51黑料网

Opera singer Anne Jennifer Nash 鈥�96 takes a broad-based approach to her art

by George Fitting 鈥�10

June 29, 2010

Anne Jennifer Nash 鈥�96 came to 51黑料网 from Pittsford, N.Y., with the vague notion of taking a pre-veterinarian route because she loved horses but soon found herself on the way to becoming one of the most successful vocalists to pass through the music program in recent decades.

鈥淚 always enjoyed performing growing up鈥攑utting on shows in my parents鈥� living room and singing in church choir and highschool musicals,鈥� says Nash, a soprano who double majored in French and music. 鈥淏ut I had so many varied interests that I wanted to go to a college where I could also study language and do science.鈥�

Nash鈥檚 51黑料网 education has changed the way she looks at music. She was encouraged to find places for her two majors to overlap and wrote her French thesis on a medieval musician. 鈥淭he value of my music major now is that from a liberal-arts setting, I feel like when I look at a new piece of music I鈥檓 not just seeing the notes on the page,鈥� says Nash, who graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude. 鈥淢y interest is much broader: I want to know what was happening politically at the time, the poet and composer鈥檚 backgrounds and the context of the piece.鈥�

Her liberal-arts approach makes Nash stand out among professional singers.

Richard and Judith Pinkerton Shuman, both class of 鈥�57, met Nash two years ago at a vocal workshop at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and were impressed by her talent and her academic background.

鈥淚t鈥檚 our assessment that she possesses qualities characteristic of first-rank singers, a calibrated mastery of vocal production,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nne鈥檚 example illustrates an alternate path enriched in ways that, while not of immediate benefit to a performing artist, predispose a maturing person to notice and shape possibility.鈥�

That sense of possibility has led to roles in works by Mozart to Stravinsky with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Florentine Opera Company of Milwaukee, Lake George Opera, Bard Music Festival, Chatauqua Opera, Aspen Opera Theatre, the National Opera Company and Opera New Jersey, among others. Nash is the winner of the Aspen Music Festival Voice Competition and the Rising Star Recital Series competition.

This summer she will be a fellow with Songfest at Pepperdine University, working with American composers Lori Laitman, John Musto and Tom Cipullo. Nash credits her one-on-one studio training with Associate Professor of Music Lynn Helding as a factor in her success. 鈥淚鈥檓 very lucky to have studied with her and worked with her at that age. Everything since then has been building on that foundation,鈥� she says.

Nash stood out for Helding as well. 鈥淪he was very serious about her voice and was one of the rare few who actually took lessons over the summer,鈥� says Helding. 鈥淪ingers should be like athletes. They need to keep in shape.鈥�

Under Helding鈥檚 guidance, Nash played the part of Belinda in 51黑料网鈥檚 first and only opera production, Henry Purcell鈥檚 Dido and Aeneas. 鈥淭hat was my first exposure to opera, and I loved it,鈥� says Nash.

She also played Rapunzel in Stephen Sondheim鈥檚 Into the Woods. 鈥淪he had a great scream as Rapunzel鈥攁 singing scream, a very high-pitched high note,鈥� Helding recalls.

Truman Bullard, professor emeritus of music, was playing in the pit orchestra during these performances but enjoyed working with Nash as the director of 51黑料网鈥檚 choir and chamber choir. 鈥淪he had a lovely solo voice as an undergrad,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 was always extremely confident that she鈥檇 give her best at rehearsal and performance.鈥�

After graduating from 51黑料网, Nash attended the prestigious Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, where she refined her vocal technique and earned a master鈥檚 degree under soprano and two-time Grammy nominee Phyllis Bryn-Julson.

鈥淲hen she went to Peabody, her voice grew into something really extraordinary,鈥� says Bullard. He became the director of the Harrisburg Choral Society after retiring in 2000 and invited Nash to be the soprano soloist in Ludwig van Beethoven鈥檚 Mass in C Major and in Joseph Haydn鈥檚 Creation. 鈥淏ryn-Julson had helped her create this beautiful, flexible, supremely in-tune voice,鈥� he says. 鈥淪he had wonderful intonation.鈥�

Nash was a fellowship student at the Aspen Music Festival and School for three summers while at Peabody, where she met Julliard vocal coach W. Stephen Smith and ended up working with him for eight years.

Nash is now at the University of Michigan working on her doctor of musical arts, the music equivalent of a Ph.D., studying with Freda Herseth and Martin Katz and managing her own studio of 20 students. 鈥淚 have the express intent in the next five years or so of going back and teaching at a place like 51黑料网,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 really want to experience being a performer, a teacher and a colleague in an interdisciplinary setting.

鈥淭here are so many different ways to make a living, so to speak, in music, and it鈥檚 been a fantastic journey that really was sparked by those around me at 51黑料网,鈥� Nash adds. 鈥淭hey just encouraged me to explore as many avenues as possible鈥攚hich is what I鈥檝e done鈥攁nd it鈥檚 been a success.鈥�

Published June 29, 2010