Emmy-winning composer Jeff Beal is one of the most prolific and respected composers working in Hollywood having written music for numerous films and TV shows such as “Pollock,” “Rome,” “Carnivàle,” “House of Cards,” “Appaloosa,” “Monk” and “All Her Fault.”
This month, Beal is premiering a new song cycle he wrote for soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen, whom he met at the Metropolitan Opera and became fast friends with. The two set out to work on a song cycle, which first premiered in Berlin on Nov. 1 and is now headed to California and then to France, where Willis-Sørensen will perform two more recitals.
OperaWire had the privilege of speaking with Beal about working with Willis-Sørensen on this new song cycle.
Jeff Beal: I often try to draw something from a performer’s biography or uniqueness when composing a work for them. It personalizes the work and brings out the best in them as artists. In the case of these songs, I have to give the credit to Rachel, who initially came up with this wonderful concept. All of the texts in some way provide an answer to what feels like an often negative and cruel world. It’s a meditation on the choices we all have in little and in big ways.
JB: We met through a mutual friend, a brilliant composer from Los Angeles, Austin Wintory. He and some others were visiting New York from the LA Opera. We happened to be seated next to one another at a Met performance of “La Bohème.” I immediately thought Rachel was a real firecracker—funny, smart, and obviously very artistic and passionate about her art and her love of opera. I was a fan of her singing from her recordings, and by way of introduction, I gave her a CD of my song cycle “The Paper Lined Shack.”
JB: Shortly after that first meeting, we had a chance to see her sing Leonora at the Met, and I was completely enamored of both her voice and her presence on stage as a performer. A few months later, I ran into her by chance at the Met. It was an exciting time, as she had just been awarded the Beverly Sills Award. I invited her over to my studio to listen to the first Act of an opera I had been composing, “The Magical Baba Sisters.” Why I had the bravura to do that, I have no idea, but I’m glad I did (she liked it!).
Later, we returned to the Met to hear Rachel sing a truly powerful, lyrical, and nuanced “Arabella.” I think I blurted out to her in a text, full of praise for this performance, that I really want to compose something for you someday. My wife Joan and I had a visit with Rachel a day or two later. At the time, she had just booked these two solo recitals in Berlin and at Stanford and was hoping for some original material to program. She asked if I might compose something for the program. Well, here we are, less than a year later!
JB: I met my wife Joan Beal at the Eastman School as a kid in 1980. I fell in love with her lovely coloratura soprano voice, and we’ve been married since 1984. Through the years, Joan sang on many of my film scores and solo albums, such as “House of Cards,” “Carnivàle,” and “Rome.” I think the sound of a soprano is somehow imprinted on me at this point! Joan has retired from performing and studio singing, but the experience of our years collaborating in that way was so formative and helpful. I’m sure it continues to fuel my enjoyment of writing for the voice, which continues to this day.
JB: Rachel is so fun! We would exchange long WhatsApp voice messages and texts, and I’d send her things as I composed them. My favorite part of this process has been the way we found texts together. Joan helped me go through some of my favorite Kay Ryan poems, two of which Rachel chose for me to set for her. Rachel brought two wonderful texts: “Power” by Carol Lynn Pearson, and a poem she composed herself. She texted it to Joan and me. We thought it was beautiful, and I set it to music. You can’t get much more personal and engaged than that! I think Rachel felt as though she had just blurted it out, but that is what is so special about her poem. It’s honest, and it has a real dramatic build and arc to it, which was a really useful shape in the cycle of the four songs.
JB: Our first visit to the Staatsoper was to see “Die Meistersinger” in 2019. It was our first time in Berlin. Hearing Wagner in this iconic and historic place, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, was a transformative experience. To have a premiere on this very stage a few years later, with one of the opera world’s truly greatest sopranos, is something I could never even have dreamed of.
For each piece, I never really feel like it’s real or even alive until it is performed and received by an audience. I love the scale of the Staatsoper for the voice. Even though it is bigger than a typical recital venue, it has a wonderful acoustic. It’s befitting of Rachel’s talent that she has been invited to give a solo recital in this special temple of singing.
Regarding Berlin specifically—you know, it’s an odd time to be an American abroad. I believe our current administration has set back international relations by decades with its divisive, hateful policies and rhetoric. I’m happy Rachel and I are coming to this audience with a work celebrating the true spirit of our country: the values of compassion and kindness. It’s not a political statement, but I feel the message of these songs is an honest response to our present moment.
Read the full article here.
