LISTENING OVER THE PIANO

I had a fascinating conversation this evening with the mezzo-soprano, Sasha Cooke, as part of CAIC’s online discussion series, Heard Over The Piano. We started the series this season at CAIC in order to provide a virtual approximation of the salon-aspect of how we normally present recitals in Chicago when we are able to do live concerts. Ever since the beginning of the organization, one of the ways in which we hoped to build audiences’ love for the art song repertoire was to “put song back in its natural habitat”. Inspired by the fact that the song recital was born in people’s living rooms as part of a salon culture, we’ve always strived to ensure that kind of intimacy between artist and audience is central to the experience. One of the ways we’ve done that is to hold a reception after each performance so that the audience has a chance to get to know the artist personally. With receptions and live recitals an impossibility, this chat series seemed like the next best thing.

The chance to interview my colleagues has been such a luxury this season. Not only is it simply an excuse for me to be able to catch up with friends who are spread out across the world at a time where travel is tough, it’s also uplifting to hear how they are keeping the music going through this lockdown and staying afloat in terms of morale. It’s also revealing to learn more about people’s individual creative processes and philosophies, which we don’t always get a chance to discuss when life is normal, and we are relaxing over a post-rehearsal dinner together. 

Something that turned out to be a recurring theme as part of this evening’s conversation was the importance of what Sasha referred to as “trusting your gut”. Sasha talked about how easy it can be for us singers to give over our power and lose touch with our senses of intuition as we sift through the copious amount of external feedback that showers over us at all times. Once we give over our power, Sasha pointed out that we are in danger of losing ourselves. If an artist loses themself…then what does an artist have left to share?

I greatly admire Sasha’s thoughtfulness about our craft and art form…tonight’s conversation reminded me that our musical community remains a tight-knit one with some wonderful shared values. Reminders like that during these largely isolated times are valuable ones, indeed.

If you’d like to check out our conversation, you can watch it below. If you want to see more episodes, the entire archive of Heard Over The Piano is HERE.