BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Alex Siegers is a jazz star. And a classical star.
Think they’re different worlds? Wait until you see the culmination of her varied vocal skills in The Song Company’s Dreamers of the Day concert. Leaping between centuries, it’ll feature works by Antony Pitts, Stravinsky, Reich, and loads in between.
The Sydney singer, who has ventured into jazz and sacred and classical and pop and a plethora of other styles in her career, has moved worlds to make this concert happen for her. The full-time marketing and digital coordinator for the Sydney Youth Orchestras, and full-time member of the Choir of St James King Street, put her life on hold to take part in this opportunity with The Song Company.
She tells us why ahead of the gigs, which kick off 22 August.
How did you become involved with The Song Company’s Dreamers of the Day?
The Song Company held open auditions earlier this year looking for singers for a larger scale work composed by Artistic Director Antony Pitts to be performed later in 2017.
Then, with regular alto Hannah Fraser on sabbatical in Europe, I got a very exciting and totally unexpected email from Alicia Gibbons (Operations Manager) that they were inviting me to do the Dreamers of the Day program!
I manically checked my work calendar and the schedule for St James King Street where I am a full-time member, and began shuffling commitments around in order to accept this incredible opportunity.
Why did this particular program mean so much to you?
The Dreamers of the Day program is incredibly diverse, exploring different manifestations and representations of time and sleep in music. The program both challenges and rewards the listener. I know the rehearsal process has definitely challenged me, but as we get closer to being performance-ready, singing through the program becomes more and more rewarding.
How do you prepare your voice for a concert that jumps from Handel to Messiaen in the blink of an eye?
This is something that The Song Company singers are known for – their incredible ability to cover a whole spectrum of vocal qualities and techniques in the space of one concert program. I have a lot more to learn about how to prepare myself for this kind of singing, even more than what I have learned in the last few weeks working with The Song Company. Technique is so important, and familiarity with your vocal mechanism – knowing exactly how to manipulate your sound and tone without having to work any harder than is absolutely necessary. I am constantly in awe of Andrew O’Connor (bass), Anna Fraser (soprano) and Robert McFarlane (tenor) for their ability to discuss and make specific changes to their sound depending on what is required. I could listen and watch for hours!
What do you feel it is that links all of these dreamy works together?
For some of the works, the dream theme is overt. For example, Anna’s Rapid Eye Movement by Antony Pitts is about a dream of protagonist Anna. It is a part-minimalist, part-improvisatory soundtrack of four pianos plus electronic and real percussion, featuring a talking clock, and a heroine on a kaleidoscopic dream-time ride.
For other works, it is the arrangement that links it to the theme, such as Handel’s The People That Walked In Darkness, which is arranged as though it is a half-remembered dream resulting in a hazy and elusive rendition. These dream-themed pieces are then accompanied by works of three 20th Century ‘dreamers of the day’ – Igor Stravinsky, Olivier Messiaen, and Steve Reich – where it is the composer and their preoccupations with perceptions of time that tie them to the theme.
Together, the works fragment and distort the listener’s experience and changing perceptions of sound and of time in the dream-world we are exploring. Antony does a great job of explaining the program at the start of the evening and in the program notes, priming audiences ears for the aural degustation to come.
Even on a personal level, you are incredibly versatile – you have a background in jazz, having studied in London and performed across Australia. How do you distinguish the jazz Alex from the classical Alex?
This is a question I grapple with a lot. Especially during the times in my life when I have been getting singing lessons from a ‘classical’ singing teacher and a ‘jazz’ singing teacher but not telling each one about the other for fear of being told off or told that I need to choose (which has happened in the past).
There is a definite trend in some vocal pedagogy to discretely separate ‘classical’ singing from ‘jazz’ or ‘pop’ singing. But as I encounter more and more incredible and versatile musicians I am realising that this distinction isn’t always necessary. I believe that there are more similarities than differences between musical genres and the techniques required to sing them. I hope that eventually I’ll get to a point with my instrument and my musical knowledge that I won’t need to distinguish ‘classical’ Alex from ‘jazz’ Alex, but I will simply exist on a continuum. It would be so liberating [not] to need to change hats, but to be able to pull from all parts of my vocal knowledge and ability depending on the musical task at hand.
How have you found that the industry approaches your ability to sing to different strengths?
At first I felt like a bit of a novelty, but the more and more time I spend in the industry I realise that so many musicians have to be proficient at a wide range of genres in order to be employable. For example, of the other 10 full-time members of St James, there are singers who perform pop, heavy metal, musical theatre, rock, opera and jazz. And that doesn’t even begin to consider the numerous multi-instrumentalists. Sometimes I feel that because I have dipped my toes in a range of genres, I limit myself. I am not mastering any particular style, but am simply average at many. However, when programs like Dreamers of the Day come up, I am thankful for the range of vocal styles and experiences I can draw from. I guess these are the moments that I need to hold onto when I am kicking myself for being the least-experienced baroque singer in a room, or the greenest singer at a jazz jam session.
What is your favourite style of music? Do you think you’ll ever go down one path alone, or will always perform in a way that breaks any perceivable musical boundaries?
When talking about my favourite style of music, it definitely depends on the context. My favourite kind of music to sing is either choral: something that I can sing at the top of my lungs (think Bairstow, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence or Peace on Earth, Christopher Gordon); or a jazz tune that I know really well like Gravy Waltz by Ray Brown.
In terms of listening to music, my most-listened-to playlist features Rachmaninov piano concertos, Sylvan Esso, Cyrille Aimee and Ella Fitzgerald’s Twelve Nights in Hollywood album, amongst other things.
I think I’ll always be involved with a range of genres. I’m not sure I am ‘breaking boundaries’, but I definitely feel that we can only benefit from knowing more about other genres!
What work are you most looking forward to as part of The Song Company’s event?
That incredible feeling that comes with vocal singing when everything comes together and you get it just right – the tuning, the vowels, the rhythm, the ensemble. Nothing beats it. I get a feeling in my chest, like there is a cup of mulled wine hiding behind my sternum. Warm, joyful and delicious!
There are several moments throughout Dreamers of the Day that lend themselves to this spine-tingling sensation, but for me the Messiaen is the one I am most looking forward to. It is the last piece in the mammoth performance, and the harmony – which is difficult to sing at the best of times let alone at the end of an exhausting concert – is just so satisfying to sing, and will be even more so in the wake of the music we have sung up to that point. We recently had our first run-through of the entire program, and I just wanted Antony to stretch some of the chords out until we ran out of breath so I could enjoy every inversion as much as possible.
Parting words?
- Thank you to The Song Company for this incredible opportunity – their Young Artist Program is so wonderful for young musicians; recently-graduated musicians.
- Thank you to all the staff at Sydney Youth Orchestras for accommodating my rehearsal and touring schedule so that I can take the time off to participate in the project.
- Thank you to my mum for paying for piano lessons for 13 years.
- And thank you to my boyfriend and housemate for putting up with me moaning about how I will never be good enough, and looking after me when I was having a total melt-down from trying to work three jobs at once (do not recommend).
- Finally, come and see Dreamers of the Day! It is your chance to hear music like you have never heard it before and I promise you will leave feeling totally awed!
See Alex Siegers with The Song Company, touring the Dreamers of the Day program from 22 August – 9 September.
