Diva in Development
Wendy Bryn Harmer on Music Academy of the West

by Marsha Maxwell

"CS had the opportunity to attend a recital Bryn Harmer gave in Salt Lake City, and heard an extremely talented artist. We thought it would be good for singers to get an inside look on what happens to a singer when all the cards are falling into place right from the beginning.

"Why did you choose Music Academy of the West?

"The main attraction was the faculty—Marilyn Horne and Warren Jones were a huge draw. I also wanted to work with coach John Churchwell from the Met.

"I did Cruda Sorte at my audition. I forget what else they asked for. But in my audition, Marilyn started coaching the aria. She was sitting behind a table and sang the end of the aria—just opened her mouth and started singing. “Now try it like that.” So I tried it like that. I thought my audition would last five or 10 minutes, and it was probably a full 20 minutes. They really take the time to talk to you. I left thinking, “Fine, I sang well.” I was happy with it. I was just so excited to have met Marilyn Horne, I didn’t really care what happened next.

"She wanted to see if she could work with you.

"I think so. I actually have been hearing from a lot of the other students who were accepted that they had a similar experience. If she didn’t know you already, she would find a way to see if you were pliable.

"You didn’t by any chance use Ms. Horne’s ornamentation, did you?

"No. She actually suggested that I listen to somebody else’s recordings because she thought my voice was brighter and lighter than hers. And she didn’t want me thinking that I needed to do it her way. So I chose that program.

"What did you get out of the program?

"Everyone, the second I got back to school for my senior year, said, “You’ve changed. There’s something totally different about your singing.” And I didn’t notice it on a day-to-day basis while I was at MAW, but looking back, you have a lesson or a coaching pretty much every day, with Marilyn, Randy Behr, or someone else who is just as phenomenal. You are working with somebody of that caliber every day for eight weeks. There’s no way you can’t improve. It’s a long, hard eight weeks, but everyone’s a better singer in some way before they leave.

"I also think I improved because of the other singers who were there. I was very much on the young end of it. I was 22 at the time, and there were 31-year-olds there. They were obviously better singers than I, much more polished, and there were always opportunities to watch them in rehearsal and talk to them. I was looking at grad schools at the time. We had private, one-on-one diction coaching sessions for languages there, so my languages have improved. We studied French, German and Italian with wonderful coaches.

"Can you tell me something specific you learned there, something you can teach other singers?

"I learned to always take care of myself. No one else is going to look out for you as much as you can. Marilyn is very conscious of how you are doing, but I had to say yes or no to singing new repertoire, for example. I’m doing some recitals when I get back to Boston, and there were opportunities for me to sing a lot of new and exciting repertoire. I had to make hard decisions about whether I would really have the time to sing it well, and whether it would be healthy for me to try all this new repertoire.

"I think before my time at MAW, I wanted to do anything to please anyone. At school, it is John Moriarty arranging these recitals, so I really would have jumped at the chance to do anything. But I think I really grew up at MAW. Either I do it and I do it well, or I don’t do it at all. So I picked a few new things that I would be willing to learn for these recitals, and other than that I wanted to do repertoire I was already comfortable and familiar with.

"I only have three weeks to prepare, so it’s not a question of whether I’m willing to learn new music, it’s a question of being healthy and not pushing myself. So I think one of the things that I really learned there was to take care of myself and grow up. The first summer I was there, I would ask Marilyn Horne everything. I wanted the teachers and coaches to make the decisions about what repertoire I should sing. And this year I felt like I know a little more about my voice and I can make decisions.

"This year, besides MAW, I went to the Académie musicale de Villecroze, [http://www.academie-villecroze.com/] a very small village maybe an hour outside of Nice. They have a not-quite-year-round program. They take most of the winter off. They have conductors come in for a few weeks at a time to do a program with composers and pianists. They have visiting voice instructors—when I was there they had Marilyn Horne come in. It’s very private, very intense. There were nine singers and two pianists. We had two master classes a day—one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

"Was this a pay-to-sing?

"We weren’t paid, but they took care of all our expenses: travel, lodging, etc.

"Did they choose you, or did you have to audition?

"Marilyn chose some. The deal is generally that the instructor can bring two or three students of their own choice, and then they audition for the rest. Most of the singers who were chosen by audition were from Europe. Marilyn took three of us from MAW. It’s a beautiful, beautiful city. They have a huge music library. Anything I wanted was at my disposal for two weeks. They had a huge recording and DVD selection there. I just wish it [my stay] had been longer. Two weeks wasn’t enough.

"I had a lesson every day for an hour with Marilyn. They were one-on-one lessons, but in reality it was more like a master class situation, because other students were watching. I watched her teach other students every day and learned what things applied to almost every singer and what things were different for specific singers. Sometimes she would ask the observers for advice. There were some of us that were more advanced than others there, and she would ask us, “When you were going through this problem, how did you deal with it?”

"What is the most important thing you learned from her that you could pass on to other singers?

"I would say just that you have to absolutely love what you’re doing, love the music, be passionate about it. She always wants more real passion and honest acting. Technically, the best thing I learned from her was real vowel placement. She’s a technician—she really is. She tries in the master classes to talk about expression, but if there’s a technical problem, she always wants to fix that. Express an ugly sound, and it’s still an ugly sound.

"I remember there was a class she was teaching, and a friend of mine was singing a Strauss song—I forget which one—but she just stopped him and said, “All you have to do is think beautiful. You have such a beautiful voice, just think beautiful.” So he sat there for a minute and thought about it, and afterwards he sang it 20 or 30 times better. It was a huge difference.

"I don’t think she realizes it, but young students take everything she says as gospel, and it’s so hard to weed through things that are right for you. I’m sure she doesn’t mean to force ideas on students, but when I first started studying with her, if she gave me a repertoire suggestion I would run out right after my lesson, pick it up and learn it. It’s taken me two summers with her to learn that these are suggestions, and she’s not God.

"Marilyn tells her students all the time: “You’re running your own company. You have people you go to for advice, but ultimately you’re the chairman, you’re it.” That’s another good thing that I learned. Take other people’s advice, but learn to weed through it. I don’t know if a lot of summer programs emphasize that. At MAW they have real career guidance.

"At the end of the summer, Matthew Epstein talked to us about management, and what you need to do as a young singer, what sources are out there. Any possible question you can have about your career, Matthew will answer, and Marilyn is very happy to answer any question. She’ll write letters of recommendation.

"They’re very good at that program, all of them—Warren Jones, Randy—they will stay in touch with you. There was a huge question this summer about what voice type I had. Everyone had a different opinion: dramatic soprano, Wagnerian soprano. Marilyn and Matthew thought I should start with the dramatic soprano repertoire right now. And I don’t know—I’m 23—I have some time, and I was a little nervous about that, but they said I should immediately switch, not necessarily heavier stuff, but I should be singing Mimi, Alcina, Handel. So I asked for everyone else’s opinion. People think Matthew Epstein is God because he is a powerful person and you don’t want to upset him. You have to be careful and so I loved and appreciated all his advice.

"I did the Richard Tucker Competition and the Met. He always lets you know how he thinks you did. He’s always willing to help young singers. I think that’s one of the best things about that program. They are all willing to write a letter.

"I asked Randy for his opinion, and he said, “I’m not going to tell you what I think after listening to you only three or four times. I want to work with you for an hour every day until you leave this program, and then I can tell you what I think.” So it’s good to have multiple sources of advice.

"Finding your Fach can be a difficult issue for a young singer.

"For a long time I was a dark, deep mezzo. There was just no question. And then a couple of people heard me and said, “You’ve got high notes that you have no idea are there.” I had to work to get those high notes—to crack that ceiling.

"I was working with Sheri Greenawald. She told me, “Open up your voice a little. Imagine the look you would have standing at the back of your mouth, holding up your palate. Picture all your sound right here. The notes are made in your throat; they’re not made in your jaw. And it was literally a matter of three or four weeks later that I was warming up regularly to a “B.” Now I warm up to an “E.”

"I would still call myself a mezzo. A lot of people say I have a soprano sound, but I’m not supporting soprano singing just yet. My whole view on it is that if you become a good, healthy singer, then your voice tells you what you are—you don’t tell your voice what to be. If I’m a soprano, I’m a soprano. But until I’m really a polished singer, that’s going to be an unknown.

"At your recital, you switched briefly into musical theater rep, yet it was very healthy sounding. How do you do it?

"I did a little bit of musical theatre before I did opera. Not a lot. I do all of the same things I would do if I were singing classically, but I lighten it up a little. It’s basically the same thing. I still use support, it’s just a slightly lighter version. The words are very forward. I use a lot of teeth because they kind of disguise the classical sound. I may or may not make it as an opera singer and I want to have other options. I’ve looked into jazz, musical theatre—but the classical training transfers to all of those. When I do musical theatre, I warm up just as if I were singing anything else. I did The Baker’s Wife a couple of summers ago—kind of a summer stock thing. My best friend from high school was the baker. It’s just a fun little show, but I warmed up just as I would have for the opera.

"I always do a physical warmup before an opera. A few hours before the performance, I’ll go on a short jog or hike. I do a lot of stretches, some crunches. I do Pilates. Pilates is good for me because it strengthens the body’s core—the abdomen and lower back. And I do a lot of squats. I like my legs to be very active when I sing.

"For me, I don’t see musical theater as being that much different from opera. It requires just as much support and just as much focus—possibly even a little more focus for me, because there is always that tendency to get breathy or airy.

"When you went into your upper register it sounded more operatic, so there’s a point at which you cannot maintain the musical theatre sound anymore.

"There’s a point where I can’t take the musical theatre sound up too high. I would say for my voice, “E,” “F,” “G,” in there.

"The family support you have is really unusual in the arts—in fact, anywhere.

"I obviously couldn’t have done it without them. I’m the youngest of 10 children. My family is the support I used to make it through the four years at the conservatory. I’m not in debt for my undergraduate education. I saw the last issue [the October issue of CS, focusing on student debt], and I was enormously relieved.

"What kinds of things has your family done to help and support you? I’m not just talking about the financial aspect.

"There are always these two aspects to their support—financial support and then the physical, very real support that they are there, watching. Even if it is a scenes program, they want to be there. This summer at MAW, my dad really wanted to be there at the Marilyn Horne competition, and he arranged his work schedule to be in Santa Barbara, CA for a whole week. I didn’t even ask, he just knew that week was enormously stressful. It’s a very physical presence with my parents in terms of support. I also have the spoken and unspoken support of all my siblings. I had seen all their accomplishments—and being the youngest of 10, I have nine over-achievers to follow.

"How did your parents have time for all of this?

"I have no idea, but they have just encouraged us all to do whatever is right for us. Whatever you’re meant to do is going to be: a) fairly easy, if that’s what you’re meant to do, and b) you’ll be happy. If you’re not happy, then you’re not supposed to do it. I feel in part that my path towards singing has just sort of laid itself out, because that’s what I’m supposed to do.

"You did piano lessons and children’s choir?

"And I played the flute for about eight years. I studied with an incredible teacher in Salt Lake City [Utah], and she’s also one of the women who sort of pushed me into singing. I won a vocal competition, and she was just weeping afterwards: “I just knew you’d find your passion. It wasn’t flute, but…” Any musical training can transfer.

"I wanted to talk about this great event your dad held. He invited everybody who’s had influence in your life…

"Christmas 2001 he rented a hall, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. He hosted a dinner party, and he asked me for a list of people whom I felt had really influenced my life—teachers, not necessarily musical. I had teachers from high school that were invited, a lot of families in our neighborhood and their children who had been my close friends, my flute teacher and a number of his close friends. So there were maybe 250 people there. Betty Jeanne [Chipman—a voice teacher] was there.

"My dad sent a letter to everyone and said, “Please invite one person in your life that has influenced you. Someone that was helpful to you or a close friend … As much as we’d like to have you there, we’d like to have someone you love there.” That’s how we ended up having 250 people there for a recital of music I loved. I did Schumann songs and some music my mom requested. My mom was there and most of my siblings were there—anyone that could come into town. It was around Christmas so a lot of people were in town, a lot of my nieces and nephews. It was very much a friends and family event. Then we just had dinner and chatted. It was like a family reunion. Betty Jeanne brought one of her daughters.

"You know, I’m thinking that’s a good marketing tool.

"Yes, it actually was.

"Did you get business from it?

"A little bit, but that wasn’t the intention. Come to think of it, though, that’s how Michael Ballam, the director of Utah Festival Opera, and I got in touch, because somebody invited him.

"Unfortunately it has never worked out for my schedule to do anything with Utah Festival Opera, but it’s a great company; it’s something I’d eventually like to do.

"Another good marketing tool was that your father passed out free copies of a professional looking CD at your recital last night. Do you have your website up yet?

"I don’t. I probably should at some point.

"Who were your voice teachers?

"Betty Jeanne Chipman. And then when I first got to the conservatory, a man named Victor Jannet. He’s great; he teaches a lot of musical theatre students at the conservatory, and he teaches them just as he teaches the classical students, which is something that I’ve always appreciated.

"After I had been with him for a couple of years, he and I mutually decided I should switch to Sheri Greenawald for a couple of reasons. I find in my case I prefer to study with a voice that is higher and/or lighter than mine. I didn’t like studying with a baritone. I already have a naturally dark sound, and I didn’t need it any darker. Hearing Victor sing or demonstrate for me, I was kind of picking up on that. And technically, he and I weren’t quite on the same page. Rather than argue with me and force me to do something that I was clearly uncomfortable with, he said I should switch over to Sheri.

"I [had already] worked with Sheri anyway. She worked with the opera department at the conservatory as a director and a coach. I spoke with Victor and Sheri, and it was between the three of us together. I still e-mail him; we’re still friends. He was a perfect teacher for me for two years. I could not have had a better foundation, particularly coming from Betty Jeanne. He picked up right where she left off. He asked a lot of questions about how she taught. He didn’t want to undo anything.

"Is there anything you wish Boston Conservatory had done differently, or that you wish they would add to their curriculum?

"For me, I was in the perfect place at the perfect time. I was in a small school. They were excited to give me personal, private attention. They treated me like an adult. I was very lucky.

"After my freshman year, I started singing with a professional company in Boston that frequently conflicted with school, and the company was willing to give a little bit. They were called at the time Boston Academy of Music; they’re now Opera Boston. Richard Conrad started the company about 25 years ago. It’s a great program. And they were willing to take me, a 19-year-old kid, under their wing. It was amazing. The rest of the singers were late 20s, 30s, or 40s. Real singers. It was so good for me to watch them. I felt like a stupid little kid, being a freshman out of a conservatory. But the conservatory was also very willing to work around my schedule.

"Who would you say your mentors are?

"Marilyn Horne, Randy Behr and Sheri Greenawald. I e-mail Sheri probably twice a week…Marilyn also. I was shocked the first time I got e-mail from Marilyn. I thought it would take weeks for her to reply to an e-mail I had sent her, but it was three or four hours. They’re busy people, but if they believe in you they take care of you, they watch you, and they make suggestions. Anyone I have worked with very closely in the last few years has really stuck with me. Matthew Epstein is another mentor.

"What are your plans now?

"I go to Boston to do a couple of recitals for the Met. All the Met winners from that region do a recital together. That’ll be a lot of fun. And then I’m doing Rigoletto.

"What is the recital venue?

"The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has a beautiful recital hall.

"Another museum in Chestnut Hill has a recital hall. That’s the other great thing about Boston. You can do a recital and people will come. The seniors will come. People who have never heard of you will come because they look at the posters and they want to come. They don’t care who you are; they want to hear the music. I think it’s one of the few places where people are drawn by the music and not the performer.

"My junior recital was packed. It was in a hall at the conservatory that seats maybe 100, and it was full. People from the Met came to my recital. People who had been audience members at the Met finals gave me their cards and said, “If you’re singing in an opera or a recital let us know.” I sent them an invitation, and they showed up.

"Have you started a database to let people know when you sing?

"Yes, I just keep their addresses and I let them know when things are coming. They’ll be at these upcoming recitals in Boston. I’m doing things with Boston Lyric Opera now; I’m scheduled to sing for them this year.

"I’ll be singing Giovanna in Rigoletto. They’re doing “Cosi” in the spring and Tosca also in the spring. There was talk of me covering Dorabella, but nothing is set in stone. I would be happy—it’s a great company and I really admire the musical director—so I would be happy to do just about anything just to stay with him.

"The musical director for Boston Lyric was also the musical director at Tanglewood, so I got to know him fairly well there, and he’s a good friend of my teacher’s. At some point, everyone gets connected, so be careful!

"Do you have a master plan for what you want to do?

"Yes and no. I decided not to get my master’s right away. I’ll be living in Boston and working with Sharon Daniels but going to San Francisco every few weeks or so to check in with Sheri. I firmly believe that it’s good to check in with my team. Any time I’m home I try to get three or four lessons with Betty Jeanne, because she’s known my voice for six years. Sheri’s known my voice for a year. All these techniques from different teachers work together.

"If I come across a teacher whose techniques don’t work with the techniques I’ve already used and had success with, I won’t consider studying with that person. There’s no weirdness about “You’re my student; you have to take my technique. Don’t go see another teacher; she’s going to mess you up.” They’re friends; they know each other. My master plan is just to keep working at that level."

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