LAYLA VINSON
Staff Writer
American songwriter and librettist Gene Scheer will showcase the heart of the arts at 6 p.m. today in Fletcher Music Hall during a $20 ticketed event as part of a longstanding collaboration with Denyce Graves. Founder of The Denyce Graves Foundation and its newest program, Generational Voices, Graves was one of the first prominent singers to perform Scheer’s work.
“This is particularly sweet for me because of my relationship with Denyce Graves, who’s overseeing the project. She’s an old friend of mine, and she was instrumental in advancing my career,” Scheer said.
Principally known as a librettist, Scheer has won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for Intelligence and the International Opera Award for Cold Mountain, but he said he believes audiences may be surprised to hear some of his early work and its direct musical style in today’s performance. Having described the afternoon as a “potpourri of different kinds of popular songs but written for classical voices,” he stressed the event’s reflection of the industry at large.
Generational Voices artist Henrique Carvalho, baritone, sings during Claudia Catania’s masterclass Friday in Fletcher Music Hall.
“To be able to sing multiple different kinds of new music really expands the possibility of having a career,” Scheer explained.
For Scheer, the genre-spanning nature of his work stems from his innate drive for storytelling and a dramatic context.
“Before there’s the words or before there’s the music, there’s the story behind the song. What has prompted it?” Scheer said, providing insight into his creative process. “I’m a theater guy, so I’m always thinking theatrically in terms of trying to write something that is character-based. So my first question is, ‘Who is singing, and why are they singing right now?’”
In his collaboration with singers, Scheer approaches rehearsals not with the goal of explaining how the song should go, but rather with an exploratory mindset aimed toward discovering how it will unfold. In his mind, the ability for singers to leave their “emotional fingerprints” on the work is what brings it to life.
Catania coaches Generational Voices artist Audrianna Hughes, mezzo-soprano, during her masterclass.
“What I love about what I do is that it’s a collaborative art form. And even if you write the song by yourself, it doesn’t happen until that person’s singing,” Scheer said. “And when they’re singing it, you’re engaging their imagination — and their talent, of course — but their imagination and their interpretation is this handshake between the creator and the interpreter.”
His respect for this metaphorical handshake is made clear in his decades-long partnership with Graves, whom he considers both a colleague and friend. Forming earnest relationships with those he has worked with has not only led him to further professional opportunities down the road, but has also helped him navigate the strenuous work-life balance that often accompanies the arts.
“In the end, life is just about love and connection,” Scheer said. “And that’s what is so wonderful about what we do as artists and musicians — not just what we do, but that we do it together.”
