Kevin Short coaches Generational Voices Fellow David Morgans, tenor, as he performs during Short’s master class Tuesday in Fletcher Music Hall.
ROCCO PRIOLETTI
Staff Writer
Out of more than 200 applicants, only eight vocal artists were selected to partake in the Generational Voices program. The Denyce Graves Foundation’s two-week-long initiative provides mentorship, education and workshop opportunities for post-graduate performers. During those two weeks, renowned opera singer Denyce Graves witnessed the development and passion of these rising artists and the future ahead of them.
“It’s one thing when you hear them audition and you see them in performance. It’s another thing when you get to work with them on a daily basis to really discover who they are; you discover many things about them,” Graves said. “But, one thing has been very much with all of them, and that is their complete love for the art form, [and] the talent out of all of them, which is undeniable.”
At 8 p.m. tonight, those eight vocal artists will take the stage alongside the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Rossen Milanov. Celebrating the launch of Generational Voices, the evening performance will open with operatic arias and conclude with Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah.”
Career readiness is an integral component of Generational Voices. In addition to hosting a council of cross-generational talents to mentor these artists, the program’s scope reaches beyond the inherently musical. Generational Voices Coordinator Aundi Moore emphasized the necessity for performers to be competent in not only multiple vocal disciplines but also non-musical facets such as music business and social media branding.
“There are a lot of skills that we have to know now that we didn’t need to know previously. Throughout the year, Denyce is giving them services to help build their businesses,” Moore said. “We’re hoping that this will continue to grow and, in years to come, that these singers will also take up the mantle and help other singers, teaching them these tangible skills.”
Recently, the program welcomed Jason Robert Brown to mentor and inform the vocal artists on musical theater. During Brown’s concert, Graves remembered the students’ smiles while listening to their contemporaries with shared admiration for one another’s artistic expression.
“That was a really beautiful thing to see. It feels to me like they all recognize that everybody’s different, everybody has a different superpower and that they really can appreciate when their colleagues are up there and just really bringing it, you know?” Graves said.
Graves remembered the smile of mezzo-soprano singer Hannah Jones in particular. Previously a part of the foundation’s collegiate program, Hidden Voices, Graves said how exciting it has been to watch the singer “crescendo” from the very beginning of her career.
“The thing that’s so beautiful about her is that she’s appreciative of everything. She doesn’t take anything for granted. She notices all kinds of details and all of the effort that the team puts [in] with all of the Generational Voices fellows,” Graves said.
Tonight, Jones will be spotlighted during Bernstein’s “Jeremiah” Symphony as the sole vocalist amid a sea of orchestration during the final movement of both the piece and the CSO’s season at large.
“I think we saved the one [piece] that I feel very close to my heart for the very last concert,” Milanov said.
Inspired by the titular biblical prophet, for Milanov, the piece explores the feeling of loss from a personal perspective. Milanov was introduced to the “Jeremiah” Symphony in 1991 during his first summer in the United States at the Tanglewood Music Center. This was only six months after Bernstein passed away.
“His spirit was still with all of us there,” Milanov said. “Somehow, working on that piece and even hearing it live being performed for the first time was, I think, one of the most vivid memories for me, probably, of any American piece that I heard.”
During his lifetime, Bernstein was one of America’s most crucial conductors. He was responsible for reviving the then-forgotten works of Gustav Mahler — a composer Milanov felt bore a strong, personal reverence and kinship for Bernstein. At the age of 24, he premiered and conducted the “Jeremiah” Symphony with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Throughout his career, he wrote in a plethora of different styles, spanning from ballet to symphonic music, and even musicals like West Side Story.
“He literally touched every single aspect of the musical life. Whatever you want to call it, popular or classical: I think music was music, and he just felt very comfortable,” Milanov said.
Though this evening’s performance marks the season finale for the CSO, it simultaneously offers a new beginning for The Denyce Graves Foundation. The Generational Voices program will return for residency at Chautauqua Institution during the 2027 Season. Graves said she hopes concertgoers will walk away from their debut performance with an understanding of the foundation’s work and impact.
“I would love for them to be excited and energized with what they themselves are helping to promote, and to uplift by being there and by showing up … to know that they have had a hand in the rise of these young artists,” Graves said.
In a cultural landscape where artificial intelligence substitutions for human expression are increasingly more prevalent, Moore approaches Generational Voices as a reminder of the talent and capabilities of dedicated artists.
“No, as humans, we cannot produce the same amount of things that AI can put out in a matter of seconds. However, it still really matters — and especially to the Chautauqua community — [the] real, live beauty of music and of art. We’re here doing that, and we’re going to continue to build a generation of singers who will continue that legacy,” Moore said.
Next year, the CSO will bring “The Mysteries” by Gregory Spears to Chautauqua. Commissioned by the Chautauqua, Columbus and Princeton symphony orchestras — all three of which Milanov directs — the work will have its official world premiere at Carnegie Hall with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra to celebrate the orchestra’s 75th anniversary.
