, in the field, that made you feel like it needed to exist? Well, that's another great question.

13:04 I certainly wasn't reflecting upon what's missing. What could I add? That did come, but ASPS, you know, that's the acronym we go by. ASPS ultimately grew out of a personal experience, out of grief. I was grieving. My mentor of 24 years, she passed away at the age of 93. And she was my very first teacher, Mary Truman. And she was just such an extraordinary pedagogue, an extraordinary pianist, extremely impressive and outstanding voice teacher, a very sensitive soul. And she was just someone that had not only been my teacher, but... throughout the course of the 24 years of our relationship she also became my dear friend and my confidant and just we were so much more than just student and teacher by that point and so when she passed

13:59 i spoke to her every sunday by the way i made two calls every sunday throughout my life religiously and that's to my grandmother and to my uh my dear mary truman and so when that happened after 24 years of speaking to her singing with for with her and just talking about life, philosophy, music, culture, that was just such a void in my life that I fell into a deep depression for about six months. And it was very difficult to get over and trying to figure out, you know, just kind of get a sense of stabilization. But out of that grief, I realized that everything that Mary poured into me wasn't meant to end with me. If it did, then I misunderstood the great gift in life that she'd given me. So my

14:50 thought was to contact individuals who I held in high esteem because Mary held them in high esteem. And she introduced me to so many things like the planes and recordings of Gerald Moore and Dietrich Fischer, Die Skal. But namely to Thomas Grubb, because she used his book for her class. She taught the French and German. vocal diction and vocal repertoire classes at Rice University. And so she used Tom's book and she used Pierre Bernac's book. So that's how I discovered them. And then we would often listen to the recordings of Dalton Baldwin playing for Elie Ameling, Gerard Souzet, Jesse Norman. And she might stop a recording of Gerald Moore or Dalton and say, I want you to listen here. Let's play this again. This is

15:39 what they do and why. And this is the subtlety. Or she would demonstrate on the piano. And I just marveled at it. So when she passed, I went to some of those same individuals. I went to Tom Grubb. I went to Dalton Baldwin. I went to others who I knew she held in high esteem or who I knew would be held in high esteem had she known them. And they were just so giving of their time. And they said, yes, I'm there. I want to help you do this. So that's how the organization actually started. It wasn't looking that there was a need. I was really doing it from a personal space. As it began to evolve, I realized that there was a need. First of all, that there were so many people passionate about song, as passionate

16:22 as I was, and who wanted to know about this field, but understood that it came with, there was just so much, so much more than sound, just beauty of sound. If it were just beauty of sound, then we could all do it, really. You know, you just get up and have a beautiful singer or have someone who plays lovely and there you have it. But because...

16:41 Song is a meeting space for culture and language and diction and understanding the literary movements. There was just so much more there that you really needed to have individuals qualified. And I had kind of done my own education in that field. I did my undergraduate in voice and studied piano as my secondary instrument. And then I had a French literature degree. And then I did my master's in vocal pedagogy and French literature. I had that. So I had that because Mary Truman had that.

17:13 I was kind of really just copying her. I mean, she did her degrees at the Royal Academy of London in piano. And then she did another degree in vocal pedagogy. So that's what she did. But she also simultaneously held master's degrees in French and German language and literature. So she was the perfect kind of person to inspire me for something that became very, very important to me. And then similarly. That's what Tom Grubb did, you know, piano degrees and French degrees at Yale. So I realized that it took and not that you have to do all these degrees. I mean, you know, we have individuals like Dalton. Yes, he he had his piano degrees, but he never did a degree in French. And yet his time living in

17:56 France and being the collaborative partner of Gérard Souzet and studying with Poulenc himself made Dalton infinitely qualified. So I realized that it took. someone with either the education or and or the great opportunity of experience of life experience sometimes just to be able to say I've lived abroad I've done these things I've seen the art in the museums I understand the connections or the literary representations that are being reflected in this poetry to help share that because once the singer knows about it and once the pianist knows about it Then they get really excited and can deliver something more compelling. And this all comes down to transmission.

18:42 So when the audience is sitting there, they receive it. And you don't have to know all this. The wonderful thing is, as a listener, you don't have to know all that. You really don't. If you do, it makes it a more full experience for you. But it's the performer's intent that is most important. The singer's intent, the pianist's intent, that transmission is received by the audience. They don't need to maybe know about Goethe and about Sturm und Drang, you know, but they felt that storm and stress of the inner landscape of the artist. They feel the turmoil of the singer's heart and the pianist's heart and mind kind of coming together, creating this artistic moment. That's what the listener receives.

19:24 So the listener doesn't have to be highly educated necessarily to still have that same full, amazing experience. My art song. why you wanted to focus on art songs because you know when in the classical music world when we think of songs a lot of people associate with opera singing arias right but it's a very specific genre of singing art songs and to me i love playing the piano part of art songs that's why i invited you today Because piano is such a big part of this tradition of art song, you know, whether that is Schubert or whether that is contemporary composers. So why you wanted to focus on art songs? Well, for several reasons. First, we can go back, A, just to my own vocal performance preparation. When

21:04 I studied in school, the important genre was opera. They were training everyone to be opera singers. And that just wasn't the voice that I had. Of course, I trained and I did the opera workshops and I performed. But, you know, it's a different, oftentimes it's a different instrument. Not always, because we have amazing singers who are gifted enough to do both. But I didn't have that sort of instrument. Mine was much more closer to Peter Pierce. Or as Pierre Garnac, you know, I was a recital singer. That was the type of voice that I had. But that aside, that also was where my heart lied. It has always been. You know, I think art song trains us to inhabit someone else's inner world, their inner landscape, because

21:55 you have another human being's experiences, whether it be joy, grief, longing, all of that. And you're asked to... take part in that and it's not that opera doesn't do that opera but opera is much more demonstrative it's about the spectacle it's about the uh the costumes and all of the characters coming together and song is so much more personal so much more intimate and takes so much more of an imagination you really have to have an imagination and as a child i can't tell you how lost i got in my imagination i mean i would get so lost that sometimes i would forget what was going on around me and my family would have to like hey stop it you know what we're here we've been talking to you for 10 minutes and for 10

22:42 minutes i was kind of lost in my thoughts so i have always had a very strong and fertile imagination and and a curiosity and an interest in the inner emotional landscape of people well that's really what song is and then when you add to that the pianist i mean it's incredible because i mean we don't have this in opera that the piano is a collaborative partner. They are an equal. They have just as much reason to be up there as the singer. And I think when you look at songs like, I mean, everyone uses Erlking, and I think the Erlkönig, and that's a great example because the singer has to not be one, not two, not three, they have to be four characters. The narrator, the son, the father, and the Erlking. But guess

23:27 what? The pianist is a character too. The pianist is the galloping horses. The pianist is the storm, the storm. And so it's just as important. And then when you look at music like by Schumann, the Dichterliebe, or Henri Dupac's Fidile, or La Vie Antérieure, where the pianist, it's the pianist's responsibility to further interpret the poem. The singer doesn't have that opportunity.

23:53 The singer's last line is done. And guess what? It's the pianist's responsibility to take the listener on the continued journey and tell you what happened to that story. You know, they finish off the song. So I think that I'm giving myself goosebumps. How's that? But what's happening is I'm reminded about the beauty of this collaboration, that the singer couldn't have done it alone, and that you have the babbling brook of Di Forella, of Schubert, you know? It's not the singer who creates that babbling brook, it's the pianist's responsibility. But that invites the singer to have an even better, more clear vision of the brook, of the babbling brook. Yeah, and then piano part is written really for piano, as opposed

24:44 to when I accompany for aria, they are orchestral. Of course, there are some art songs that are written for orchestra, too. Yes. For example. But even then, I think piano reduction of that part is so amazing. Right? Tell me. No, you're absolutely right. I mean, first of all, we all know that there are beautiful arias out there that have beautiful complements. So it's not that. There are wonderful transcriptions of the arrangements. So that exists. Obviously, that's only a sliver of what exists in the operatic repertoire, which really does normally demand.

25:26 I mean, when you go see an artist, a great artist in recital and they're doing these arias, you know, it's not as compelling. Their voice may be as compelling, but what is supporting them, what is creating the exterior sound of the harmonic sound that helps support the singer is not as exciting. or as compelling as what you find in song when it's vital, it's essential at times.

25:52 And of course, that doesn't apply to all song, right? There are songs that have quite a very easy accompaniment. That exists too. But usually, when you find a singer who's interested in song and when you find a gifted pianist, they're happy to put one or two of those on the program. But what they really want to put on the program...

26:11 is the beautiful repertoire and the rich repertoire. There's so much that exists that allows the pianist to shine, that allows the singer and the pianist to come together as one, their hearts really beating as one. Before we go into specific programs that your festival offers, but I kind of want to talk about this word preservation. You mentioned the word means, but in classical music, preservation can sometimes feel like... keeping something untouched in the past or oh exclusivity you know but when i attended your festival twice it didn't feel that way was uh i've learned so many different songs and didn't feel like preservation per se you know so can you tell me about that your interpretation

28:01 your version of preservation yeah it's it's true i mean Preservation does not mean embalming. It doesn't mean staging for a museum, for the Louvre, or for the Metropolitan Museum. We're not staging something, and it's not static. We're not preserving something so that we can say, ah, look at what happened in the 1800s. Did you know that in 1870, this song was a hit? We're not trying to do that. There's no reason to preserve that. What we're trying to do is transmit. It's about transmission, the continuation of culture, the continuation of identity, the continuation of language and diction, which obviously that even goes out of style. Languages die, or certainly within languages, elements of language die or

28:57 evolve, let's put it that way, changes. Words come into fashion, leave, sometimes come back. So what we're talking about is transmission, putting something in the hands of one individual so that individual can take it and do whatever they want to do with it and then continue on the tradition. I mean, I think the clearest example of that is back to my primary mentor. The first one, Mary Truman, you know, she was born in 1915.

29:25 So she was born at a time when Strauss was still alive. Fauré and Debussy were still alive. Dupac was still alive. So she was born into a tradition of song, a true song tradition, and very early on started accompanying her uncle, who was a prominent singer in England. And so from childhood, she was born into this. Well, she developed it, obviously. She loved languages. So because she lived in England, she was close to France and Germany. So she had the opportunity from a young age to travel, to fall in love, to speak these languages later. study them, as well as the piano and voice. Well, that didn't just stay with her.

30:05 She passed it on to her students, this little 14 -year -old in Houston, Texas, who started with her. He took it, and he's done with it what he can. I've created ASPS, but this isn't mine. It's a nonprofit, so this is for the people. Someone else will come through our doors. They'll hear a song, they'll hear a poem, they'll learn something, and they'll take it and transmit it on to someone else, whether it be in a performance atmosphere that inspires someone to want to, oh, now I'm so inspired by that song, I feel joy today. And I won't be, maybe it's so much of a jerk as I was the day before, or maybe I'll be a little bit more easy to deal with, right?

30:48 Or you may pass it on, you may transmit it to someone else, some other youth who's inspired to. go and study languages or go and study culture or go and study voice or go and study piano. So this is about transmission and about the kind of continual motion of bringing forth culture and identity and reason for beauty and for the art to continue to exist. One thing that we're not, I'll say right off the bat, is we're not some miniature opera program or miniature kind of, we're not a, I don't like to think of us as, we're not a vocal program. You know, this is a festival. This is about performance. And this is for the community. This is for New York City and for those who can get to New York to be able to participate in a rich variety of music

33:08 from all walks of life, from all cultures and languages. And at its center, it's an opportunity for those who want to do more than perform to learn. Right. To learn about the history, to learn about why this matters and to learn about what it can do for them both personally, but what they can then do to take it to someone else.

33:33 So the program does that through a variety of mechanisms. We have a what we call I mean, you know, you can say masterclass, but we like to we we sometimes use the term just because that's what everyone has come to know, especially if you're in music. But we like to think of it more as a performance space, a performance studio.

33:52 and one where the audience is invited to participate. They are there not to, I'm coming to learn something. Let me put on my thinking cap and just listen. We have great masters. You know, I mentioned Tom Grubb and Dalton Baldwin, both of whom have passed, but we continue to engage true masters of the form, our form. And so I know many of them have been on your program, like Mark Markham.

34:22 You had Ophelia Gordon who participated in our program. So they lead these performance classes and work with the pianist and the singer on stage while also inviting participation and input and curiosity from the public who's listening and learning about this and absorbing and digesting it. So that's one. And certainly we also have workshops and we have... For example, Dr. Molly DeBrien, who might give a niche workshop about how to help learn your music faster, how to do away with performing this anxiety, or more importantly, how to even practice this music so that it really seems to become a part of every fiber. Alexander techniques so that you can work on your core and your body sensitivity so that you can be

35:15 a vessel for the music without having tension obstruct you. We have obviously recitals each week to give the pianists and singers the opportunity to put into practice what they're doing. Yes, they're performing in the performance studio, but really that performance studio masterclass during the week. But we also want to give them an environment where they're able to do it without being stopped and trying it again. And let's do this again. You know, let's give them the confidence to be able to do this on stage for a warm and responsive audience of their peers.

35:48 And it's just been amazing. I mean, I have had, you know, over the years, we've had so many incredible examples of the participants really becoming fuller versions of themselves. I think you were there last year when we had a wonderful young boy. He actually was too young to participate because we've always had an 18 -year minimum.

36:12 We usually work with 18 and older, and he was 16 at the time. So he didn't actually perform. He couldn't sing in it. But what he came all the way over from Nairobi. He'd been studying in London, but he was from Nairobi. He went to do his high school in London. So he flew over from London. His mother flew over from Kenya and met him at ASPS there at the Manhattan School of Music so that they could observe a few classes.

36:38 And then we allowed him to sing for us, me and the teachers that day. I think it was. He came to Spanish Song with Jose Melendez and Maya Seifert. So he sang for us that day before the performance class got started. And it was so beautiful and so touching to see a 16 -year -old who had hopes and dreams of doing this very thing and who wanted simply to get an early start, even though he knew he wasn't of age. Interestingly enough, we are moving forward, going to grow the program, augment it so that we begin taking in... Oh, younger ones. Oh, really? Yes. Oh, wonderful.

37:13 Get them started even earlier. So that's something we're going to be adding. We're going to be adding a teacher element as well so that teachers can continue their continuing education. So there's a lot to this. And I think that our program is trying to become a robust, well -rounded program that's a meeting space for individuals to come and let this material, let this repertoire run through them through every fiber. We like to say ASPS is where music speaks and words sing.

37:45 So we want this to be that kind of refuge, this kind of, I don't know, we'll create an ecosystem where singers, pianists, teachers, enthusiasts, amateurs, professionals, whomever can come, even if you're just coming to listen. And a lot of this is sometimes cultural. We've had a singer this past year. Colombian singers sing, and she sang a song that was composed, an art song that was composed by her brother. I remember that, yes. Yes, on text that was written by her uncle.

38:22 So a Colombian art song written, the text by her uncle, the music by her brother, and she performed this beautiful depiction and reflection of Colombian culture. And it was just so breathtaking for all of us in the audience to witness. So that's what I mean. We're not a vocal program. This is not a miniature art song program or opera program. We're a meeting space, an ecosystem for performers, for people who want to participate in this, but only to become a fuller version of who they are as artists. but also who they are as just individuals, bringing their culture to the forefront. Or, if it's not your culture, then at least coming to expose yourself to someone else's culture. But, you know, when I participated,

40:47 well, before that, I just thought it would be only the Romance language, but especially just the, what is it, Italian and the French. And then the German. German is not, of course, a Romance language. But I thought those were the primary songs that you're going to present. And they were just going to sit there and listen and take some notes. And then when my turn comes and I was just going to play. But it wasn't the case. I learned so much. I learned so many different songs. And, oh, what is it? The African -American songs. And also you've done American Songbook.

41:25 Yes, yes, you're so right. So, of course, yes, we do, you know, just for kind of to get everyone's bearings sometimes. And really, it's more for the for the outside public to understand what we're doing. We do sometimes break things down by language, French, German, Italian. That does exist. We understand that. But this is so much for more far reaching. You know, we continue to add public performance studio classes. in african -american song female composers of african american song female composers period um and so it's not just about language of course it's also language and culture we've done japanese song um and we have done ukrainian song uh you know it's i would love to do russian i've been

42:18 exposed thanks to jose melendez to some beautiful filipino art song And I'm very curious because I've heard some examples of Korean song. And so, yes, these are languages, but I would not say we're collecting languages and then putting that out there for everyone. No, it's not about collecting languages. Yes, there will be language study, but this is about collecting opportunities for people, individuals in the public or musicians and artists to have access and opportunity to see what another world opens up to them, right?

42:49 The same way that when I was young and French song was a world that was given to me by Mary Truman and German songs was given to me and that opened up my world of experience. So it wasn't about giving young Blair French and German. That's great. I can now speak French and that's wonderful. But it was about giving access to a whole new broadening of horizons, a whole new world and an opportunity to. come face to face with other cultures. So that's what we're doing is we're not collecting languages. We're collecting opportunities to engage and have access to other cultures, other lives. I don't know where this quote comes from, but from youth, I've always heard, speak another language, live another soul. And so that's

43:36 giving everyone the opportunity to live another soul, to see what else is out there that you may not know. Well, it's interesting you've mentioned about your young Blair receiving this song. And tell me a little bit more. What changed you at that moment? Because that seems like the really core message of ASPS, you know? Yeah. You know, well, I mean, I won't venture too far back to, well, I was born in this city. But what I can say is. I, you know, my formative years were spent in Houston, Texas. And I got there when I was eight. And at 14, I got to the choir. I had started piano around eight. And by 14, I was accompanying the choir. I started kind of freshman year in high school, in spring high

44:28 school. And I was accompanying a choir. And the teacher after the first semester, the choir director, said, you know, I don't really need a piano. She's like, I play. She's like, you can continue to do this. But what I really need is a singer, because if you look on, you know, in the sectionals, we have like 15 girls and five boys. So I need I really need you to sing. So she did some vocalese with me and heard and whatever she heard must have caused so much alarm that she felt intervention was needed. And so she said, I'm going to connect you with a voice teacher who comes here twice a week. Well, the interesting thing is. That semester, when I was leaving the choir practice, I was walking by these little practice rooms

45:15 that were outside of the choral room, and I could hear being played the third movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. And as a kid, as a 14 -year old player, that was, to me, that... pinnacle of music making um i could already play the first movement i could play the second movement but there was no way that i was so the third movement was so technically beyond and i'm not even saying i played the first and second movement well i i got all the notes but i'm sure as far as you know understanding the music but at least i could play the notes but there was no way with the third movement so to hear the third movement being played i was like who is this well as i passed i looked in and there was this little

45:54 woman playing and she looked up and waits for me to come in. So I walked in the door, I sat down and she finished playing. And then when she was done, I thanked her and she was very lovely. And I just remember thinking, oh my gosh, she has a beautiful English accent like I see on TV. You know, she was British too. And that was the last I saw of her until the next semester when the choral director matched me with a voice teacher and it was her. This was Mary Truman.

46:22 And so she just opened up. Such a world because, I mean, for this little kid in Houston, Texas, I was meeting someone who just seemed so worldly. She was all of five feet tall, if that. I don't even think that. Maybe 4 '11". But she spoke different languages. She played the piano beautifully. And she was helping me become a singer. And I just was so inspired to see the walls come down.

46:46 All of a sudden, the planet seemed infinite. And it seemed, possibilities seemed infinite. That's what seemed infinite. Things that I used to watch on TV now seem like that could be possible. And she kind of formed an alliance with my grandparents who raised me. And they decided that they were going to make a proper young gentleman out of me, the three of them. And so it was just the sheer, by sheer will and the support of these three individuals, I was able to see the world expand and the possibility. And so that's what song represents to me is an expansion of the world. You're seeing other cultures. You're seeing other people. And clearly that's something that's very much in my DNA because the other things

47:30 that made me happy in my youth were reading. I mean, my grandparents were very strict, so there were no play dates with friends. You know, my sister and I, for fun, we went to the library. So books were always my way of escaping and seeing the other world. Music was my way of seeing the world at large and cinema. I was always a cinephile from youth. So I guess I'm just always attracted to the world expanding, possibilities opening, and seeing the world as something fresh and new because you're constantly put in front of you new languages, new cultures, new people. That's what I find refreshing is that we're not all one note and all the same. I mean, I'm just not one for homogeny and living in suburbia where

48:19 every house looks the same. Everyone walks. I remember when I was a kid, I read Wrinkle in Time. And what struck me was there's a whole chapter about every house the same. And the door opens. All the kids were out. One boy, one girl, a ball. There's one dog, one father, one mother. That is so banal. That's so not interesting to me whatsoever. Because that's not Earth. That's not the planet we live on. There's so much richness.

48:45 So that's what song represents, is the richness of the world. And that's why I love it. Thank you. Now I get it. Now I get it. What's behind this organization? Thank you. Wow, that was clear. So that's exactly what your participants to take away from participating in this Summer of Song Festival. I think so. You know, we had I think you were there for this, too. We had we this was the summer of mother daughter relationships.

49:17 We had the first ever in our 17 year history. We had a mother daughter audition for the program. The mother as a pianist and the daughter. She had infinity for French song. So I had a mom daughter on stage for the performance studio classes and recitals. And it was so amazing seeing that. that relationship between them. And then I had a mother drive her daughter all the way up from Florida. And the mother sat there all week long, totally engaged, totally participating from the audience and proud of her daughter on stage. Another came from Louisiana, another mother daughter pair. And so I'm just reminded once again that we do not come to this alone. You know, they came with not only themselves, but

50:04 with the hopes and aspirations of their moms. They're with them. And so that's what this is. It's about there's a richness to all this that's very human and kind of unites us all because you don't have to speak French. You don't have to speak Spanish. You don't speak German, you know. But we all have that connection of intimacy with a parent or a spouse or a sibling or someone we care about. And all of that, all of that is depicted in song. All of it in song. That's right.

50:33 That's what our song is about. It's about human story because. Art song is not cantata where they talk about religion or God, but art song is about human. It's very human. You're right. It's the human condition, the human experience put on display. And we don't all have to feel anger or grief the same way. And that's what makes it interesting. That's what I meant about I don't need someone to interpret it the same way that I did or the same way that Jesse Norman did or the same way that Elie Ameling did. You know, you can still appreciate two incredible but differing interpretations of grief or of longing or of anger. My impression is that from what I hear, after switching to the summer festival,

52:00 I think it became the festival where a lot of international folks can participate because it's just focused on this one summer, right? No, you're absolutely right. It became a much more formalized program when it became condensed into two weeks. The kind of spread out through the season was great for me when I was in New York because the stress was much less because I kind of was able to kind of think about one event only and to make that event happen. But the program really benefited. from becoming a two -week intensive and became more crystallized. And that's, I would say, that's when our real identity happened, was at Manhattan School of Music when we were there. So with MSM for 10 years, you've done

52:51 10 summers, right? Yeah, so grateful. I mean, to President Jim Gendry, full transparency, he's a dear friend, but so grateful to him and to the entire team at Manhattan School of Music. It couldn't have been a better home for us for a decade. That was a great space to be in. We have, I mean, we, you know, not only did a lot of their singers and pianists participate in the program because they were just going on summer break. So some would stay a little longer in New York just to do the program. And then a lot of our teachers had connections directly with MSN. They either did their degrees there or some of them were currently still on faculty like Sydney Outlaw. um you know who taught the african

53:34 american song this past uh summer uh female composers and um he's on faculty at msm so that we also drew from the faculty wow so what's the change yes yeah well you know again it's it's in some ways it's bittersweet because msm has been such an incredible partner um but you know It did feel like it was also a decade felt very full and it was time for many reasons. It was time to consider a change. And so I'm definitely happy to announce here formally. This will be you'll get the plug before anyone else, because I'll let this interview go out and then begin plugging that we are changing our venue from Manhattan School of Music to Columbia Teachers College. And I couldn't be more happy to have this new partnership in play thanks to the generosity

54:33 and support of Dr. Gene Goffey -Finn. And we were assisted tremendously by Sid Outlaw, Sidney Outlaw at Manhattan, who's currently also working on his doctorate at Teachers College. And it's just, it's, you know, it's in some ways things are the same because we have a... a well -tested program that has been flourishing. So it's not about changing the venue and starting something new. No, we will take what we've identified as it has been working, has helped our identity of who we are. But the wonderful thing about Teachers College is it's giving us an opportunity to augment our program, to make more investments in it. For example, mainly, I think I mentioned, kind of alluded earlier, we never, ever did.

55:22 worked with younger singers. First of all, we didn't have the time. Where do you put it in your programming? But we're going to make the time at Teachers College. We're going to make the time to expand to juniors and high schools to help them. Because when I think about it, when did I start song? I began at 14 with Mary Truman, right? So I started this. And there are many people studying songs at their freshman and sophomore year. Who knows? Maybe we will even go back further than junior year. I'll coordinate with Teachers College on that. But we definitely want an investment in the youth. And also, we don't like the, I call it necessarily training, but we want to allow the opportunity for professionals

56:06 such as yourself. people who are already leading busy lives and teaching for them to take part so that there really is a continuing education, if you want to call it that, but a continual opportunity, a platform for professional artists who are teachers to continue by inviting them into this space, them into this atmosphere so that they can hone their skills or refresh their skills or their knowledge. um and and also maybe coordinate and a teacher may be in there working in the the continual education for teachers while their student is actually doing the young program either um the high school age or uh the kind of the main programming so um so yeah i i'm just so excited uh that you know while we're leaving

56:59 a wonderful wonderful institution in manhattan school of music and we're so grateful for all that they've done i'm just really really excited to be able to take this program to our through our next chapter um and and i won't be doing that alone by the way because the um the other aspect to all this is you know i said that this doesn't i created a nonprofit it's an institution so this is not about me um while i might be the founder and executive director uh i you know What happens if I disappear? You know, I'd like to think that this continues on. And this is about transmission. What has been given to me and what I've inherited, I've created something.

57:42 Now I am inviting in others to do more with it, things that maybe I never imagined. And that will come in the form of an associate director. And my associate director, who I'm happy to announce, is Nathaniel Lanassa. I call him Nate, so Nate Nassa, who's just a wonderful, wonderful pianist and vocal coach. And he's already curating music programs for NYFOS, New York Festival of Song.

58:08 And he's just so sensitive and intelligent and insightful. But I thought he's the perfect individual to work alongside me to now launch the program, the pilot year at Teachers College. And then I'd like to think that with time, he will be the perfect person to take it to its next chapter with me maybe just working kind of in the background as an advisor. Really? Wow. But so this is the next summer is going to be the first one or the following summer? Nope, nope. We are gearing up for 2027. So it's, you know, now I'm in grant writing season. That's what I'm doing right now.

58:50 Nate and I are working together on grants. We've been very fortunate that in our 17 year history, I think we've only not been funded two of those years. And those were during the COVID year. So a lot of people didn't get funded. So I definitely don't take it personally. But we were also very fortunate during that time that our advisory board member and founding member, Thomas Grubb.

59:17 underwrote the entire season when we didn't get funded he stepped in and paid for an entire season i'll always be indebted to that and that's yet just another classic example that we don't come to this alone um that there are others there and actually that's a wonderful example even of courage i know that courage is the theme of of the season and i think you know i've always thought and heard that courage is to be afraid of something but to do it anyway and i certainly have had years where I was afraid ASPS was not going to make it. And COVID was definitely one of those years. And Tom Grubb, he believed in what we did. He believed that we would rebound.

59:57 So he stepped in in those years we weren't funded and he funded it. And now, of course, I'm worried still for ASPS, even with a wonderful partnership. with Columbia. But when you look at what's happening in the arts today, like the example of the Kennedy Center now and elsewhere, there's a trickle down.

1:00:14 It's not just the Kennedy Center that has trickled down through all. There's a wonderful, not wonderful, sad, disheartening article in Opera Wire about an opera singer who is doing quite, you know, relatively well. At least he's getting gigs and jobs, but he's leaving the profession because it's just, it's hard to sustain. How do you sustain when you're being given less and less funding, less and less opportunity? So that still exists for us. We'll work with NAIT. We'll try to continue to get funding. We'll work with Teachers College Columbia, and we'll try to get a strong program going there. But it is still, it takes a village.

1:00:54 Sometimes it's going to be out of our hands. It's going to be in the hands of community, and hopefully in a future. government administration to help solve some of the issues that lie ahead of the arts industry. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Well, with all the challenges ahead, but it's exciting. Yes, it's very exciting. I couldn't be more excited, to be quite honest, to open doors to our plans are to open doors. to more programming for more in terms of women composers, LGBTQ, trans voices. I mean, there's so much to do in song and to invite more voices to the table. And that's really what we are kind of going to be focusing on as we launch ahead in 2027. Well, congratulations. Thank you. All the

1:01:50 success you have comes from, you know, your work, not as just a vocal coach. a vocalist but coming from public radio storytelling and also interesting one is the tv you know you had a um queer eye for the straight guy the the first that's the original version of queer eye right yeah yes yeah yeah i was the original culture uh they say culture maven but culture expert whatever you want to call it yeah wow i didn't realize so Would you like to tell us a little bit of those experiences like radio? Radio was public radio, right? Yeah, sure, sure. So, OK, I'll start with I spent a decade away from music.

1:02:39 I did. That's full transparency. There was a decade when I arrived in New York City in 1997, 98. And after, you know, doing my auditions and assessing the landscape, I was like, well, bless. the people who can do this. So I'm certainly not targeting anyone, but I didn't think I had it within me to be a singing waiter and to, I, I knew quickly what this is. If this isn't happening, I have to change directions. So, um, I started working in other, other areas. Um, I worked in magazine, um, and, uh, in music journalism, I would do, um, interviews, profile pieces, um, you know, uh, and so that. kind of helped start that. I even worked on the publishing side of magazines. So I was in magazine for a while.

1:03:26 I've done some radio. Radio was actually, radio is actually more relatively recent. And that was when I first arrived in Hawaii. There's a show, a program, it's the longest running radio program centered around art song called Singing in Other Senses. And yeah, and the founder of that program invited me. had heard news that I had arrived in Hawaii and asked if I would be interested in co -hosting the radio program with him. And I was delighted. It was wonderful.

1:03:58 I was able to really take things that I was passionate about, do episodes and programming simply around singers that I loved or invite guests on to speak with them. I had wonderful conversations with Ned Roram before he passed. Dominique Argento, Matthias Goethe, wonderful German baritone. So it was a wonderful, wonderful time while it lasted.

1:04:20 Sadly, that was another casualty of COVID. So when COVID happened, it was just difficult for me to maintain doing that in the landscape of washing my produce, checking my mail, and it was just too much. So that's how radio came about. And I'd actually, back to Queer Eye, I'd actually been invited. to do a radio program back after I left Queer Eye. Another radio asked if I wanted to be a co -host. But Queer Eye came about because, I mean, let's face it, I'm not interested in the celebrity aspect of Queer Eye, but it came about because of my work in magazine. And the fact that, I mean, I was a New Yorker. I certainly was one of those New Yorkers who was out and about in the scene and nightlife. And I, you

1:05:09 know, I did a lot and knew a lot of people. And so I think that sort of kind of New York connections, they were interested in talking to me. And then once they met me and I did a test kind of with the other members, they were like, you're who we want for culture. But I think the more interesting aspect of that is whether it's radio or whether it's television, it kind of put me in touch with accessibility does not have to be complicated.

1:05:41 that you can try to keeping your audience into account, take them into account, know your audience, right? But once you know your audience, then work within that to make things as simple as possible and as accessible to keep them engaged. So if that's what I got from Queer Eye and from my time in radio is, you know, figuring out who your audience is and playing to your strengths.

1:06:05 and making sure that they get something that's digestible and that's accessible and don't make it over complicated. And so that's what I've tried to do with something like song, which could be very complicated once you start adding language and literature and all of these things. But, you know, by doing that, you could easily disenfranchise your audience. You know, oh, my God, that's so stuffy. I don't want to deal with any of that.

1:06:27 But what we've tried to do at ASPS is to show just how human it all is, how accessible it all is. And so whether I'm doing that in song or whether I'm doing that in a television format or a radio format, it really is all the same thing. You know, your career path is unusual in the best way. You know, you have deep traditional training, but your work has also moved through multiple things, you know. what has it been like to keep following your curiosity and your heart?

1:06:58 Well, sometimes it's necessity. I totally understand. I'm the same way. I think everybody's the same way. So even when there wasn't an obvious pathway already laid out for you. Yes. Well, it's interesting because leaving music for that decade, 98 to 2008, leaving music did not ultimately take me away from my artistic life. It gave me tools that I needed in order to return to my artistic life. So I can definitely say I was able to create ASPS and to do something with it because of the decade that I took away to do those other things.

1:07:38 But I am, you know, I suppose it's a curse. It's a blessing and a curse to be the type of individual who only knows how to be himself. I don't know how to be anyone else. I'm not good at trying to be anyone else. I fail miserably. I mean, you know, obviously, as artists, we have to inhabit others. I enjoy that aspect. But that's because I'm curious. I'm just naturally a curious person.

1:08:06 So I think any success that I've had is because I was definitely following my heart, following my own curiosity, and not listening to voices that... would tell me that i couldn't do something that just never ever worked for me i i i've never been the type of individual who let fear um i mean fear might feel fear might occur in the space of a performance right what artist doesn't have some sort of performance on fears that we're always working to conquer but i'll tell you what i've never let fear keep me from doing something sometimes i've made a fool of myself and probably would have been better that fear uh was involved I have memories of like, you know, I was also a competitive gymnast growing up. And so I spent

1:08:54 many years competing in my teens and twenties. I actually went to Syracuse on a gymnastics scholarship as well as music scholarship. So I have, I can tell you in gymnastics and in gymnastics, I was training three hours a day after high school, three hours a day, two hours on Saturday. And then one day a week, I did dance just one day.

1:09:17 One day a week, ballet. Well, somehow I got it in my head. Oh, I'm a dancer, too, from one day a week. Now, remember, the one day a week did happen, of course, over a decade. I've been a gymnast for many years. So I'm not saying I wasn't any good, but one day a week, a dancer does not make. But I thought, oh, well, then I'm a dancer, too, and I have an embarrassing memory of auditioning for the Houston Ballet. And I must have been about 18, maybe. And I auditioned. I was like, let me just see what happens. And I auditioned for the Houston Ballet. And I can't tell you how there I was lined up with other dancers.

1:09:59 And it was 5, 6, 7, 8. They showed you how to do something once. The count was 5, 6, 7, 8. And everyone started torsion tang and twirling around me. I looked like an SNL skit, a Saturday Night Live skit. I was so out of my league. But. When I think about it now, I'm happy I did that. I'm like, yes, it was a learning experience.

1:10:20 Never did that again. But I just love that I was the type of individual that was just like, I want to do it. I believe I can do this, even if I can't. And because I can tell you one thing, while that example exists, there are so many more examples that exist of me being afraid to do something, but doing it anyway, because that's just it's just I don't know how not to do that.

1:10:41 I'm just not wired to let fear cripple me. Now I want to talk about you being the writer. So you're a music journalist as well, but you wrote two theses for Henri Dupart, French composer of the late Romantic period. He left only a few substantial pieces, but the impact was so immense. And so tell me. You're absolutely right. Well, Dupart has always been very close to my heart.

1:11:21 You know, it's interesting. One of the reasons the name has been kind of a like motif today, but one of the reasons is the very first French song I worked on was Chanson Triste with Mary Truman. That was the first song she gave me. And, you know, this is long before remote learning. I would have to make me call her twice a week and we would she would make me recite the French over the phone. And so she would correct me.

1:11:46 And so. I just feel like that music is some of the earliest music for me. And it's been a part of me from, you know, from the time I was 14 years old. And I just fell in love with his melody. He only has about 17, right, along songs. There are other things. I mean, he has some piano pieces and organ. And there's a duet that's out there that's also quite fun to perform. But of the songs themselves, there aren't many. And with that sliver, that very small output, when I was in college doing my undergrad, I thought, you know, I know most of these songs. I could do, I did an honors recital that was also a lecture recital. So that was the first time I wrote and performed his songs. And then from there, I did

1:12:39 another, when I did my master's in French literature, I decided to come back and write a thesis. about Duparc from, not from the music and the interpretive aspect, but from the choice of poets and from the words and the text. And so I looked at that and then I presented that and defended that for an entirely different audience, not a musical one, but all of these French scholars. And then from there, I just became, I was like, I'm obsessed.

1:13:06 So then I spent time in Paris at the libraries and going through boxes and manuscripts. I've read so many. his personal diaries. He only had one student. I read that student's diaries. You know, and so it's just a composer that has always fascinated me. There's actually, you know, there's rumored to be an 18th song that was based on poetry by Charles Baudelaire that he was so unhappy with that he burned. Sorry, that he destroyed.

1:13:33 He only kept a few copies, but those copies got destroyed when his house burned down. But Chausson And I can't remember the other, maybe it was Flore, both supposedly saw the manuscript and said that this was the best of his music. So it kills me that we have no idea what this piece sounds like. And so I'm always on the hunt when I'm in France. doing research to uncover it because it's quite possible like we always find you know there's a manuscript that of Chopin or there's a Bach piece that we never knew about it still comes out I am still hopeful and I still have my contacts you know working on my behalf in France and when I'm there I do it too trying to research and find this this uh this missing

1:14:18 song but his songs are just so amazing he actually did live a long life he lived a very long life he didn't die until the 1930s He did. Oh, I see you. Yeah, he didn't die until the 1930s. He was born in 1948. So that's a long time. But what happened with him was we don't even know exactly what sort of malady he had. You know, some say it was depression. What is that? Chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia. You know, we have all of these different things that they try to thrust on Finn that we weren't. calling it right so we don't really know but what happened with him he certainly um became mute there were many years he just didn't speak right yeah and he was also a mayor believe it or not for a short

1:15:06 time and you know what was what was often prescribed especially in france in germany was you know what you need to do to get better we're going to send you to convalescence or we're going to you need to go out you need fresh air so he was often sent uh told by doctors you need to go to switzerland or go out to the french countryside and breathe the air, and hopefully he would get better then. So what died with Duparc was his creative years, his years of composing. That is what is small. But his lifespan is actually quite long. Yeah, he outlived Fauré, Debussy, Ravel. So it's quite long. And his songs, he was not a real pianist. César Franck was his piano teacher. And César Flock, after realizing

1:15:52 that Duparc was not, he wasn't going to make a pianist out of Duparc. He's like, well, I'm not going to make a pianist out of you. You know, you're only so good. But I could make a composer out of you. So that's why his songs are so special, because I think he really maybe didn't have talent as a pianist, but he had it as a composer. And you've played his songs. They are beautiful, but they're not always that easy. They don't fit. wonderfully under the hands. I mean, I love chanson de frise, I love fidélés, but they don't fit easily under the fingers and under the hands.

1:16:23 And that's because at the end of the day, Duparc wanted those to be orchestrated. And so I actually have the orchestrations for most of these songs. And so I try to, when I meet singers, especially singers who are interested in competing in vocal competitions, that maybe the winning prize is to sing with orchestra. or the last finals, you know, the preliminary, the semifinals, and the finals you sing with orchestra. I always encourage singers, if you can do a Duparc song, do it, because no one else is doing it. You're doing something that very few people are doing it.

1:16:57 So I love hearing Fidile, La Vie En Troyeur, L 'Habitation Voyage, all of these songs orchestrated. He orchestrated many of them, and when he couldn't do it, his friend, fellow composer Chausson did. And then his one and only student, Jean Pras. um helped him with with the uh so these are these songs are are not only meant to be enjoyed with piano and singer but if you are a singer with a sizable voice um or looking for something to do that others aren't doing uh with orchestra i say come to dupar and if you need the music i have them so reach out to me really but what what makes his music special so in french music uh french music has two kind of two directions during that period. Because of nationalism and

1:17:47 because of the Franco -Prussian tensions, you know, the Franco -Prussian War of 1870, French German War of 1870, there was a lot of tension. So you were expected to be in the French camp if you were in France. And yet, there were composers who were like, I don't want to be involved in political tensions. I'm a musician. I'm an artist.

1:18:07 It's about the music. So Duparc belonged to that camp of musicians who were being heavily influenced. by German music and allowing themselves to be so. And this may sound like a small thing, but you have to remember, first of all, I can say maybe it doesn't sound so small when you look at what's happening now politically in the world and nationalism and populism. So think about that sort of tensions back then. You were expected to kind of fall in line and be in the school of like a Saint -Saëns. You know, that French composer was very French, you know, very French.

1:18:41 Or you could... do like Duparc and go off in a little direction. And he was influenced by Schumann. Duparc was very close to Liszt, to Franz Liszt. And so he was getting manuscripts. In fact, they think that it was Franz Liszt who showed Duparc Dichterliebe. And when Duparc saw that beautiful postlude of Dichterliebe, he took it upon himself to infuse a postlude in some of his works. And that's why Fidile and La Vie Entière have... the singer stop and then have this beautiful piano postlude that takes the poem and further interprets it. So that's what to me is so special about Dupart because he's doing things in French music that's just not common. We see more in German music and yet it's still quintessentially French in many ways because

1:19:29 he's choosing French poets so it still has that French intimacy like Jean Leroy with Chanson Prise or Le Comte de Lille with Fidile, Baudelaire of course. So Sylvester, so he's taking real French poetry. So it's not German, it's real French words, but he's infusing it with a little bit of Germanic musicianship and artistry. So that's what makes it compelling to me and makes him an interesting composer for me. And plus, like I said, there's also the reality of when I was an undergrad, it was such a small output that I was like, I could learn all these versus Fauré or Debussy. You know, my other great favorite is Poulenc, but there were just so many more, so much more music to learn. I could, within

1:20:14 the context of my undergrad and graduate, really focus on Dupont's music exclusively. I see. You're creating a course or you created it? Yes, I'm working on a course now, an online course, where I'll invite pianists and singers and really just even enthusiasts, people who love the music. um to learn uh i mean such a small output we'll focus on the songs individually from the uh standpoint of the french the poetry um and we'll do something that i learned from mary truman and from my french education called explication de text which is a rigorous explication of the text which is a rigorous system way of examining uh poetry really dissecting it and going deep and then kind of putting it back together and appreciating it

1:22:00 as a whole now that you've delved into the nuance. So we'll look at that, and then we'll of course look at the music, the piano accompaniment, the vocal line, we'll look at the history behind the songs, and then the result of all that will culminate in a recital that some of the participants will be invited to be a part of. And we're actually looking at, my hope originally was to make a year -long program where we kind of focused on one or two songs a month. But I might have to expedite it a little because what I'd like to see happen is see that concert come to fruition on the Summer of Song Festival. So it just means that we would be beginning in January and doing, instead of one or two songs a month, it'll probably

1:22:41 be closer to three. Wonderful. You have so much going on. That's exciting. And then you also have so many skill sets. You have learned it also in French, right? You learned it. Yes, yes, yes. I did my undergrad. You know, it was funny because I was so in love with Mary Truman's French. She had a beautiful accent that I wanted to speak like that, too. And so I thought because we'd been singing in French for several years that I spoke French. So when I went to Syracuse and signed up for French, they make you take this placement exam. And the placement exam was disastrous for me. I was like, how did I place in French 101 when I've been singing French songs? But what had happened is I had learned a lot of vocabulary

1:23:34 and I'd had a great accent, but I didn't have an understanding of the syntax and the grammar. So that was my freshman year. So you know what I did? I took that exam. I took it to Mary Truman and I said, I don't want to do French one. I want to be more advanced than that. So she worked with me over the summer for one summer, one summer.

1:23:56 I went back to school and I said, can I take the exam again? And I did. And I tested out all the grammar, French. And so I started instead taking the literature courses. So I would just take the literature courses or the French culture courses just because I loved French, France and French culture. Had no intention of doing a degree.

1:24:18 And then when I went to graduate with my voice degree in voice performance. The French department, the head, Paul Achambault, Syracuse, called me in and said, you know, you've taken enough credits that you could have a second degree for free if you want. It's yours and you just have to fill out the paperwork. So I graduated with two degrees, one in voice and one in French. But then he did something else. He said, you got an A every semester. We love you. We would like to offer you a fellowship to do your master's for free in French literature. Did my master's for free. And then I also went to study at a French conservatory in France, in Strasbourg.

1:24:55 So that's how the whole French thing came about. It's really, I had no intention of it really being as essential as it was outside of music, but it did become that. What an adventure you have. I know we wanted to talk about piano technique, but maybe that's something that we should reserve for... alumni episode you can always come back and have a shorter episode and you know i would love that i would love that i mean definitely i'm such a such a fan of your program and of all the amazing incredible pianists that you continue to have on and you invite on so i would be honored to come back and talk about um my piano journey and piano technique yeah that would be great so there are a few more things so what

1:25:40 would be the advice for young artists who Maybe just graduated from school and confused, you know, like just trying to discover what's next for them. Well, you know, again, your program is about courage. The season, rather, the theme is courage and creativity. There has never been a time, certainly since I've been alive, where I feel if you are interested in pursuing a career in the arts, that you have to have maximal courage.

1:26:15 Because everything is fighting against you. Everything is fighting against the arts. So, you know, can I say without hesitation, do it. I'd like to be that person. I certainly was that. That's who I was in the face of adversity. I, you know, everyone was telling me not to. Even my grandparents wanted me to go into law. But that's not where my heart was, and I followed my heart. So I'm a big believer in authenticity, being genuine, following your heart. So that, do. If it's in your heart, do it. That said, I have dear friends who have a son who was about to go to school.

1:26:57 He was graduating high school, and he announced to them that he wanted to be an opera singer, and he wanted to audition for Juilliard. And they were alarmed. I couldn't in good conscience support his decision. And at first I felt horrible. But in looking at what's going on in the world today, I just couldn't. And his particular example, it was mostly because he had never expressed much of an interest in opera prior to that. So that's why what I found maybe a little unusual in his case was that it seemed out of left field.

1:27:29 But if you have been doing this, if this is... You know, there is that example, that classic example is if you truly cannot imagine yourself doing anything but anything else, you know, then then, you know, try your hand at it. But you need to do it intelligently. You know, I don't think anyone should just be doing that exclusively without understandings of technology and where that's going. You have to you if you can't have an equal amount of investment and curiosity about.

1:28:02 how to do your own websites, how to get your own podcast going, how to, you know, Rayanne Bryce Davis is a wonderful example of a singer who during COVID, she was just pumping out there her own videos, her own creativity projects. And what happened after COVID ended? Rayanne found herself on opera stages, prestigious opera stages, including the Met. So that's who you have to be. You cannot just be a singer. You cannot just be a pianist. You have to be someone who's willing to be much more expansive in your thinking. Also, if you're doing it in kind of a traditional setting, do like me and do a double major. Maybe not language and music because you would just be doing two areas that are in decline

1:28:46 because language departments are also in decline across the country in addition to music departments. So maybe do music and something else, music and technology, music and... I don't know if law degree or medicine is possible. But, you know, I meet so many amateur musicians who are incredible. They are incredible. But what they did is they said, I'm going to be a doctor. I'm going to be a lawyer. And then they kept up with their private lessons. That's what they kept up with.

1:29:12 So maybe do that. So I just think you have to be a little bit more strategic. And it's all about a support system. You cannot do it alone. You don't arrive at this alone. You can't do it alone. So talk to the people that are in your support system. your parents or your spouse or your boyfriend, girlfriend, siblings, best friend, whomever, whoever is your support system. I certainly could not have done ASPS without the support, loving support of my husband. I started it a year before him, but it flourished in the time that I've known him because I had his support.

1:29:43 And I certainly couldn't have done it without the love and support of the advisory board members that I spoke about or the wonderful teachers. who sometimes take fees well below what they're accustomed to, or in a few instances have declined to accept the fee. So that's what I would tell you. You have to do it strategically. Yeah, absolutely.

1:30:08 It's been a wonderful conversation. Before I let you go. I'm sorry. I hope I didn't talk your ear off. No, you're great. Wonderful conversation. I enjoyed it. Every conversation is a masterclass. And yours is obviously, it's been a masterclass. So maybe will you, with your own words, promote your work from ASP? ASPS NY to your course to I know the recital and then also you do the private coaching as well so yeah yeah sure thank you yes well for anyone interested in what we do at the Artsong Preservation Society which will now be moving to Columbia Teachers College I invite you to go on you can either google us or you can type in the long name Artsong Preservation Society And from there, you can find out about

1:31:02 the upcoming festival. It's called our Summer Song Festival. And applications usually open for singers and pianists who are interested in participating. That usually happens in around about March. We usually open up applications then, and the application process runs for about 30 days. Sometimes six weeks if we're getting a large number. So I would say just stay tuned.

1:31:25 Follow us on our social media on Instagram, Facebook, because that's where a lot of information is often put out or at least notifications and announcements. If you are a teacher who is interested in being a part of what we do, I don't like the idea of I never want to just only use exclusively a certain.

1:31:48 certain teachers. We have wonderful teachers, but we also like to open the door, especially now that we're moving to Teachers College, and start using faculty at Teachers Colleges and inviting in people who have interesting stories to tell. It's not just about the knowledge. We want to also invite stories that haven't been told to tell their story. So, for example, the trans voices, someone who might have an affinity for working with trans singers or to give us uh more exposure to that community so that's why um we would like that so you can reach out to me that way um and then for anyone needing vocal coaching um and i also work with pianists on this music uh they can contact me through my website which is my name blair boone b -o

1:32:31 o -n -e hyphen magora dot com and and i also available i do talks um you know i've been a host for events and the arts as well. So, you know, I'm there. I've written liner notes for CDs. So I'm definitely reachable if needed for this to help either if you're at an institution and you want someone who is well -versed in song, I'm there, or I can put you in touch with the appropriate person if it's not me. And that's the other thing I would like to say. We definitely, we are so happy to have our partnership with Columbia, but that's a two -week festival. And so what I will be doing with Nate is looking for other partnerships because we are looking to expand ASPS so that it's not just a two week

1:33:19 summer festival that may be done at Columbia at Teachers College. But we would like to invite other institutions, other venues, other partners to collaborate with future ideas and projects, recitals, concerts. Oh, wonderful. Sounds like a beautiful plan. Yeah. Thank you. We're coming to an end, but before we let you go, we have one more thing. It's the rapid fire questions.

1:33:46 Remember, you have to do this. So I want you to answer every single one of them as short answer as possible. No explanation necessary. All right. Are you ready? Coffee or tea? Tea. Sunrise or sunset? Sunset. Ocean or mountains? Ocean. Hawaii. Oh, there are mountains too. Ocean's right there, yeah. But yeah, mountains right there, so I guess you're right. Sweet or savory? Oh, I have a sweet tooth, yeah. Favorite language to sing in? Favorite language to sing in? I feel like that's an easy one. French. French, yes. Favorite language to coach? Same, French. Same, French, yes. All right.

1:34:37 And a composer you wish more people, more singers knew? Well, I'm not going to say Dupar because that's an easy one since we talked about that, but I wish more singers sang Poulenc. I know that if you know, you know. So if you know about Poulenc, you're singing Poulenc, but not enough. Favorite concert hall or dream venue? I mean, you know, I'm a New Yorker, so Carnegie Hall.

1:35:06 Yeah. What is the most important quality you look for in others? Oh, without a doubt. It's just genuine authenticity and curiosity. Just being genuine and authentic, but also curious. Yeah. What is your word or phrase or motto to live by? Oh, well, this applies. I think this applies well for singing, but also just in life.

1:35:31 And that's like, I don't know. How do I put this? Give your all. Give your all. Just give your all. Be yourself. um and have courage give your all be yourself and have courage what skill have you always wanted to learn but haven't had a chance to all the skills you have right right well i definitely if i had not gone into music i would have loved to have been um a dancer which is why i did the audition either a ballet or a modern dancer or to have gotten a black belt in martial arts one of them cool If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be? Fear not. Everything is going to fall into place exactly the way that you deserve. Two more. Fill in the blank. Music

1:36:25 is blank. Music is my raison d 'etre, my reason for being. Art song is blank. Art song is... the human experience. Beautiful. Blair, thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you for having me, Yukibi. You really are such a delight and I'm just honored to be here. So thank you. You are such a delight. So it's been such a pleasure to talk with you about the ArtSong Preservation Society of New York, the Summer of Song Festival, and the broader meaning of ArtSong in the next chapter you are building. So exciting. So what I keep coming back to is the idea that ArtSong is not merely a repertoire. It is a meeting place for language, poetry, culture, family, mentorship, collaboration, ambition, culture, inheritance,

1:37:17 and so on. So for those tuning in, we will include links to Blair's website, the Art Song Preservation Society's website, his teaching, and his upcoming DuParc project in the show notes. Thank you for joining us for Season 7 of The Piano Pod, centered on culture and courage. Please like, subscribe, leave us a comment, and follow The Piano Pod on social media. See you in the next episode of The Piano Pod. Thank you, Blair. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.