For my interview in NYC I met with a composer named George Lam. I initially got hooked up with George through Chia-Yu, my composition professor, who knew him from their studies together at Duke University. Lauren Anderson and I met up with him where he works, at York College, CUNY, in Jamaica, Queens. Our communications were mostly through email, and we had no trouble setting up a time and place to meet. The trek out to Queens took a little longer than most of our travels, but it was a great experience to see what the commute is like.
Going into this interview, I really just wanted to know where a composer who is interested in the opera/musical theater genre begins his journey into the medium. He initially asked me a great question, "Why opera?" We talked about our initial draws to opera/musical theater, and found some common ground of the narrative that can be had through music. When I asked him what the "first step" was, in his opinion, he said finding a story. We discussed some repertoire, such as Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George and Sweeney Todd, Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, and Barber's A Hand of Bridge (which has recently become a favorite of mine after checking it out), and what it is about the story that really draws us to it. He told me that when I am looking for a particular subject I need to consider, "why opera?" What can opera do to this story that other mediums can't, and is it worth doing? I really had never thought about that before, so that piece of advice opened up my perspective to that realm of opera. He also recommended that I try to write something short and small scale and put it on before I leave the university and take advantage of the resources that I have, because opera is one of those things where you really need to have it performed to see what works and what doesn't. He said he did that when he was in college and it was immensely beneficial for him. He also runs this group called "Rhymes with Opera" which basically does that on tour. I then asked him about learning to write for the voice. He recommended writing songs and checking out the repertoire of other English composers such as Benjamin Britten to see how they set the English language. He stressed writing for the voice and recommended programs to do so, one of them being Composers and the Voice, with American Opera Projects (where he worked with Caroline Worra). He also stressed learning about prosody, and recommended me a book by Virgil Thomson entitled "Music with Words." The biggest thing that I got out of the interview from him was "just do it." Write for the voice, set text, produce a small scale opera, try writing your own libretto, try working with another writer, work with singers, work with actors, study the repertoire, and just see how it works. This reinforced everything that I had been thinking about lately: as a budding composer I can't be concerned as much with the end product; at this point I need to be learning about what works and doesn't work process wise, and then the overall quality of my work will improve, just as with playing an instrument.
Other than a brief thank you conversation, I have not had that much contact with George, but I plan on keeping him as a contact. He was a nice guy and a smart man, and he gave me some great advice. Since being back in Eau Claire, I have started reading Thomson's book, I have been immersing myself in the opera genre, and have started writing a short opera which I hope to put on this semester (I am adapting the murder scene from the novel Crime and Punishment!) It has been a tough endeavor so far, but I know it will be completely worth it in the end. I am immensely glad that I was able to meet with him, and if I ever go back to New York he will be one of the first people that I try to get together with again.
-Jordan
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