Tonight was the joint junior voice recital for two of Carthage’s most splendidly talented singers- soprano Jillian Swanson and tenor Andrew Johnson…. but by no means was tonight a can’t – miss proposition. Voice recitals almost never are. First of all, neither of them had ever sung a full blown recital before- and both were doing challenging programs- and it was hard to know just how they were going to do once they had walked out on that stage and in front of an audience. I love them both but I think they would be the first to admit that neither of them is exactly a paragon of self-confidence. It’s also true that both of them were very anxious to sing well tonight, and sometimes that eagerness can get in your own way and keep you from doing your best. And voice recitals are especially tricky because the singer is also their instrument, and any touch of ill health can be a terrible complication. So while I was hoping for things to go very well tonight, I was well aware of the very real possibility that one or both of them might somehow fall short of their aspirations tonight.
If I had been sitting in the audience as a spectator, I think I would have jumped right out of my skin from nervousness. Fortunately, I was up on the stage as their pianist, and it was great to be a full participant in the proceedings, doing what I could to help make this recital the success they both so fervently wanted. But ultimately, they had to do the singing- I couldn’t sing for Andrew (my student) and Corinne Ness couldn’t sing for JIllian (her student.) Tonight we had to just send them out on that stage and hope that all of the work and planning that had gone before was enough- and that Andrew and Jillian would deliver the kind of performances they were capable of giving.
Perhaps you’ve already guessed from the headline (“Two Home Runs”) that both of them sang wonderfully tonight. Andrew began with his half and sang so musically and expressively – and filling that recital hall with lovely golden sound. And in some ways, I’m most proud of how well he recovered from a memory glitch in the middle of Gounod’s “Maid of Athens.” I think a year or two ago, the old Andrew would have really been blown off course by that kind of mishap. But the new Andrew shook it off and sang wonderfully from there. Seeing him do that was almost better than if it had all been perfection start to finish. And after that, Jillian proceeded to sing just about as well as she can sing- with just a little memory trip in one of her Joseph Marx songs, but otherwise keeping it together beautifully. And then the two of them finished up the evening with an almost perfect performance of the love duet from Gounod’s “Faust” that left me just shaking my head and smiling.
I don’t really know all that much about Jillian’s story, since she’s not my voice student, but I know from working with her that she is someone blessed with a spectacular voice who has struggled with her technique as well as certain musical matters (like rhythm!) But her work in our spring opera (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas) signaled quite a breakthrough for her, and this recital was yet another step in an exciting new direction for her. As for Andrew, he is a young man who spent some years focusing on piano and saxophone before discovering – almost by accident – that what he was really born to do is SING. And the more Andrew explores singing, the more he seems to love it- and the better he becomes. And being his teacher and watching him blossom is among the greatest pleasures I’ve experienced in my years at Carthage.
And for as thrilling as tonight was, what’s even more exciting is to know that tonight is a stepping stone to even bigger successes for these two exceptionally talented, exceptionally sweet people.
pictured above: Andrew and Jillian accept the enthusiastic applause of the audience at the end of their recital. By the way, I was pleased that the audience included Andrew’s Uncle Bosco Djurokovich, Carthage’s men’s basketball coach, and his son Steve (Andrew’s cousin) who was named NCAA Division III Player of the Year. They said they really enjoyed, and I think they really did.