[singing in a foreign language with piano]
This is a very special week for me at Juilliard because I'm presenting my
third-year recital. At Juilliard, we get a recital-
style performance every year. In your third year, they say "OK, you get twenty-
five minutes to sing whatever you want." And it's one of the first times I
can really say, "I found this beautiful music that I want to share with you and
I really believe in it so join me in this experience."
[singing in a foreign language with piano]
The focus of the Vocal Arts curriculum is how do you sing honestly.
How do you perform honestly?
I am from South Africa. In my junior year
of high school, I came to the States on exchange. We had come to New York five or
so times just to visit, and every time we would leave I would be like, "that's
that's where I want to be." It clicked for me--whoa this is actually what I want my
life to be. [singing in a foreign language with piano]
I take the subway to school, and I use the 66th entrance mostly, but
before I go into the building, I get my coffee from coffee carts over there. It's
the cheapest. Being at school is kind of my most productive time, so I like to
come in early, sit by the windows. It's like a ritual. You kind of want to be
ready for anything, at any point in the day. We have this schedule with our
classes that we know happen every week. But then on a Friday, we get another
schedule with all of the extra stuff. Juilliard gives you space and the means
to produce your own work. It's really inspired me to keep searching out those
experiences. This is my favorite thing about Juilliard. All of these students
and artists who are here, and they're willing at your fingertips--that is
something I actually didn't foresee, but it's the thing that I don't want to live
without now. When you're singing in operas your go-to language of expression
it's probably not gonna be English. Learning what you're saying and
understanding what you're saying in these different languages within a song
or an opera is essential.
--ITALIAN TEACHER: "In Neapolitan, you double everything so that it will be
the only place you can say 'amore', OK with two M's.
But don't overdo it, because we are not Neapolitan. We don't need to sound fake
either do you see? Allora."
--We are not just being recorded for people's
ears, we're on stage so with John Giampietro, when we come
together in the class he asks us what we noticed, and then he says, "Okay so let's
play with that."
--ACTING TEACHER: "What does it take for you to be present in this moment.
Despite everything else that we drag in with us."
I'm in a scene in Handel's 'Orlando' in the showcase that we're having. We get
language coachings on that, and we get music coachings and
then we also get drama coachings, essentially what's it gonna look like.
The amazing thing is just that you have different people's opinions and that
helps you really establish your own opinion.
[singing in a foreign language with piano] --VOICE COACH: "Oh, I love that."
--Going to a voice lesson with
Marlena is like the thing that you work for every day.
[singing warmup]
--MARLENA MALAS: "This whole thing that we're doing
the big word is trust and not "make," but "let." You want the most
efficient, the most beautiful, the most elastic, the most flexible that gives you
a palette of colors and the ability to communicate the text and the music of
the composer. However, it is your choice.
[singing in a foreign language with piano]
I think Juilliard really sets up the curriculum very well in terms of--you
have more choice the further along in your degree you are. Modernism in Opera
is taught by Dr. Anne-Marie Reynolds. We've got composers in Modernism in
Opera. We have singers--instrumentalists, mostly. We watch two operas every week
and you write, like, a 300-word response and then when we get to class,
we have a big discussion about it.
--ANNE-MARIE REYNOLDS: "Yeah, it's almost like a reversal,
in a way isn't it? Because they are not that way in the opera. It's a switch!"
--Steve Laitz got me to fall in love with music theory. It's like a deeply
meaningful course to me. I had no idea how many people would show up to the
recital. My friends were there; some of my professors were there. It meant the world.
My default is to push, and it takes real courage for me to let go.
And in my recital, honestly, it's the first time I've publicly done what
Marlena and I have been working on. And I feel proud--maybe not in every moment-- but
in some moments, the important ones for me, I trusted.
[singing in a foreign language with piano]
I think one of the most amazing things about Juilliard is the confidence it
instills in me. They're saying, "Believe in what you're saying, believe in your work
and if you believe in it, they'll believe in it."
[singing in a foreign language with piano]