Stanford Olsen: There are great teachers and coaches in the world who know far more than I will ever know and are more successful than I will ever be and who can elicit more from others than I can ever do. Well, part of their toolbox is sarcasm and brutality and dismissiveness, and I just don’t think we have the time for it.
If that voice sounds familiar, it might not be a coincidence.
Olsen: One, two, three, four.
[nat sound] Olsen singing
For those who have frequented the Metropolitan Opera, among others, that’s Stanford Olsen. The American tenor has performed around the globe and received a Grammy nomination for his work in 1996. Today, Olsen teaches Music in the Voice and Opera department at the University of Michigan.
But on Monday evening, Olsen came to Evanston leading a vocal masterclass at Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music. Four students performed pieces that they had been working on. Olsen, using both constructive criticism and quick wit, helped the students with their work and had the audience laughing along. Yasuko Oura, a lecturer of collaborative piano at Northwestern, saw this firsthand: from behind the keys.
Yasuko Oura: You can tell he’s a teacher. You can tell that he works with young singers and students all the time because his approach was very nurturing and supportive but yet constructive.
Bienen master’s student Jordan Haas is no stranger to Olsen’s methods. He performed in a master class with Olsen four years ago and trained under one of his former students at Vanderbilt. This long-standing familiarity made Monday’s class feel comfortable for Haas.
Jordan Haas: It’s really interesting to sing for him now, four years later, with such a different voice and having, you know, grown so much in that time. And I feel like I have a better idea of Oratorio generally and, you know, I’m just a more well-rounded performer, so I think we got to work on more specific things because I’m at a different age, but it was cool to reflect on that.
A recurring theme throughout the evening was the difficulty of singing at this level. Olsen stated how singers must live with their voices 24/7 while instrumentalists can put it back in a case. This environment can often be harmful for young singers looking to better their craft.
Kurt R. Hansen: If you say to a bassoonist, ‘You’re flat,’ they can adjust it and play. If you say to a singer you’re flat, it means bad dog.
That’s Kurt R. Hansen, a faculty emeritus at Northwestern. He taught with Olsen for two summers in rural Castleton, Virginia. In their time together, Hansen noticed the humanity in Olsen’s approach shine through again and again.
Hansen: It was just a pleasure to see him working at a high level musically, but also a very high level both artistically but humanly. Humanly, he understands how hard this is and he’s there to encourage, not just say fix it.
Stanford Olsen’s approach to teaching is consistently one of compassion. He discussed his humble roots and the luck he felt in many of his early-career roles. This inspires the work he does today and the approach he takes with his students, both at Michigan and in these masterclasses. A bit of compassion can go a long way, whether that’s on stage or in everyday life.
Olsen: If you think about the organism that is humanity, a little kind gesture to one person sometimes has a ripple out to other people, and certainly we’re a place and time where we all need those things. So I think as small as those things are, it’s incumbent upon us all to think less selfishly and more generously. Whether offering criticism or providing service or pitching in, it may not change the way things are going in the world, but if it changes an individual life for a single day, that’s time well spent, I think.
[nat sound] Olsen demonstrating a section of “D’ogni piu sacro impegno” followed by Jared Cohen singing the section
For WNUR News, I’m Gabe Shumway.
[nat sound] “D’ogni piu sacro impegno” sung by Jared Cohen
