Lawrence Brownlee: Bel canto to Bebop

Lawrence Brownlee | Photo Credit: Derek Blanks

By Linda Fairtile

Bel canto and Bebop might seem to be musical worlds apart.  One grew out of the Italian tradition of beautiful, florid singing, while the other originated in smoky New York jazz clubs.  And yet tenor Lawrence Brownlee is identified with both.  As one of today’s leading opera singers, Brownlee specializes in the music of Gioachino Rossini, which requires an unusually high voice of exceptional beauty and flexibility.  The tenor made his professional stage debut – at the Virginia Opera! – as Count Almaviva in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, which has now become his signature role. 

Brownlee is also identified with another role, that of jazz musician Charlie Parker.  Last year, he portrayed the iconic saxophonist to wide acclaim in the world premiere of Daniel Schnyder’s opera Yardbird.  Perhaps surprisingly, the jazz riffs and scat singing required for this part serve a similar musical purpose as the ornate runs and improvised embellishments of bel canto opera.  In fact, The New York Times likened Brownlee’s performance as Parker to “jazzy Rossini.”

Growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, Brownlee played the bass, drums, trumpet, and piano.  He discovered classical singing almost accidentally, after receiving a few voice lessons in junior high school.  As an African-American operatic tenor, Brownlee has had few role models.  While sopranos Leontyne Price and Jessye Norman achieved international success in the 1960s and 70s, until recently, romantic lead roles were seldom assigned to male singers of color.  In addition, the bel canto repertoire, which ideally suits Brownlee’s voice, had largely fallen out of fashion due to a shortage of singers capable of performing it.  But thanks to Lawrence Brownlee, and fellow tenors Juan Diego Flórez and Javier Camarena, we are now enjoying what critic Zachary Woolfe has called “a new golden age in high male voices.”  

Lawrence Brownlee will perform at the Modlin Center Saturday, March 19 at 7:30pm in Camp Concert Hall. Tickets and information can be found at modlin.richmond.edu, the Modlin Center box office, or by phone at (804) 289-8980.

More about Linda Fairtile
Linda Fairtile is the University of Richmond's liaison librarian for music, theatre, dance, and Italian studies, as well as a musicologist who specializes in Italian opera. She is the co-director of the American Institute for Verdi Studies at New York University and has appeared as a panelist on the Texaco Metropolitan Opera Quiz radio broadcasts.

UR Jazz Ensemble and Contemporary Combos

Professor of music and director of the jazz program at Richmond, Dr. Michael Davison, invites you to the coming jazz and contemporary combos concert, a part of the free music series at the University of Richmond. The event will be held on Monday, April 15 in Camp Concert Hall at 7:30p.m, and is free!

The Jazz & Contemporary Combos concert is a lot like Richmond weather: wait 10 minutes, and it will change! The semester’s ending concert – April 15, in Camp Concert Hall – will begin at 7:30 and include six different University of Richmond student groups. Charles Arthur will perform and lead his American Roots Ensemble, showcasing the music of Booker T & the MGs, as well as other early American blues pioneers. Charles will also present his Bluegrass Ensemble, pickin’ and grinnin’ through a few rousing renditions of classic American folk songs. Dr. David Esleck leads showcase two jazz combos: The Black & White Band and The Checkerboards. These two groups will perform a mix of swing, bebop and fusion. The Black & White Band will perform Claude Bolling’s Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano. This is a classical work, composed in a jazz style, featuring Katherine Cook on flute. A new addition to the concert this year, will be the UR Post-Fusion Ensemble, led by bass instructor, Randall Pharr. The group will perform post-60s jazz music - jazz mixed with rock, Latin, R&B and funk. Randall will perform bass with this group. Once again, I will perform and lead my student ensemble, the Little Big Band, through a couple of Latin jazz favorites. Don’t miss this concert. It showcases a wide range of talents by many University of Richmond students.

See you on April 15th. Check the weather before you leave home!

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Distinguished trumpeter Dr. Michael Davison is a University of Richmond Music Professor and Director of Jazz Ensemble. Davison is a legendary performer, respected professor, published composer, and ethnomusicologist. Davison’s love of music has shaped his life and career. He is in demand across the country as a classical and jazz performer and educator. As a performer, he has given jazz and classical recitals all over the United States as well as in parts of France, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, China and Cuba. Davison has recorded four jazz CDs as both a leader and sideman. His classical CD, Fenster, received rave reviews from the International Trumpet Guild Journal. Widely considered an expert in Cuban music, he performs and teaches Cuban music at the University of Richmond and worldwide. As a jazz musician, Davison has performed with the late tenor saxophonist and 11-time Grammy winner, Michael Brecker, popular jazz trombonist, Curtis Fuller and legendary Latin jazz saxophonist and composer, Justo Almario. He has also performed alongside some of Motown’s most iconic singers and groups, including Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, the Temptations and The Four Tops. As a classical musician, Davison has performed with Rhythm and Brass, a group that plays everything from Bach to Pink Floyd. He has performed with the Wisconsin and Whitewater Brass Quintets, the Rochester Philharmonic, Wisconsin Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Richmond Symphony. Davison has performed for Pope John II and George Leonard Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Global Sounds

 Visiting Assistant Professor Dr. Paul Yoon previews the Global Sounds performance on Saturday, April 13, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. The event is free and will be hosted in the University of Richmond Greek Theater. 

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The university context is artificial, not in the sense that it is “false,” but rather because it synthetically concentrates a great diversity of artistic, scientific, literary, and philosophical brilliance in one place.  This artificiality is something to be embraced, because the “real world” rarely affords such vast opportunities for exploration or discovery in a singular locale.  The encounter with diversity and difference challenges our assumptions so that we might expand our perspective and strengthen our grasp.  The Global Sounds Concert on Saturday, April 13, is the kind of “world music” showcase one might find solely on a university campus.  At this concert you will find gathered musical ensembles representing Brazilian samba; vocal and instrumental sitar music from northern India; drumming traditions from the Ewe, who live in Ghana; the gongs of the Balinese gamelan; and taiko drums from Japan.  After the show, audience members will have a chance to hit the drums and gamelan and talk to the performers face to face.  And nearly all the performers are University of Richmond students or live in the Richmond area.  

One difference you might encounter at the Global Sounds Concert is the close relationship between dance and music.  In truth, the combination of dance and music is more common around the world than not, and it is really Western concert halls that are the exception.  Dance will be a central component to both the Indian and Balinese performances.  The costuming is vibrant, and every gesture has deep cultural significance.  The Japanese taiko drumming will also incorporate more elaborate choreography than one might be accustom to in a “music” performance.  

Some of the sounds, such as the Samba ensemble, will be more familiar and recognizable.  Others will be much more densely complex than expected.  The Ewe drumming, for instance, incorporates deeply interlocking, polymetric rhythms that are significantly more elaborate than those found in Western musics.  Still other sounds will be much more curious.  The Balinese gamelan, for example, uses an entirely unique scale system.  Also, each instrument of the gamelan comes in pairs such that one instrument of the pair is slightly out of tune with the other instrument.  When both instruments simultaneously strike the same note, this out-of-tuneness creates a “shimmering” effect that is very much a part of the Balinese aesthetic.  

The outdoor Greek Theater (weather permitting) provides a more relaxed atmosphere compared to the concert hall, and this is closer to the performance context for many of these traditions.  This is always a wonderful show, and we hope to see you there.

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Paul Yoon is Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Music.  His work primarily focuses on Asian American politics and music making practices, and he received his Ph.D. from Columbia University.  Yoon is currently the director of River City Taiko.

Salsa Mania

Trumpeter, professor of music, and director of the Little Big Band jazz ensemble,  Mike Davison, previews Salsa Mania -- a night of music and dance beginning on March 30, 2013 at Richmond CenterStage. Salsa Mania will include a lecture at 6pm, dance lessons at 6:30pm, and a performance by Chris Washburn and S.Y.O.T.O.S. with special guests the UR Jazz Ensemble at 7:30pm. Tickets are available here.

University of Richmond Jazz Ensemble

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S.Y.O.T.O.S., With Chris Washburne, trombone

I remember the first time I heard the word salsa.  It was the 70s, and I was asked to play a gig in New York.  Since salsa was Spanish for “sauce,” I thought that the gig would include a meal!  Little did I know that salsa is a music and dance style that began in New York City. The music is a result of the blending of American jazz with a few styles of Cuban music including son, son montuno, guaracha, cha cha cha, mambo, and bolero.  New York City Latin music promoter Izzy Sanabria claims to have used the salsa label first in his English publication, Latin New York magazine, in 1973.  In spite of salsa’s sketchy etymological history, the music is a lot like the food – it is muy caliente (very hot!).  Instead of mixing tomatoes, onions, and hot peppers, you take Cuban rhythms, sprinkle in elements of American jazz – improvisation, harmony, horn voicings, and phrasing – mix it together and presto chango, you get salsa – the music! American jazz blended with the Cuban music called son in the 20s. Son is considered the perfect blend of the Spanish guitar and the African drum, and was mixed (here goes the food metaphor, again!) and received its sabor in Cuba. Son has been ‘updated’ or repackaged through the years, and turned into new styles of dance music in the United States and the world: Mambo and Latin jazz in the 50s, Salsa in the 60s, and Timba in the 70s.

As Gloria Estefan sings, “The Rhythm is Gonna Get You”… Salsa Mania is designed to get you on your feet! Saturday's concert will feature the University of Richmond Jazz Ensemble, led by Dr. Mike Davison, and New York’s hottest salsa group See You On The Other Side (S.Y.O.T.O.S) led by trombonist and Columbia University professor, Chris Washburne.

While completing my doctorate at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, I performed in the top jazz ensemble.  Chris, who was an undergraduate at that time, also performed in the group. After getting to know Chris’s outstanding playing, we did not see each other for years, until we both realized that we shared a similar interest:  Salsa!  Chris now leads the Louis Armstrong school of Jazz and the ethnomusicology area at Columbia University in New York City.  Since our reacquaintance, Chris has been our guest artist at the University of Richmond and also appears in my documentary Cuba: Rhythm in Motion.  Chris has performed with Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, Mark Anthony, Justin Timberlake, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra.  We are very excited to have Chris and his group perform on the Modlin Arts Series. Their blend of salsa is exciting, danceable, and fun!

The March 30th Salsa Mania event will include a lecture - a discussion by Chris and yours truly about salsa; a salsa dance class taught by Edwin Roa, and the concert.  The music is specifically designed to make you get up and dance.

In America, we say that when a baby finally stands up, she is walking.  In Cuba, they say that she is dancing!  We hope you will join us for Salsa Mania!  You might not eat, but you will certainly dance!

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Distinguished trumpeter Dr. Michael Davison is a University of Richmond Music Professor and Director of Jazz Ensmble. Davison is a legendary performer, respected professor, published composer, and ethnomusicologist. Davison’s love of music has shaped his life and career. He is in demand across the country as a classical and jazz performer and educator. As a performer, he has given jazz and classical recitals all over the United States as well as in parts of France, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, China and Cuba. Davison has recorded four jazz CDs as both a leader and sideman. His classical CD, Fenster, received rave reviews from the International Trumpet Guild Journal. Widely considered an expert in Cuban music, he performs and teaches Cuban music at the University of Richmond and worldwide. As a jazz musician, Davison has performed with the late tenor saxophonist and 11-time Grammy winner, Michael Brecker, popular jazz trombonist, Curtis Fuller and legendary Latin jazz saxophonist and composer, Justo Almario. He has also performed alongside some of Motown’s most iconic singers and groups, including Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, the Temptations and The Four Tops. As a classical musician, Davison has performed with Rhythm and Brass, a group that plays everything from Bach to Pink Floyd. He has performed with the Wisconsin and Whitewater Brass Quintets, the Rochester Philharmonic, Wisconsin Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Richmond Symphony. Davison has performed for Pope John II and George Leonard Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury.

His influence as an educator goes beyond the University of Richmond campus. Davison also serves as trumpet instructor and head of the brass area at the world-renowned Interlochen International Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. He hosted the International Trumpet Guild Conference in 1999 and is an Edwards Instrument Performing Artist. Davison, along with producer Ed Tillett, completed Cuba: Rhythm in Motion, a documentary tracing the musical genealogy between Cuban rhythms and American jazz. The film premiered on the campus of the University of Richmond in 2007 and has been shown around the world, including Spain, Australia and Mexico. Dr. Davison is presently writing a book on Cuban folk music. 

eighth blackbird and Nico Muhly

Tim Munro of eighth blackbird introduces Nico Muhly, who will be playing with the ensemble at the Modlin Center on March 20th. Tickets are available here.

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"I just whip in like a tornado...."

Composer Nico Muhly thinks fast, talks fast, writes fast, cooks fast. Sitting still is simply not for him. One week he's writing a ballet for the Paris Opera Ballet, the next touring Australia as keyboardist/composer with Sufjan Stevens and Bryce Dessner, the next working on a hollywood film score.

A conversation with Nico is a dizzying but thrilling intellectual roller coaster ride through myriad musical, pop-cultural, culinary, philosophical, cultural worlds. Loves: international phonetic alphabet, William Byrd, Benjamin Britten, Roland Barthes and A.M. Holmes. Hates: Whole Foods and "jib-jab music" (his term for the terminally avant-garde). His compositions reflect his omnivorousness. Philip Glass, Steve Reich and John Adams may be Nico's compositional grandparents, but his music fluently speaks so many languages (indie rock, 16th- and 17th-century English choral music) that it's better to just say that Nico's music sounds like...well, like Nico.

In rehearsal, Nico is a mood-enhancing drug. He almost never says "play softer" or "it should be faster," but will riff on a wild and LSD-trip-like conjunction of musical, poetic, literary or pop-cultural images (Rihanna or Chinese cooking or Mozart or Stravinsky) to make his point.

eighth blackbird's Modlin concert is a celebration of this fascinating young star's wildly fertile imagination. It features a clutch of four diverse pieces written by Nico over the past ten years (including two works commissioned by eighth blackbird), as well as music by Glass and Reich, huge figures in Nico's musical landscape. And Nico himself will appear with eighth blackbird (on organ and toy piano!) for two pieces.

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About Tim Munro
Born in Brisbane, Australia, Tim studied flute at Oberlin College, Queensland Conservatorium (Australia) and Australian National Academy of Music. His teachers included Michel Debost, Margaret Crawford and Patrick Nolan.

Tim has played with professional orchestras, chamber groups and new music ensembles around Australia. Highlights include concerto performances with the Queensland Orchestra, solo performances at the Melbourne Arts Festival and Bangalow Festival, and recordings for Australian radio and commercial CD release. He also participated in the Carnegie Hall Training Workshops and the Pacific Music Festival.
Composers he has worked with include Elliott Carter, Oliver Knussen, Aaron Jay Kernis, Joseph Schwantner, Tania Leon, Peter Sculthorpe and Brett Dean.

A classical music tragic, Tim likes to write and speak about music, and in an earlier life was Publications Coordinator of the Tasmanian Symphony.

Russian National Ballet's "The Sleeping Beauty"

UR Department of Theatre and Dance's assistant director of dance, Anne Van Gelder offers some context for the Russian National Ballet's adaptation of The Sleeping Beauty running March 14-15 at 7:30pm.  Tickets are available here.

As far back as I can remember, The Sleeping Beauty was a favorite fairy tale of mine.  The lure of a beautiful princess, a handsome prince, magical fairies and of course, the evil, vengeful witch made for plenty of opportunities for my sister and me to act out the story and to take on all of the roles.  It’s a fascinating fairy tale that has been re-told in myriad genres including Marius Petipa’s iconic ballet that premiered at the Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1890.  

The ballet is one of Petipa’s masterpieces because it marries czarist spectacle though the virtuosic choreography with the outstanding musical score by Tchaikovsky. As was his custom, Petipa wrote the scenario for the ballet; the collaborative process involved his giving Tchaikovsky specific choreographic action to go with the musical phrases.  He even went as far as specifying which instruments were to be used for a particular musical passage. 

The rapidly evolving ballet technique of the late 19^th century lent itself to spectacle and proved to be the perfect vehicle for paying homage to the Romanov dynasty.  As Petipa was in service to the reigning czar, his version of The Sleeping Beauty or La Belle au Bois Dormant, is reminiscent of the court of Louis XIV, which served to flatter the Romanovs and the St. Petersburg elite.  By doing this, Petipa reinforced the notion that the Romanov dynasty was a constant and that nothing had changed nor needed to change since the reign of Louis XIV two centuries earlier.  

Petipa’s choreography utilized the corps de ballet in grand spatial patterns that seemed to echo those of 17^th and 18^th century French court ballets.  His proclivity for composing virtuosic divertissements for the ballerina was a means of revisiting the ornate ballet `a entrées so popular during the Baroque period. 

So while we may enjoy the fairy tale from our childhood, Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty is much more.  The historic style he evokes through authentic period processionals and dances entertained, instructed and emotionally moved the audience while serving to flatter and reinforce the authority of the monarchy much as the 17^th and early 18^th century court dances did for Louis XIV.  It is worth noting, then, that the Russian National Ballet adaptation originates from the Petipa version of 1890 with its grandeur, magic, opulence and spectacle.  The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet that is not to be missed!  

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ANNE NORMAN VAN GELDER Assistant Director of Dance holds degrees from Virginia Intermont College (B.A.) and the University of Utah (M.F.A.) in Choreography and Pedagogy.  Her career as performer, educator and choreographer has enabled her to work with Conrad Ludlow, Willam Christensen, Alun Jones, Li-Chou Cheng, Ford Evans, Richard Munro, and Tom Pazik among others and she has served as ballet mistress/régisseur for several companies.   She taught beginner to advanced levels of ballet technique at the University of Utah, Virginia Intermont College and the Willam F. Christensen Center for Dance. She regularly gives master classes at the American College Dance Festival and recently gave a workshop at VCU’s School of Fine Arts.  While in Utah, she created choreography for members of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team and she has also created choreography for Theatre Bristol, Park City Shakespeare Festival, the Ogden Symphony and the Roanoke Symphony.  She continues to study dance regularly, including Baroque dance workshops in NYC with noted historic dance experts, Thomas Baird and Paige Whitley Bauguess. Ms. Van Gelder’s choreography has been seen throughout Virginia and Utah and recently, she worked with artists of the Saratov Academic Youth Theatre on their US premiere production of The Humpbacked Horse, featuring dances she re-set.  She created choreography for these URP&D productions:  Wings, The Tempest, Fiddler on the Roof, The Chairs and The Bald Soprano directed by Italian director and filmmaker, Paolo Landi. Most recently, Ms. Van Gelder served as period movement stylist for the URP&D production of Moliere’s The Learned Ladies.  She appeared as Hedy in UR’s production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Ms. Van Gelder is a recipient of the Vera Volkova Award for choreography, is a member of the dramatic fraternity, Alpha Psi Omega and considers her study of dance ongoing.