By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Minnita Daniel-Cox knows what it’s like to sing a few bars in these young singers’ gowns.
Daniel-Cox, a Bowling Green State University graduate, returned to campus Saturday to help judge the Dr. Marjorie Conrad Art Song Competition.
Now an accomplished professional singer and professor, she knows how participating in the competition can help the young vocalists develop their artistry.
When she was at BGSU, the Conrad event, now in its 17th year, was in its infancy. She participated in 2001 as a sophomore and “surprised myself,” she said, when she placed second. As a junior, she returned overconfident, she said, and didn’t make the finals.
She won first place as a senior, knowing that talent must be paired with hard work to achieve her goals.
Those are the kind of lessons that have shaped her career, she said, and will provide a solid foundation for the young musicians who participated on Saturday. The competition honors both the singers and pianists.
Daniel-Cox with fellow judges Carol Dusdieker, who teaches voice at Heidelberg University, and Anne Kessel, director of collaborative piano at SUNY Fredonia, listened and evaluated 12 undergraduate duos and 15 graduate duos. (In all 42 musicians participated with some pianists working with as many as three singers. The division is determined by the singer’s status.)
Undergraduate winners were: soprano Jenna Seeright and pianist Benjamin Crook.
Graduate winners were: soprano Kate Pomrenke and Crook.
Also honored in the undergraduate division were: mezzo-soprano ShayLyssa Alexander and pianist Xiaohui Ma, second place, and baritone Luke Serrano and pianist Yi Chieh Chiu, third place.
Other winners in the graduate division were: soprano Fidelia Esther Darmahkasih, who won the undergraduate division in 2013, and Chiu, second place, and baritone Brett Pond and Crook, third place.
The performers are required to sing repertoire from different periods, Classical, Romantic and 20th Century, including at least one piece from a living composer. They must sing selections in English, Italian, German and French.
Undergraduate winner Jeena Seeright said it was the poetry of the songs that captivated her. A junior, this was the first time she has competed. “It’s a lot of work but I love performing. I had a lot of fun doing it.”
She connected with Crook, her pianist, through Pond. Both study with Christopher Scholl, who coordinates the event. When they first rehearsed together “it just clicked,” she said.
Pomrenke, a student of Myra Merritt, also met Crook through Pond. The pianist came highly recommended, and lived up to those plaudits.
“He’s fabulous,” she said, “He just shows up and knows his music.
“I’ve never met a pianist who thinks as much about the vocal line as Ben does. We talk about the translation and talk about the text. We don’t have to spend our rehearsal time worrying about the notes, we’re working on the musicality of it.”
Crook, a graduate student who studies with Robert Satterlee, says he loves working with singers. “There’s a different energy working with someone else… I see their interpretation of the piece and their emotional involvement, and it really stimulates me.”
That relationship, said Daniel-Cox, “makes or breaks” a singer’s performance.
Lack of teamwork can be obvious before they even begin to play, she said. The pianist needs to be as committed to all aspects of the music as the singer. “If they’re not just as involved as you are, there’s going to be problems with your performance.”
Hearing the younger musicians, Daniel-Cox said, was “inspiring.”
“As a more mature performer when I hear these young performers… it keeps me on my toes.”
