Estelí

Submission by Estelí

1. Estelí, currently in Montreal, first year Master's student at McGill in voice, studying with Sanford Sylvan. Grew up in Santa Cruz, CA; did undergrad B.A. in music at Yale College.

2. Why early music? There are plenty of answers to this question for me, but the first that comes to mind is that I grew up on jazz. My parents met in a bluegrass/folk group and always had jazz on at home; in high school I loved the jazz choir and started a trio, did arrangements, and loved directing and coaching peers. Arriving at Yale College I had very little classical singing experience other than choir, such that upon auditioning for ensembles I quickly found myself in the early music scene since I mostly sang straight-tone. However, I feel strongly that transitioning from improvising and arranging to ornamenting and experimenting with new instrument textures (OMG theorbo! gamba! hurdy gurdy!) was the main factor that encouraged my love and pursuit of early music. Other good reasons to cite might be Yale's resources alone - after all, Robert Mealy was the first violinist I ever worked with one-on-one, and who wouldn't be inspired?? - but also I think it's important to take into account how conducive the early music community was to fostering a love of classical solo singing for me. I'd never wanted to go the conservatory route, or get involved in various superficialities and drama that often come with the solo classical singing scene; but early music required that I inform myself, understand ornaments and instruments, learn things like early French diction, read mediaeval notation and lute tablature. I respected both the musicianship and minds of my teachers and colleagues, and those are the people with whom I wanted to make music - as opposed to (as I've now found in grad school...more on that soon...) worrying about the right audition shoes or bustiest headshot. This first semester as a grad student I've found plenty to grapple with regarding early music versus opera, solo versus ensemble work, technicians versus coaches, Canada versus the U.S. (and French versus English gigging...ahhh!) - so there will be plenty to talk about! I'm looking forward to being a part of this.