Page 33 - Classical Singer magazine Spring Issue 2020

in a edgling career. “I am everything he stood for, and what he stood for was acting with singing—really, theatre.”
Goldovsky’s founding of the
New England Opera Theater in 1945 provided a huge training ground and steppingstone for Miller. “With him, I got all this training,” she says. “I did 25 performances of Cherubino before I did it in Europe and the Met.
“I did Carmen. When you can say you’ve done Carmen, they look at you, they’re interested. I was able to go to Germany and sit down and tell them and show them reviews. That’s what anybody who wants to sing at the Met has to have, either European experience or lots of regional experience.”
But before she left for Germany, where she would be courted by Bing, she made a substantial debut at Tanglewood in 1946. The conductor was Leonard Bernstein. “I made my debut in P eter Grimes as one of the nieces,” she says. “The other niece was Phyllis Curtin.
“That was a young Leonard Bernstein. I don’t know if he’d ever conducted an opera before! All I know is that he conducted with his sts, trying to get enough power out of us, and we were young kids. We knew he was something else.
“The thing I remember so much was his rhythmic knowledge—the intricate rhythms he could conduct. It was fascinating. I remember he would have these jazz sessions right after
P eter Grimes. Everyone would come down and blow their horns at these jam sessions, and he would conduct.”
Katherine Beck with Miller at the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, 2018
BY STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Paul Houghtaling, Director
For upcoming shows, degree information, audition dates and more, please visit opera.music.ua.edu.
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Fall 2019
Die Fledermaus, Spring 2019
West Side Story, Fall 2018
BY RICHARD STRAUSS
BY LORI LAITMAN
CONTACT AUDITIONS
20 20
www.csmusic.net 33
Andres Cladera, Artistic Director andres@operasteamboat.org
APPLY Program Dates:
Online video submissions only
Deadline: April 1, 2020
for more information: operasteamboat.org
July 20 - August 16, 2020
Apply at www.YAPtracker.com
or download an application at
operasteamboat.org SEASON
Amahl and the Night Vistors, Fall 2019
photo by Terry Clark