Imagination and fantasy with Barbara Hannigan and Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg

di Nicola Giaquinto - 27 Settembre 2024

On July 10th this year, the home of the Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti in Spoleto was once again filled with music by two magnificent artists: living legend Barbara Hannigan and Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg, a brilliant and multifaceted virtuoso.

After receiving a kind invitation from the staff of the Musica da Casa Menotti (abbreviated as MdCM), I made my way to Spoleto to have a brief but very fascinating conversation with both artists before their concert, in which they performed a very well curated, wide ranging program, spanning from N. Boulanger and E. Chausson to A. Schoenberg and G. Mahler, even including three delightful pieces by Wenzelberg himself.

A three-hour early morning drive through mountains, rivers and roads a little too narrow for comfort preluded my arrival in the legendary Umbrian city, where I was warmly welcomed by Federico M. Papi and Umberto Jacopo Laureti, respectively the Artistic Director and one of the Artistic Consultants of MdCM.

Musica da Casa Menotti is an independent initiative officially part of the Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds, presented by the Fondazione Monini. It has developed into a global network of prestigious conservatories and institutions, including The Juilliard School, the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Le Dimore del Quartetto, Nuova Accademia di Jazz – Il Tetracordo, as well as the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse de Paris. Through the young generations of musicians, MdCM is committed to defending the importance of the role of the artist within society, a value that Gian Carlo Menotti held dear. Today I had the honor of interviewing a staunch supporter of young musicians, as well as a young musician himself.

After a quick lunch stop with Federico and Umberto filled with conversations about music, pianos and future projects it was finally time for me to get my thoughts in order and start making my way to the interview spot: the home of Marina Mahler, granddaughter of the great Gustav Mahler. Mentally getting ready to put on my best interviewer face caused me to get lost in the narrow streets of Spoleto a couple of times, but I eventually made it to the scheduled location with one minute to spare… Which I used to call Benjamin and ask him to open door. Not even thirty seconds later, we shake hands and sit down for our conversation.

Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg (b. 1999) is a conductor, composer, countertenor, and pianist, based between New York City and Amsterdam. Currently a Conducting Fellow with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester in Hamburg, he recently graduated with Distinction from the Dutch National Master in Orchestral Conducting, and previously graduated Harvard College magna cum laude with Highest Honors, where he studied English and Music. Prior to University, he attended The Juilliard School’s Pre-College and sang as a child soloist and chorister at the Metropolitan Opera. Wenzelberg has conducted the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, the Boston Pops, Members of Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Dutch National Opera Academy, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Residentie Orkest, and the Ulster Orchestra, and his compositions have been performed in such venues as the Vienna Musikverein’s Golden Hall and Carnegie Hall. He is a Metropolitan Opera National Council District Winner as a countertenor, and his second opera (composer and librettist), NIGHTTOWN, which was commissioned by Lowell House Opera in Boston, won The American Prize in Composition.

N G: You seem to have it all! You are a pianist, countertenor, conductor and composer. Where do you even start when introducing yourself to people?

B P W: Well, I try to introduce myself with all four things! I really see myself as a multidisciplinary artist and I have always been very grateful to have had formative experiences in all of these disciplines that really developed me into the artist I am today.

N G: Are these different art forms and projects feeding off of each other, in your opinion?

B P W: Absolutely! I feel like me becoming a musician grew out of my love for exploring my singing voice and my written voice, I quite literally found myself into every side of the equation to better express myself.

N G: And how did you get into composing?

B P W: I have always picked up music by ear… early on that was the one way that got me closer to it. Having perfect pitch definitely helped developing a better connection as well, but there came a point when one of my schoolteachers called my parents and showed them that the notebook where I was supposed to practice my handwriting was also riddled with musical notes. It then became clear that those musical notes were a good way for me to express myself artistically, so from then I started learning proper notation in order to really create pieces from the time that I was four.

N G: Out of all these various forms of music, which one gives you more a sense of control?

B P W: I think it’s precisely about not having control that makes it all so fun! It’s lovely diving into whatever discipline makes the most sense for whichever project. I fundamentally believe in the profoundly collaborative quality of conducting… it is a leadership position, but at the same time you are humbling yourself to not make a sound in order to help everyone around you make the best sound that they can.

I also value the opportunity to “use my voice to give voice” to all different kinds of music, as a countertenor I sing anything from early to contemporary music.

As a pianist I also mainly work collaboratively, for that reason performing with Barbara is such an honor… and such a pleasure. The gist of it is, I am never far from giving something to other people, whether it is audience members or fellow artists, and for this reason I do not really think that much about control… it is more about the opposite, surrendering myself to the magical process us musicians are lucky to engage in.

I fundamentally believe in the profoundly collaborative quality of conducting… it is a leadership position, but at the same time you are humbling yourself to not make a sound in order to help everyone around you make the best sound that they can.

Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg

During our conversation, the faint sound of Barbara Hannigan warming up in her room could be heard bouncing against the stone walls of the house. I took the opportunity to ask Benjamin about his time spent with her and the impact he thinks this is going to have on his already very promising career.

N G: You are performing alongside Barbara Hannigan, what are the different aspects of working with such an intriguing figure? What is it like going through the process of building repertoire together?

B P W: Barbara is a Vesuvius of creativity; she is a fearless and vigorous artist… impossible to not find inspiring. It is really a childhood dream to get to work with her, I remember always celebrating her work. She goes for the best music making possible and has found so many different ways to achieve that while still being herself, that to me is really the key. Getting to engage all four of my disciplines with her is just a treat! To be able to receive her mentorship across all of them is a gift from a truly giving artist who is not afraid to bring everyone into her own world.

N G: Do you feel like she may also have learnt something by working with you?

B P W: I think she will have to answer that! Her approach is always full of exploration and discovery, she wants the music to always breathe and have a journey. I really feel like we have been able to explore and find that together. Hopefully she has enjoyed it as much as I have!

Using this upcoming recital to create an experience is really something different, Barbara has already sung most of this repertoire with really stellar collaborators in the past, I hope I am adding some new shades into the acrylic painting that she has built with them.

When going to concerts, it is always a unique experience to hear how works by living composers blend in with well known repertoire. I was personally very intrigued by the description I had received of Benjamin’s compositions for piano and countertenor, mostly because I knew that he was going to perform both the piano and the singing parts himself. Asking the young composer what to expect from his music before the performance was but natural.

N G: You are about to perform pieces that are written by you. Can you talk to me about it?

B P W: That is also a real treat! For me to be able to bring some of my compositions to the Spoleto Festival, in the house of Menotti himself is really special. I had the ability to choose my program for my portion of playing and singing, and I also wanted to include music that was not by me (Benjamin also performed Gustav Mahler’s “Rheinlegendchen” and Nadia Boulanger’s “Soleils Couchants”). I was aware of the fact that the program Barbara and I were going to prepare was shrouded in imagination, fantasy and a sort of escapism… whether it is memory or dreaming.

For that reason, it was in my best interest to pick music that would shed a different light on the same prism, so I chose two songs from a three-song cycle of mine called Dreamland Imaginantions. The whole cycle is based on a children poetry collection by Robert Lewis Stevenson that my mother would read to me every night when I was a child, and I wrote it in Tanglewood during my first time away from home for a long period. It was my first week there, I was trying to navigate my way around and I somehow found myself going back to these words. It has been several years now since these pieces were written, but returning to them as an adult, going into a place of dreams and shadows that normally is typical of childhood helps achieving a different kind of magic.

As for the other piece, I wanted to pick something that was adjacent to Italian. El vendedor de manzanas  is a poem from María Enriqueta Camarillo y Roa, and it really is just about an apple vendor selling his apples. There’s such an appreciation for them, the length that the speaker goes to point out the taste and color of the fruit captures what all of these other pieces really go for… this sensory magical experience where feeling is more important than thought. A simple song about selling apples is capable of achieving so much euphoria and sheer joy.

N G: How did you translate these feelings into music?

B P W: I got to know El vendedor de manzanas through a Spanish poetry recitation competition. My classmates and I all learnt and recited it, so I have heard it hundreds of times!

I remember, sitting there and noticing all the different inflections and appreciating different aspects from every contestant, so over the years the poem just kept circling into my head from time to time. The song has some jazzy influence, and it is very text driven, which I think is the best vessel to make the listener feel the joy, though mixed meter and bombastic harmony.

As for the other two pieces, I think of them as home. The whole cycle is dedicated to my mother, whose inflection when reading them to me made it into the music. It is really something that captures that motherly love. Reading the poems and sharing art to make people feel… I can think of no more meaningful way for that to happen than a mother reading to her child in the early stages of their life. The songs are youthful but not immature, in a way that they (I hope) capture both the parent and the child.

N G: Are they all pieces where you play and sing at the same time?

B P W: Yes, singing and playing is something that I would always do as a kid. It really felt like I was genuinely collaborating with myself, engaging with two different layers of my being.

After a pleasant conversation with Benjamin it was time to move to the second part of the interview. While waiting for Barbara Hannigan to come downstairs from her rehearsal room I took a moment to enjoy my surroundings… the air was quiet yet so full of energy.

Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan needs no introduction. One could say that she is the incarnation of pure artistry, capable of stunning the public with her award winning voice while being a beacon of inspiration for many emerging performers trying to navigate the complex industry of music. My conversation with her was short but rather precious.

N G: You endorse mentoring and the alliance between different generations of musicians and, as a matter of fact, you founded the Equilibrium Young Artist program in 2017. The interesting aspect about this project is your idea that the creative process stems from sharing the stage with you as a colleague rather than a student, can you tell me more about this approach? How do you think that teaching and mentoring has changed nowadays compared to the time you were a student?

B H: I would say that I was actually mentored from a very early age, in fact I started performing professionally when I was nineteen years old. I had some really wonderful chances with older musicians that were very generous to me, and I consider that good fortune… kind of like being in the right place at the right time. I also think I had a bit of a gift for finding people that were going to help me in my development.

When I decided to start an initiative, I really had many options… almost too many. I thought to myself “should I only do masterclasses? Workshops? Ateliers? Summer courses?”. Ultimately, I concluded that it is the early years – once a young artist has finished all their programs – that performers are all of a sudden more alone.

I thought that if I could do something that would bring them into contact with the colleagues that I have (like the Gothenburg Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Radio France Orchestra, etc.), basically helping them build their network and open up their world, making them feel less isolated. From the very beginning, I brought on colleagues as guests to come and speak to young artists. Daniel Harding, Natalie Dessay, Hans Abrahamsen, casting directors, and agents were all people that young artists could talk to and ask them anything they wanted in a comfortable space… not like an audition.

Equilibrium also was created to help the young artist find the support they need, because there is a large number of them that is not naturally inclined to ask for help out of fear of bothering and being shy.

N G: Here in Spoleto, you are going to work with Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg. What can you tell me about this collaboration with him?

B H: I met Benjamin online during the pandemic, because another singer who I taught at Juilliard had asked me if I was willing to listen to his recording and get in touch with him. There is always lots learn from working with young people, their concepts and communication skills.

N G: You care a lot about the dramaturgy of programming in concerts. Do you think that music should always follow a narrative path?

B H: No, I think anyone doing the programming should program how they think it is best, as long as they are really doing so in a way that they believe in. In his business book “Good to Great”, author Jim Collins writes that it does not matter what you are selling, as long as you are passionate about it.

Barbara and Benjamin were indeed able to convey their deep understanding of the repertoire and passion for musical craftsmanship. Their delicate performance of Schönberg‘s Op. 2 and Chausson’s “Chanson Perpetuelle” was particularly striking, so much so that it almost left me in a trance-like state. There was something about the mutual appreciation and concentration of the two artists that truly let the music speak for itself, freely radiating outside of the semi-open window overlooking Spoleto’s beautiful Piazza del Duomo.

N G: You are performing a very unique concert on the 14th of July… is there a red thread that connects all these pieces?

I find the act of going on stage and handling both performing for an audience and the critics is much more courageous, especially for young artists. Never compromising and being true to oneself also requires a great deal of bravery.

Barbara Hannigan

B H: There is a little bit of a red thread. It is music for a summer’s night… to be played under the stars. We go in and out of focus, in Roussel’s Le Festin de l’araignée we are quite literally looking at the insects – and it gets very very detailed… Just think about how fine a spider weaving its web is! – to later move to the huge emotions in the Valse Triste by Sibelius.

I wanted to choose a program that was a good festival ender, something that everyone could connect to. It is tender but also flamboyant, much like the difference between the first movement of Haydn’s Op. 104 and the absolute barn dance that is the fourth. Girl Crazy by Gershwin is just a winner, I made this arrangement with Bill Elliot.

N G: You have worked with many composers. It has happened that you made changes in the score, effectively co-writing with them. Do you enjoy this behind the scenes?

B H: I would not call it co-writing! It really depends.

Some composers don’t change a thing. Take for example George Benjamin, who only ever changed one note for me in his Written on Skin because I sang it wrong so many times that he got used to it and liked it to the point that he decided to replace it. It was not intentional! My instinct just did not make me hit the note he initially wrote.

In Hans Abrahamsen’s Let me Tell You, we did not change many notes, but I did change the text setting a lot, whereas in his opera The Snow Queen we were changing notes right up until closing night… We didn’t even tell the conductor sometimes!

N G: Since the beginning of your career you have been very open minded. You embraced classical, contemporary and even jazz. Since cross-overs between genres and juxtapositions have not always been fully accepted by the music industry and the audience as they are today, could we argue that it has been a courageous choice?

B H: I don’t really think it is courageous to do different genres, I do what I find interesting and never get stuck into one style. I find the act of going on stage and handling both performing for an audience and the critics to be much more courageous, especially for young artists. Never compromising and being true to oneself also requires a great deal of bravery.

N G: You are performing works from John Zorn this year. How do you find working with jazz musicians as opposed to classical orchestras and chamber ensembles?

I cannot really say that I’m working with jazz musicians, I am working with Ches Smith and Jorge Roeder, it is always about the people. This is how John Zorn’s music works. There is no style nor genre, he handpicks the people that he wants to work with just because his music is that much based on them.