LIFESTYLES | PERFECT PITCH
FROM CORNELL TO CHORAL ARTS J BY PAT R I C K D. M C C OY
oining the rich fabric of the Washington choral music scene, conductor Scott Tucker, 55, talks about leaving his academic post with Cornell after 17 years to take the baton at Choral Arts Society of Washington and the road ahead in this new season of music making. WASHINGTON LIFE: Tell us how you learned about the music director position with Choral Arts and why you made the decision to relocate. SCOTT TUCKER I am acutely aware that any artist can become complacent. I thought after 17 years that it was possible that I might become a little too self-satisfied and maybe lose my edge if I just coasted there to the end of my career. Leaving was a very difficult decision, but I am convinced it was the right one. Additionally, I have a love interest in Washington. It was not at all clear that she would remain were I to move here because she has a music career of her own. But so far things have worked out, so I feel especially lucky. I have known of Choral Arts since I was a teenager, and first discovered “Mass” by Bernstein. Norman Scribner’s name was seared into my mind because he prepared the chorus for the premiere of that work at the Kennedy Center. An alumnus from the Cornell Glee Club joined Choral Arts after his graduation in 2000, and he introduced me to the Maestro and kept me abreast of the goings on here through the years. WL: The rapport between you and former music director Norman Scribner seems quite remarkable. Could you discuss the role of Executive Director Debra Kraft in that transition? ST Debra is an incredibly gifted strategic thinker. Choral Arts is very lucky to have her. She has wonderful instincts and is able to take in the big picture as well as the finest details. This is a rare gift, and she put it to use in the transition. She didn’t do it alone, of course. The board worked extremely hard to identify the organization’s needs and to
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chart a plan for the transition. It helped a lot that Norman Scribner is a gentleman with the grace and foresight to put the organization first and to offer himself as a resource while at the same time completely removing his ego from the equation. I have enormous respect for him. His influence on choral music in this city is immeasurable and yet he is truly modest, not falsely so.
Scott Tucker (Photos by Stephen Elliott)
WL: What elements of the collegiate teaching experience will you bring to this new setting? ST Teaching a college choir is not so different from preparing adults. The key is to share your vision of the music and have the singers internalize it in such a way that all of us work together toward the same goal. I was never a didactic teacher. I have always been lucky enough to work with smart, musical people. My job is just to harness that collective musicality and to focus it. WL: At Cornell, you worked with the Glee Club. Any plans to explore that kind of ensemble singing with the men of Choral Arts? ST I also conducted the Women’s Chorus at Cornell. I am equally interested in treble and repertoire for divided men’s voices. Yes, I am sure there will be programs that involve all kinds of combinations of voices and timbres in our future. WL: Though you already conducted one of the Christmas Concerts and also the Martin Luther King Tribute, April 2013 will mark your “official
concert.” Tell us about the music and theme for this. ST The thing that inspired the April concert was actually going to see National Presbyterian Church: walking inside, hearing the organ being played and just the expansive nature of the space. It is a very inspiring building. I used to be a brass player long ago. The sound of brass and organ in a space like that is compelling. That was my thought really behind programming these works. The program itself is designed to move from a very dark place to a light place, beginning with Hindemith’s “Apparebit repentina dies.” The chorus has an incredible entrance after a long brass introduction, representing how the “judge” will appear on the last day. So, it starts with a sense of terror. The Brahms pieces take that theme of judgment and explores the idea of why light is given to mankind, but then turns to very comforting text as he explores that theme. The second half of the program features Benjamin Britten’s “Rejoice in the Lamb,” a whimsical, yet sincere expression of what our relationship is to God. Ending the program is the music of Gabrieli, who wrote antiphonal music for the large space of Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Venice.
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