Page 50 - Classical Singer Magazine November/December 2019

HONEST EMOTION
WITH
KAMAL
KHAN
BY MARIA-CRISTINA NECULA
Kamal Khan’s career has included working with top singers in the industry and has also taken him
to the Dominican Republic and South Africa. Read about his many collaborations with singers from across the globe and get his advice on cultivating greater meaning and sincerity as an artist.
American conductor and pianist Kamal Khan performs in opera houses and concert venues around the world. As an accompanist, he has worked with opera stars like Marcelo Álvarez, Pretty Yende, Bryn Terfel, Nadine Sierra, and Juan Pons, among many others. He is also a sought-after vocal coach who brings a singer’s understanding to his work.
You trained as a violinist and a pianist. How did you discover conducting?
I started as a violinist but, by 14, I was very committed to the piano and then I thought I might become a conductor. What I really wanted was to sing. I did my undergraduate degree in singing at Manhattan School of Music followed by a very useful, stimulating masters in accompanying. I also got an education in what happens
if you get the wrong [voice] teacher. At the time it didn’t even occur to me to question why I was losing my natural abilities. I thought it surely had to be my fault.
What went wrong?
The rst mistake the teacher made was to change my Fach to tenor, which might have happened on its own, in time. I’m “Mr. Conservative” about Fach changes. I wait until it’s blatantly inevitable, because doing it too soon can create a lot of confusion and damage and also take away someone’s joy in making music. Teaching is complicated. You have to gure out what makes every individual singer tick.
This experience must serve you well in nurturing the unique gifts of young singers.
Absolutely. I believe that their individual gifts and
the natural urge to make music should never be sti ed.
A singer works with a voice teacher, a coach, a diction teacher—and what can happen is that the coins of artistry can fall between the layers of all that information.
I want to help singers become their own synthesists. I still have the good fortune to spend time in South Africa. The work there got me very aware of the relationship between language, body, and support.
50 Classical Singer | November/December 2019