Elly Ameling interview

Elly Ameling gives a new interview in Opera News HERE. Notice, she repeats that wonderful phrase she used many years ago in a masterclass "the voice is there to serve the music and not the other way around". She's absolutely right. This should be a mantra imprinted onto the soul of every singer and listener everywhere. It's long been my slogan. We should be listening to the innate music in everything we hear.  Performances are an interpretation warmed by the individual response of the singer or player. Sometimes I think even composers are just channelling something so great that is seems like an unextinguishable force of life, with infinite possibilities. Nowadays, thanks to the media, we're so obssessed by Mega-Egos that we lose sight of what music is really all about. It's not about ego, or celebrity-chasing and the silly power games that go with that mentality. To put it bluntly, "It's the music, stupid!". Elly Ameling graciously puts the music first. Hooray for her, and much gratitude.

Lots about Elly Ameling and art song on this site. HERE a link to the multiple CD sets that are a retrospective of her career.

(the photo shows Elly Ameling and Rudolf Jansen in Gotheberg in 1983. credit : Peter Appelros)