Boston
Singers' Resource News Bulletin, March
16 , 2006
A
well-known and well-respected pianist, accompanist, and vocal coach,
Eve Budnick has been accompanying the BSR auditions for the past three
years and is about to start a new opera company in the Metro West region
called 'Opera del West.'
Background information:
Eve Budnick lives in Wayland, MA with her husband and two sons. She
is the Opera Coach and a Vocal Diction Instructor at the University
of Connecticut and a Staff Pianist and Vocal Coach at Boston University.
She is also the Lyric Diction Instructor for the New England Conservatory
Continuing Education Department and has been a lecturer at Northeastern
University.
Eve’s earliest musical training was on the piano and, through high
school, she sang in choruses and madrigal groups. Her career as a collaborative
pianist had its beginnings while she was an undergraduate at Princeton
University. Working toward a major in Music History, she was very much
into the music of the Renaissance and of so-called Early Music. While
at Princeton she was asked by voice students to accompany them at lessons
and it was in this way that things began to take shape. As she puts
it: “Somewhere along the way I got the idea that maybe this was
something I could do. It combined the piano, the vocal literature, which
I love, and languages.” Already adept in French, she added German
and Italian to her studies while at Princeton.
Her choice to continue her studies in Boston was made when she came
to town with her husband on a business conference. “When I saw
all the students, all the music going on, I just had to come up here.
I think the town of Boston is what got me interested in doing my masters
up here.” She studied accompanying under Allen Rogers and received
her Masters degree from Boston University. Her work under Rogers was
focused on the Art Song and her repertoire expanded to include, in addition
to the Early Music, this genre. Two composers of the form that she names
as particular favorites are Schumann and Poulenc. To more fully round
out her repertoire, Ms Budnick’s next academic work was at the
New England Conservatory from which she received her Graduate Diploma,
studying opera there with John Moriarty.
Her work as a collaborative pianist puts her in daily, regular contact
with the under-graduate and graduate students at BU and much of her
performing, though un-credited on the website, is at student recitals
there. Similarly, her work as the opera coach at UConn keeps her busy.
It is work she truly enjoys. “I love working with other people.
I never pictured myself spending eight hours practicing by myself in
a room. There’s something very exciting about working together
with somebody.”
She also enjoys, and is looking forward to, the up-coming BSR Open Audition.
She recalls the first one, in 2003, and is enthusiastic about being
part of the event again. Her sight-reading skills are, of course, very
strong and they will surely be put to the test at the audition. “Most
of the stuff I’ve seen at least once before. But occasionally something
is kind of new to me or may be in a key that I’m not used to.”
Although, as she says, “It is mentally tiring by the end of the
day – a lot of playing and thinking, and thinking and playing,”
she doesn’t seem to mind. “It’s sort of why I went into
this career; working with people, getting their ideas. It’s part
of being a collaborative pianist. You have to be aware of what a different
singer might bring to a song.”
Collaboration is also a motivation behind her latest musical turn. She
and UConn Doctoral candidate Rebecca Grimes* are now in the process
of establishing an opera company which will serve and draw talent from
the MetroWest area where they both live. They call their company Opera
del West; cleverly referring to their location between Route 128 and
Worcester, and giving a subtle nod to Puccini.
Although still in the planning stages, Opera del West has a home for
its premier; the Natick Center for the Arts (TCAN) in Natick, MA, and
a premier date; Sunday, August 6. Beyond that there is much work to
do.
Their first program, with Eve as Music Director and Rebecca as Stage
Director, will be a set of opera scenes. The scenes they present will
be determined after they hold auditions which are scheduled for April
or May. She explains: “The repertoire depends on who we bring in.
We wanted to give the singers the opportunity to list scenes that they
would like to do, or that they’ve always wanted to work on. We
will play to their strengths.” Interested BSR subscribers can soon
look for details about this on the BSR Auditions page.
The project started with conversations between the two impresarios about
the need for more opera in the MetroWest region. “We decided there
just wasn’t enough going on here. We definitely want to try and
mine this area, see if we can get some local people from right around
here as well as from Boston or Worcester.” From a personal perspective,
this venture offers her the chance to learn and perform things that
might not come her way otherwise. “It’s an exciting thing.
So much of the time we’re kind of waiting around for the call to
work on this or that opera and here’s an opportunity to start something
from the beginning.”
It’s likely that many of our BSR subscribers are familiar with
Eve’s work as the Music Director for Boston productions of ‘Don
Pasquale’ and ‘Riders to the Sea’, as well as for the
Opera Scenes Programs at the BU Opera Institute and the NEC Opera and
Summer Opera Workshops. Her hope is that, by next year, Opera del West
will be adding some One Acts to their repertoire.
In her own words:
We invited Eve Budnick to talk a little about the collaborative experience.
Her perspectives reflect her varied skills as a performer, a coach and
as an educator.
Joe Stroup: What are you considering as you rehearse with a musician
you haven’t worked with before?
Eve Budnick: If it’s a one-time thing, I focus on the ensemble
and on making things work for that moment. If someone who wants to continue
coaching with me or if we’re preparing for a bigger performance
in a couple of months, then I’m listening to see what they do with
the music. Right away I’m picking up on language problems they
might have; things that we can fix with a little band-aid treatment
or something that might need a little more time.
JS: You are both a pianist/accompanist and a vocal coach. To
what degree do you bring those several talents into a rehearsal?
EB: It depends on how they hire me. If they hire me as a pianist
to play for a particular thing, I’ll give them a few ideas. But
if they’re interested in working with me on a regular basis I would
assume that they’re hiring me as a coach. Nowadays I’m being
asked to coach and it’s really what I love to do. There’s
something very magical about trying to perfect something, get it to
a certain level and not just throw it together.
JS: How do you balance the need of the singer to present music
in the way they want to present it with your desire to collaborate in
creating the best possible performance?
EB: I always said that I probably needed a psychology degree
for this career because, just like you’re assessing people as they
sing, you’re also assessing them as you collaborate, as you talk
to them. Some people have some very strong feelings about how they want
to perform something and I’m not going to step on that. It sort
of depends on their background. If they’ve got a strong musical
background then they can make educated decisions about those things.
I’ve worked with people at all ends of the spectrum. Many people
come in and they’re confused and they’re not sure. I can guide
them and make them feel a little more confident about what they know.
Other people come in very strong and sure. Those people I might give
hints here and there but let them do it their speed.
JS: Do you work with instrumentalists?
EB: I do, occasionally, and I enjoy it. In my free time, too,
I meet up with amateur instrumentalists and we go through music just
for fun.
JS: Are there parallels between singing and instrumentalists?
EB: Absolutely. It’s the same thing. I don’t like when
people say singers are singers and musicians are musicians. Singers
are musicians and they should have the same level of understanding of
the music. I think it’s a worrisome thing when people feel that
singers don’t have to know as much. They do. Sometimes they let
their teachers and their coaches and their conductors dictate and they
don’t realize they know the stuff already. They tend to defer a
little bit.
JS: Why do you think that is?
EB: I think one of the big things is that many singers don’t
realize they’re singers until much later. An instrumentalist will
probably start lessons when they’re six or seven years old. They’ve
been playing for so long, they’ve been learning all along how to
be a musician. But many times, singers discover their voice in high
school, maybe even in college and so they feel like they’re a little
behind the ball and they have to learn everything all at once: how to
sing properly, the repertoire, theory, how to read music; everything
at the same time; whereas instrumentalists have been able to learn their
technique from an early age.
In addition to the March BSR Auditions, Eve Budnick will be contributing
several hours at the April auditions, too. Her thoughtfulness and sensitivity,
apparent when she talks with you, as well as her wide-ranging musical
knowledge will certainly enrich these events for singers and auditors
alike.
=====================
Performance information:
“Music on a Sunday Afternoon”
A performance in French Art Songs and Duets featuring soprano Constance
Rock, tenor James Ruff, and accompanist Eve Budnick*.
The William Benton Museum of Art, School of Fine Arts,
University of Connecticut,
245 Glenbrook Rd., U-2140, Storrs, CT
General admission $5.00
http://www.benton.uconn.edu/
--------------------------
Summer Diction courses at the New England Conservatory offered by Eve
Budnick:
http://www.newenglandconservatory.edu/summer/courses/Opera_and_Voice.html
Lyric Diction for Singers I: the IPA, English and Italian diction
June 26 – July 27
MTh: 7:30 – 9:30 PM
Lyric Diction for Singers II: The IPA, German and French Diction
Schedule TBA
First meeting: Tu June 27, 7:30 – 9:30 PM
--------------------------
For information about Opera del West: www.operadelwest.org
For information about the Natick Center for the Arts: http://www.natickarts.org/