Christine Brewer, Grammy Award-winning opera singer, returned to Webster on Monday, March 4 for her 11th annual residency week.
Each year a different theme is selected for students to study, practice and perform. This year’s theme was female composers.
Brewer began her talk describing early-1900s female composers and the patterns of struggles they went through to become successful. At that time, men dominated the composer industry. She said a compliment for a female composer at the time was “playing like a man.”
“This is very close to my heart,” Brewer said. “Especially since March is Women’s History Month. I think it’s really important to remember that women didn’t always have the rights that men did.”
Students selected one piece written by a female composer to study and fine-tune through a professional lens. After giving students background knowledge about why this category of composers was so important to her, Brewer opened the talk to a discussion format where she asked students to introduce themselves and give information about chosen pieces and composers.
Graduate student Calista Goldwasser is working to earn her masters in music at Webster, specializing in vocal performance. She has participated in the residency week three times. This year she helped organize the events of the week and will be one of the students performing with Brewer.
“I think it’s very interesting, especially for the younger students who really are just dipping their toes into this art form, to see somebody as down to earth and as personable as Christine speak so candidly about her own experience,” Goldwasser said.
Throughout the week, students receive critique and training from Brewer leading up to the recital, where some of them sing alongside Brewer.
“She’s quite thorough in what she asks of the students in terms of making sure that we all understand every word we’re singing, regardless of what language it’s in, and not just what it means but how we feel about it,” Goldwasser said.
Brewer asked students to tell the story of their piece as they spoke during the Thompson Talk.
“I encourage the singers to tell a story,” Brewer said. “There’s nothing more boring than just hearing a beautiful voice, you may as well just sing ‘la la la’ if you’re not telling a story that’s personal to you.”
Jacob Lassetter, opera singer and director of opera studio at Webster, played a vital role in creating and managing the week’s schedule. He has been a fan of Brewer for many years, and enjoys working with her and seeing her interact with the students.
“She approaches the students as humans. Everyone in that room is an equal and is equally deserving of love. That’s just the way Christine is,” Lassetter said.
Share this post
