Best Days With You
A #360ofOpera interview with the IN/VISIBLE team, written by Yutong Yang.
What does “mentor” mean to you?
While Merriam-Webster defines “mentor” as “a trusted counselor or guide,” the word tends to conjure up an image of an experienced, mature professional in our respective fields, presumably in the corporate world, whom we turn to for advice. And more often than not, we think of a mxn. In a recent survey, 82% of the mxn had a mentor of the same gender, while only 69% of the womxn did.
On the other hand, unsung womxn have always played a major role in our lives, be it as a loving parent, or a nurturing teacher. According to another survey, from the 1980-81 to the 2015-16 school year, the percentage of public-school teachers who were womxn increased by over 13.4%, reaching 76%. All the more reason for us to remember and honor our earliest femme mentors — as Jennifer Cresswell and Kathleen Kelly, the creative partnership behind GDQ Arts (@GDQarts) aptly puts it, they were always there for us, before we even understood what we were learning.
According to their mission statement, GDQ Arts supports recognizable and real stories centering women, and the creation of songs and sung theater that tell these stories in a provocative, inquisitive, and illuminating voice. They work to build and support the community of creators necessary to bring these stories to the public, and to build relationships with community stakeholders who are connected to these stories. In late May, the nonprofit announced their second and latest project IN/VISIBLE, an original song cycle composed to celebrate our earliest femme mentors, and called for story submissions. Almost four months later, audience members gathered on Facebook and YouTube for the virtual world premiere on September 21, bonding over fond memories from Cindy Sadler, Lee Anne Myslewski, and Pamela Nions. We spoke to the composer Felix Jarrar, as well as all three poets before and after the event. We are delighted to share their creative process, and the wonderful performance of soprano Imani Mchunu Grosvenor and pianist Joshua Marzan, recorded and produced by GDQ Arts co-founder Jennifer Cresswell.
Felix Jarrar
Felix Jarrar, photo by Stephanie GrossYou composed for a singer and a pianist hundreds of miles away! Were you writing with their artistry in mind?
Yes, I definitely did write IN/VISIBLE specifically for them! Jenny sent me a few links of Imani’s singing, and I got a really good sense of her voice and vocal color. It had a huge influence on how I shaped the vocalism of the piece, along with Joshua’s playing.
Imani’s singing brought us so much joy — she has such a clear, lyric voice! There was this line by the end of the third song:
I just remember her screaming and clapping
And the wind of her love found me
Again and again throughout life
There’s so much contrast between the characters’ genuine excitement and her airy, tender singing.
The speaker of this poem is a toddler, so I asked Imani to sing it like a lullaby. She is literally breathless because she is a child, staring wide-eyed with wonder at a whole new world; she is also conveying the gentle love of her babysitter.
What were your musical inspirations for the three songs?
I wrote IN/VISIBLE in Vermont while working on BARN OPERA’s (@barnopera) recent production of Puccini’s Tosca. His music was in my ear, as I was playing the score for rehearsals and the shows. However, the cycle doesn't sound like it is in the verismo style because I mixed the lyricism of Puccini with Americana, quasi-modal harmonic motion within a tonal idiom. It sets up this motif that connects all three of the songs. The second song is largely inspired by Schubert’s “Nacht und Träume.” It goes without pause into the third and last song, with this atmosphere of traditional cradle songs.
I also noticed that each song ends with part of the text set as a spoken monologue, but underscored with piano accompaniment.
Yes, I wanted to add an element of story-telling that breaks the fourth wall between the three movements (the last two of which are performed attacca, without pause).
What was it like setting such poetic texts to music?
It was wonderful. They are extremely varied, and together highlight the lives of three, amazing femme mentors that can now be commemorated in song. The poems were in free verse, and I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in the text of each poet.
Did you plug in your personal experiences to better understand the poets’ experiences?
Rather than diving into my personal history, I carefully studied the imagery of the texts, and used the poets’ language to inspire my mind to create vocal and piano lines that evoked what I felt.
In our Pride Month Spotlight, you mentioned that colors speak to you and inspire your works in a multitude of ways. What color(s) do you associate with IN/VISIBLE?
I am a synesthete, so I always see colors with sound. For IN/VISIBLE, I see many shades of green — I was around so much greenery in Vermont when I set the texts!
The Poets
Lee Anne Myslewski, Pamela Nions & Cindy SadlerThanks for sharing your touching personal stories! You’re really expanding the narrative, zoning in on femme mentors. For us womxn, why is it so important to have incredible womxn guiding our artistic and personal journeys?
Lee Anne:
I think we use the word “mentor” now as a capital-M b-school term, but I think women have always turned to each other for guidance, support, and inspiration. As our respective fields grow more inclusive, seeing womxn in leadership roles gives us an alternate perspective/leadership track on which to model — you can only choose from the paths that you know exist, right? It also gives those in leadership a larger platform to identify friction points, discuss issues, and lead by example.
Cindy:
My family is matriarchal. I was influenced from day one by three very strong, capable, and intelligent women: my mother, my grandmother, and Aunt Toots. Most of my mentors have been women, as well, so it seems very natural and in no way exceptional to me. I am very, very lucky to also come from an arts-loving family who revel in my artistic journey. The women in my family set the tone for that. My mother did not consider my brothers and me to be fully educated until we could read music, and insisted we all have piano lessons. She took us to see the Nutcracker Ballet every year, to the Texas Memorial Museum several times a year, and played classical music on the radio. She paid for piano, oboe, guitar, and trombone lessons. Our next-door neighbor loved musicals, and as her daughters were grown, took me to see high school and college performances. My grandmother listened to the Metropolitan Opera broadcast and turned into a blushing fangirl when I met William Warfield, one of her favorites. Not a single person in my family blinked an eye when I announced that I would be an opera singer; it was the natural progression for my naturally dramatic personality. They have always been wonderfully supportive.
Aunt Toots really inspired me from an early age. She gently challenged the conservative elements of my upbringing and insisted I think for myself. She was the family adventurer, world traveler, and linguist. I can’t remember a time I didn’t want to emulate her in those regards.
Feminine energy includes a special kind of nurturing: not necessarily maternal, but a unique way of connecting that only life-givers can generate. Whether or not women are assigned female at birth, they are creators. Trans women and nonbinary folks may not physically give birth, but they develop themselves from the inside out and create new beings. I think that this ability to create life out of our own bodies and spirits is one of the things that allows women to be especially empathetic. But women mentors are also solution-oriented. We’ve had to fight, we’ve had to work our way through the good ol’ boys club — and are still doing it — so we want to help the children who come after. We want them to have it easier than we did. We want to serve.
Pamela:
There is nothing like seeing yourself in someone. This is where dreams are born. When you’ve been taught all of the disadvantages about yourself and you see someone that defies those odds, it’s an indescribable feeling. It’s important because we get further and further because of the bravery of these wonderful women. This is necessary and we need more of this! Femme mentors are why I’m an educator and performer right now!
Now that I think of it, we’ve all had so many femme mentors in our lives, whom we should be grateful to. How hard was it to pick the one mentor to write about? How did you turn your interactions into a compelling, poetic story?
Lee Anne:
I’m not sure I did (turn it into a poetic story) actually — the lyricism comes from Felix’s beautiful setting and the skills of the interpreters, Imani and Joshua. But I talk about this particular woman often when I talk about my professional path, so she was a natural focus for me.
Cindy:
Although I am fortunate that my life is filled with marvelous mentors, there was no question from the moment that I heard about the project that Aunt Toots would be my subject. She was such an integral part of my upbringing. Every outing with her — she called them “expeditions” — was a great adventure. Whether she was off on a Fulbright Scholarship in India or teaching in Washington State, she sent me cool, thought-provoking stuff, like my treasured plaster casts of a Sasquatch hand and footprint. My mother still loves to tell stories of their wild West Texas childhood, like the time Toots shot my Uncle JP in the butt with a BB gun because he wouldn’t get off the windmill, and my house is filled with mementos of her many travels. I wrote the poem very quickly, and all I did was try to sift through my rich memories for the most potent, those that would express Tootsie’s complicated and exquisite essence succinctly.
Pamela:
This mentor is someone who I think about often. I sing often and everytime I start to get discouraged I remember that it’s bigger than me. I’ve been wanting to tell her the impact she has had on me and I couldn’t find the right words or time to tell her. This project motivated me to pull from within.
Thank you so much for sharing! In hindsight, how did the creative process further your understanding of your relationship with this mentor, and its lasting impact on your life?
Lee Anne:
Mrs. Baker passed away a number of years ago; I wish she were here, so I could share this with her! But her memory is with me quite often. (I’m currently screening applications in preparation for our fall auditions, and her example reminds me to try — as well as I can through a piece of paper and a video — to see the whole artist; and to keep in mind the struggles that this last year has thrown at them, as she did for me.) I also would, in her memory, ask that we don’t define leadership as extraversion; quiet, thoughtful discernment and modeling are perhaps more powerful, even if they're not as overt or easily noticed.
Cindy:
Aunt Tootsie has been gone for many years, and I’m ashamed to say that I don’t think about her every day, or even every week. But her influences are everywhere in my life. One of her wooden Thai Buddhas watches over me from a little shrine on my desk. Many pieces of artwork, furniture, and clothing that she collected in her travels to India, Poland, and Mexico surround me so that her presence is always felt. More importantly, she inspired my love for travel, languages, adventure, and a certain rebellion towards the conventional and mundane. The IN/VISIBLE project has encouraged me to reflect on our relationship, which was marvelous though far from perfect. There are things I wish I could go back and say to her now, things I wish I could do to help her with her own set of demons. I’ve realized recently that I am a lot like her in many respects — even though I’m adopted and share no DNA with my family. If Toots was alive today, she would still be demanding that I question everything, use my imagination, and refuse to accept the arbitrary limitations others often try to impose. She will forever be my cool aunt.
Pamela:
It's been years since I’ve seen or spoken to my mentor. Once I realized my poem was selected I reached out to her and told her how she changed my life as a little girl. It was a special and moving conversation for both of us.
I love her forever!
The Performance
Now … How has this interview helped you think twice about your definition for “mentor”? What are some other ways for us to celebrate our femme mentors? Please feel free to share your thoughts on our social media pages, or send your stories to GDQ Arts! Let’s end on this sweet note by Taylor Swift:
… I love you for giving me your eyes
For staying back and watching me shine
And I didn’t know if you knew, so I’m taking this chance to say
That I had the best day with you today
- Written by Yutong Yang