Lauren Bernofsky (Bachelor of Music, 1990), studied Violin
Performance and Composition at Hartt from 1985 to 1990. She is currently living
in Bloomington, IN.
What have you been up
to since you graduated from Hartt?
I’ve had the good fortune to be able to do what I love,
which is teaching (violin and music theory), playing my violin, and, most
importantly to me, composing. After Hartt, I went on to do a master’s in
composition at New England Conservatory and then a doctorate in composition at
Boston University (thirteen straight years of college – whew!) I’ve taught
violin privately and through several school systems in the Boston area, and
music theory at The Cambridge School of Weston, Boston University, and the
Peabody Institute of Music. But I get the most joy from my life as a composer –
I’ve written for ballet, film, chamber groups, chorus, orchestra, you name it….
My most recent larger work is a children’s opera called
“Mooch the Magnificent,” on a libretto by Scott Russell Sanders. The opera had
an extensive run (34 performances!) with Roundabout Opera for Kids, and it was
recently published by Theodore Presser. I’ve had a bunch of pieces published,
actually – about thirty now. My publishers, besides Presser, are Alfred, FJH, Balquhidder,
Fatrock Ink, Boosey & Hawkes, and Hal Leonard. About half of these
publications are pedagogical works (so, works that would be played by, say, a
school orchestra), and the other half are professional concert works (brass
quintet, string quartet, orchestra, and assorted mixed ensembles.)
I should also mention another big part of my life, which is
my family. My husband is Christoph Irmscher, a writer and English professor at
Indiana University, and we have two kids, Nicholas (13) and Julia (8). And,
yes, my kids DO play stringed instruments!
What are you involved
with right now?
I’m currently getting a bunch of pieces ready for Theodore
Presser – they recently accepted a string quartet, a piece for trumpet and
piano, one for flute and piano, a work for soprano and string orchestra, one
for string orchestra alone, and one for full orchestra (which they’d like to
have in both full orchestra and chamber orchestra versions.) This is keeping me
fairly busy right now! I recently sent off the full orchestra version of my Three Portraits of a Witch, so the
biggest one is out of the way (that’s what I’m telling myself, because it’s
frankly quite a slog working through all these scores and parts, trying to make
them as player- and conductor-friendly as possible.) I’d rather be writing new
pieces, but as long as I bothered writing these other ones in the first place, I
may as well put in the time for getting them “out there.”
I’m also preparing for a position I’ve been recently
appointed to, and that is Music Director of the Musical Arts Youth Organization
(MAYO) in Bloomington, IN. I’m looking forward to hearing auditions in early
fall and then choosing some exciting repertoire for the young players to
perform. (And don’t expect me to stick to what was written before the year
2000!) I am pretty excited about this new prospect, this new opportunity to
bring truly engaging and, well, fun
music to the orchestra members. As their conductor, I’m the one who has to take
the heat for either boring or too-difficult or otherwise annoying repertoire,
so I take this challenge VERY seriously!
What is one of your
most memorable things about your time at Hartt?
I had a lot of important formative experiences while at
Hartt, but what comes to mind right now happens to be the words of a bassoon
teacher, Frank Morelli. I heard him perform in Musicianship class one day, and
he said that (and I paraphrase here) he listens to good singers as a model for
musicality. Simple, but so very important to good music-making. During my years
of working with players of all instrument groups (that is, not just the strings
I’m so accustomed to), and by “working” I include playing with as well as
coaching others playing my music, I have come to focus closely on the real
essence of the music, how to best bring out that music, in a way that
transcends the technical predispositions of any instrument. Wind players have
the limitation of needing to breathe, but we have to find ways of incorporating
breaths in a way that doesn’t interfere with the musical line. And strings have
the limitation of the bow – I’m closest to understanding (or at least being
able to point out) this problem, being a string player myself. It’s very difficult
to transcend the bow to play in a way that only supports the music and in fact
“overcomes” the difficulties of up-bows and down-bows and the relative lengths
of each (which result in the volume of a given note.)
I am going to continue this tangent for a minute longer to
describe something I’ve come to call “string player musicality.” (I made that
up, by the way.) For me, it’s an acceptance of certain unmusical ways of
playing that result from the natural tendencies of the instrument. I am
referring especially to when string players play loud up-beats because that’s
what the bow does naturally. Ridiculous, you might think – shouldn’t we know
better than that? But many string players are used to hearing the music played
that way, and it’s within their concept of “musical” string playing. I’ve heard
way too many performances, even by professionals, where up-beats (or any
off-beats) are in fact louder than the main beats, because that’s what the bow
does naturally. It’s not what’s best for the music, and as I imagine Mr.
Morelli to have thought, it’s not the way a good singer would sing it.
What did you learn
during your time at Hartt that you did not appreciate or recognize until after
time passed and you had some time to reflect?
I got a B+ on my senior recital jury. I was perplexed – I’d
been considered a hard worker (my friends used to make fun of me, good
naturedly, on Friday nights when, after dinner, instead of going to a movie or
“hanging out”, I went back to the practice room.) I’d prepared and prepared and
prepared for this recital, or so I thought. But then just a B+? I asked David
Wells, who was on the jury, why. I remember his words that I had “one of the
best hearts and minds at Hartt,” but my performance wasn’t really
communicative. I THOUGHT I was communicating, moving with the music, whatever.
But obviously it didn’t come across to him that way. As I went on to do a lot
more performing in various situations where I could get direct audience
feedback, especially in informal settings (for instance, playing on the street
at Boston’s Quincy Market and playing at retirement homes), I learned how to
really communicate the music I was playing, because when I didn’t, the crowd at
Quincy Market would walk away (Pachelbel Canon notwithstanding – you always get
a crowd with the Pachelbel Canon.) Or the people at the retirement home would
lose interest. But people really do respond, I have found, when you “look like
the music” you’re playing, that is, convey the music through your body
language. And it certainly translated into money for me, as a graduate student
in Boston – more money in the case at Quincy Market, or maybe getting called
back for a gig the next year. But, more important than the money, why shouldn’t
a musician communicate to the audience how wonderful the music is? In fact, the
survival of classical music might just depend on it.
What is next for you?
This fall will mark the first season for me as Music
Director at the MAYO program I mentioned earlier, and I’m looking forward to my
adventures there! As far as composing goes, I’ve been collaborating with some
other artists (writers, graphic artists, poets, etc.) in the creation of an
online “novel” about a mysterious (and fictional) island called “Blaitholm.” I
have already composed the music to the introductory video, and I look forward
to contributing music to other aspects of this project, too. I’ve been asked by
the Cardinal Stage Company (Bloomington, IN) to write music for a new play by
Scott Russell Sanders (who was the librettist for my children’s opera.) And on
my wish list for the future … a commission to write a full-length opera on the
novel by Sanders, The Engineer of Beasts.
Do you have any
suggestions for current Hartt students?
Absolutely: make use of all the resources at Hartt that you
can. Don’t just attend master classes on your instrument, or even your area of
music; I call this developing “horizontally.” So, if you are a classical
player, try a jazz master class. If you play a brass instrument, go to a strings
or voice master class. The more you learn about other areas of music, the
stronger a musician you will be in your own area. For instance, while I was at
Boston University, I learned that the school had a great resource in the Empire
Brass Quintet, which was in residence there. I began attending their brass
quintet master classes. And there I learned some great stuff that string
players don’t necessarily think about (for example, the exact moment you end a chord), and I was able to apply it
to string quartet playing.
And take your history and theory classes VERY seriously –
believe me, you WILL use this information when you get out of school. It might
well be the reason that you get called again for a gig after something goes
awry in the performance but all the people who could hear that the group was on
the dominant chord found their way back – it’s these musical skills that will
really help you as a professional. This is the point in your life when you’ll
have the most time to spend on your music, so take in all that you can! And don’t
forget to have fun along the way.
If you want people to
get in touch, how can they do so?
The Hartt School Community Division will open its
traditional production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker on Friday,
December 13 at 7:30 PM. As a special treat this season, the Hartt Dance
Department will also offer a Nutty Nutcracker. If you’re a Nutcracker
“regular,” you are in for a comical evening with this off-the-wall version of
the original Nutcracker. The Nutty Nutcracker, will premiere on Sunday,
December 15 at 7:30 PM. Hartt’s Nutcracker production includes two casts from
its Pre-Professional and Children’s Ballet programs, former dancers from the
Hartford Ballet, and surprise cameo appearances by several local celebrities and
dignitaries. In total, the cast numbers more than 100 performers.
