Postcard from Peter Hilliard, Kindra Scharich, and David Conte
This week’s postcard features Composer and 2021 Hoefer Prize Recipient Peter Hilliard, Mezzo Soprano and featured soloist Kindra Scharich, and Composition Chair at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, David Conte. On December 3rd at 7:30pm, SFGC’s Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe conducts a full program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, including the world premiere of Hilliard’s Six Views of the Virgin with Premier Ensemble and musicians from SFCM.
The Hoefer Prize, awarded each year to a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, stems from a bequest by Jacqueline Stanhope Hoefer, a devout San Francisco arts patron from the 1970s until her death at age 83 in 2006. The Hoefer Trust earmarked a significant gift for the endowment of a fund to produce one new commissioned piece per year by an alumnus composer, to be performed at the Conservatory under the aegis of the BluePrint program.
PETER HILLIARD, COMPOSER AND 2021 HOEFER PRIZE RECIPIENT
Peter Hilliard
How did you become a musician and composer?
I come from a musical family and have always loved music. I wanted to be an opera singer, but quickly found that I was much better suited to writing music, in terms of ability and temperament. I came to the Conservatory in 1995 to study composition with David Conte, and I kept studying with a voice teacher and singing in operas and choruses. I have been fortunate to make a living writing, teaching, conducting, and performing music for many years. I am grateful to be doing something I love and to be able to share the joy that music has given me with other people.
What hobbies or interests outside of your music have influenced your music and/or creative process?
I love to read and learn about history, which often leads to wonderful discoveries I can incorporate into my music. Learning about the amazing women in this piece is a lovely example.
What has been your favorite performance or work in your career?
I can't narrow it down to a favorite. I am so honored to hear people sing and play my music. One of the amazing things about being a composer is hearing talented people who have been working hard on your piece show you what they've accomplished. I am often surprised and delighted when they discover things I didn't know were there. Just as all people do, composers change over time. When we hear pieces we wrote long ago, it's like seeing an old photograph of yourself, or even like hearing someone else's music; someone who has tastes and ideas that are oddly familiar to you. Some pieces I have written remind me of what I was working through as a person; a musical concept I was trying to grapple with, or a person who has passed away. Other pieces I associate with the beautiful artists and friends I have worked with; the memories of music-making are rich and strong. We will make some new ones while I am there!
Please share your thoughts on being the Hoefer Prize winner in 2021?
It is a great honor to have been chosen. I am humbled to be in such good company with winners from previous years. It is a strange time to be alive; we have all been through a great deal in the last two years. I believe in the power of live music, which we have not been able to experience in the same way recently. Having written this piece in lockdown, it is a particular joy to be able to experience it in person with new friends. I am looking forward not only to the rehearsals and performance, but also to speaking with current students. I always treasured the conversations with people working in the industry who came to visit when I was a student. I am hoping to encourage and share ideas with the new and brilliant group of young people I will get to talk to.
Why did you choose to work with the San Francisco Girls Chorus on this piece you composed?
The SFGC has a national reputation; they are an extraordinary ensemble! When David mentioned that they had a relationship with the conservatory, I jumped at the chance to write for them. I am hoping the work will have a life both in future programming of the Girls Chorus, but also in other choruses in the future.
How does it feel to return to your alma mater and premiere your latest commission?
The conservatory is a very different place from what it was when I attended a quarter of a century ago, but the beautiful new buildings are still filled with the same spirit of discovery, collaboration, and wonder that I experienced when I was in my 20s. I am grateful to be able to share some of the fruits of my study with the conservatory, and I treasure any time I can spend there.
Can you go into more detail about the story behind your piece Six Views of the Virgin? What is this composition about? What was your inspiration for creating this new work?
All the arts in America are grappling with how to better include underrepresented voices and perspectives. My voice and perspective as a composer are well represented in American culture, and I am who I am. But I can choose which texts I set to music and which voices I amplify. I thought about Mary, the mother of Jesus, and how for so many women throughout the centuries Mary has shown a way to interact with the Divine, a feminine thread in what can be a very masculine tradition. Mary's song, which we know as the Magnificat, is one of the most important texts in sacred music. I thought it would be nice to use Mary's original words to ground an exploration of the many women who used Mary's example of faith, courage, and creativity in inspiring their own courage, faith, and creativity. I found myself very much inspired by their beautiful witnesses, and as much as possible, I tried as much as possible to use their own words in their original languages, to literally let the women speak for themselves.
Peter Hilliard
What are you most proud of in regards to this piece and this performance?
A careful listener will notice that the choir is singing a set of variations on one of the traditional chants for the Magnificat, with a very bright Lydian flavor.
The texts sung by our wonderful soloist Kindra Scharich are carefully organized to interact with Mary's original ideas. As Sor Juana begins to speak about Mary, mentioning the inspiration of the Magnificat, we hear the first of Mary's words, perhaps even as a kind of echo in her mind.
Mary's text thanks God for remembering her humility, just as Sor Juana demonstrates her own humility in dedicating her talents: "Though the offering be unworthy, the affection is true"
As Mary's text reaches the praise, "Holy is His name", Thérèse of Lisieux tells us that Mary teaches her to sing divine praises.
As Mary speaks of the mercy of God moving forward from generation to generation, Hildegard von Bingen ponders the theological wonder of Mary's life flowering, opening a gate that the serpent had closed.
This kind of arranged dialogue continues as all the women share their views of Mary. The intention is a kind of tapestry between all their perspectives, woven with threads of traditional chant and the musical inspirations I bring from my own experience as a musician and composer. Hopefully the audience will be drawn into the world of these fascinating women and their beautiful ideas as they listen to the piece.
Is there anything you would like to add? Especially about the work with our choristers?
I believe music is one of the best ways we have to learn to work together and overcome our differences in this difficult time. Young singers are giving themselves a gift as they learn to bring to life the great music, both new and old, that they encounter. But they are also giving a gift to us as listeners and to the future, in bringing beauty to a world that is often ugly. The opportunity to partner with them is truly joyful, and I am looking forward to discovering what they teach me about the piece.
KINDRA SCHARICH, FEATURED soloist & MEZZO SOPRANO
How did you become a musician?
It was something that developed gradually over many years. When I was young, first with piano lessons, then voice lessons, I began to unravel my purpose and it was clear that music was an integral part of that
What hobbies or interests outside of your music have influenced your music and/or creative process?
I am fortunate that music is linked in some way to my greatest areas of interest: language, history, travel, art, exploration of the human condition. With so much to discover, there is never a dull moment.
What has been your favorite performance or work in your career?
It would be impossible to choose a favorite performance. Each is meaningful in its own way. I suppose that I feel most fulfilled when working with wonderful colleagues to create something that is larger than ourselves. And when we are all able to be our freest, most creative selves.
How does it feel to Be the soloist on this commissioned work?
It is always an honor to present something for the first time-an honor and a responsibility!
What are you most proud of in regards to this piece and this performance?
Well, it is a great piece that Peter Hilliard has written. I am proud to present multiple perspectives by great women in history, and I am proud to do it with the San Francisco Girls Chorus!
Can you please tell our choristers what skills or qualities you believe are important in order to be a professional musician?
The most critical one for me is a solid core, a sense of one’s self and one’s purpose. Flexibility, generosity and love.
Why is it important to continue practicing music and have online performances in this time of pandemic?
Music reminds us who we are and what we have in common with our fellow man.I believe that in this difficult moment in our world, we need these reminders above all else-it is essential, not extra.
Is there anything you would like to add? Especially about the work with our choristers?
Observing young people find their own unique voices and then join them together to create something of beauty with their fellows is one of the great wonders and joys of this life. I wonder if choristers know the joy their endeavors infuse into the world around them. I hope they do know that!
DAVID CONTE, PROFESSOR OF COMPOSITION
David Conte
How did you become a curator and professor at San Francisco Conservatory of Music?
I have been teaching Composition at SFCM since 1985. I was exceptionally lucky to get this position fairly soon after graduating with my DMA from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
What hobbies or interests outside of your music have influenced your creative process?
I have always been interested in writing, reading, and film. I’ve often thought that if I weren’t a composer, I might be writing screenplays.
What has been your favorite performance with SFGC?
I have been privileged to host the SF Girls Chorus at SFCM as part of my annual Faculty Recitals, beginning in the 90s, with Sharon Paul, then in the 2000s with Susan McMane, and most recently in 2018 with Valerie, who has become a valued friend and colleague.
Can you give more detail about putting this production together? Just how much work goes into curating a concert?
SFCM is delighted to welcome again the SFGC as our neighbor in the Civic Center neighborhood. It is always challenging to coordinate schedules with the Chorus, our visiting composer, our alumni performers, and our currently enrolled student instrumentalists. Bringing together our two communities is for us a worthy and exciting goal.
David Conte with a student
What are most proud of in regards to this piece and performance?
Peter Hilliard, our 2021 Hoefer Alumni Composition Prize winner, who graduated in 1998, is one of our outstanding graduates from our Composition Department. He has had notable success in the areas of choral music and opera, and SFCM is delighted to have connected him to the SFGC for this concert.
Can you please tell our choristers what skills or qualities you believe are important in order to work in the music industry?
I like to quote my teacher, the great French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, who the chorus featured in their concerts in 2018: “You should only do music professionally if you cannot live without music. Otherwise, you make a mistake: You marry someone you do not love.”
Why is it important to continue practicing music and have online performances in this time of pandemic?
We are grateful to have had the supporting technology for online concerts; of course they are no substitutes for live concerts, and we are all grateful to see the return.
Is there anything you would like to add? Especially about the work with our choristers?
The SFGC is a premiere ensemble that greatly enriches the cultural life of our city. I am grateful to have had such a long and productive relationship with them.
Michael Morgan conducts David Conte's Sinfonietta for 11 Instruments