Beth Willer
To be a musician is to be an artist.
To be an artist is to be a creator.
To be a creator is to shape culture.
When I teach young artists, when I choose repertoire, when I design a course, my centering mantra is always “preservation by way of innovation.” As artists and teachers, we ensure the continued relevance of our art form by way of creating and celebrating new music, new sound, new ideas, growing out of an ever-expanding body of historical art. We preserve the memory and work of past creators by championing new art that is relevant and responsive to the experiences of the humans in the room with us now. To the core of my being, I believe that so long as today’s art is meaningful and powerful, the historical art from which it evolved will remain meaningful and powerful.
This is where young artists come in—they are the new preservationists, and they are the new creators of the new art that will shape our art form for the next several decades. They are the teachers who will inspire the next generation of artists.
So how are we cultivating not only mastery, but also creativity in these influential young minds?
Institutions tend to center certain [usually Euro-centric] knowledge and aesthetics: repertoire, techniques, theories, histories, forms of literacy, performance practices. Learning about and exploring the historical roots of an art form is the scholarly side of our work as musicians. It is content not just to be understood and mastered, but also to be interpreted, challenged, and expanded. We often think of this content as the basis of knowledge/experience required before we are granted creative license.
But what if creativity was the foundation of our teaching, rather than mastery of content? What if we encountered and approached historical repertoires and performance practices and histories and theories through a contemporary lens? What if new music and creative collaboration were at the center of our curricula and our students’ experience?
And if so, then what is “new music?” I would venture to define it more expansively than we often might: It is music by living creators. It is historical music that has yet to be transcribed, published, performed, and celebrated. It is music that defies established genres. It is music that has been reimagined and reinterpreted without the limitations of historical and/or stylistic norms. It is music that tells stories that have never been told. It is music that challenges our ears and our minds and our assumptions.
In the interest of granting young artists the creative license to shape and contribute to the art form, we as teachers must ask ourselves:
How am I fueling individual artistry and a collaborative spirit in my students?
How am I encouraging and exhibiting open-mindedness and flexibility?
How am I ensuring that my students are participants in the creative process?
And in my efforts to center creativity and new music in my own teaching, there are several (large) questions that linger for me, both as a teacher and performer:
Is historical repertoire meant to be eternally studied and performed? and how much of it should I be teaching? programming?
How are we making space in academia for study of the many composers in the Western “classical” tradition over the last 10+ centuries that were overlooked due to our biases? and how are we ensuring that this music is part of our students’ experience?
How are we welcoming the many and varied musics of our world into our institutions as independently influential fields of study, rather than as supplemental to the established curricula and canon?
How are we preserving pathways to specialization, while also encouraging cross-pollination of musics and disciplines?
What are we doing in our educational institutions and public performance spaces to ensure that “classical” music is defined at least as much by its present and its future, as it is by its past?
Is the label “classical” weighing us down and building walls around our art form that prevent us from expanding and growing into the 21st century?
Truly centering new music and creativity blows up the structures and systems of our institutions in ways that make many of us feel uncomfortable, uncertain, and insecure. But the shift is inevitable. Will “classical” music survive such a shift? I would venture to say that art itself is equipped to evolve and survive any shift, if we don’t insist on defining it rigidly and building walls around it, and if we resolve to allow new art, and new young artists, to lead.
Noted for her “directorial command” and “technical expertise" and commitment to the contemporary vocal art, Founder and Artistic Director Beth Willer has led Lorelei Ensemble since 2007 to become recognized as one of the country’s most highly regarded vocal ensembles. A champion of contemporary music, Willer has collaborated with composers from the U.S. and abroad, leading Lorelei and other ensembles under her leadership in numerous world, U.S. and regional premieres, including works by David Lang, Julia Wolfe, George Benjamin, Kati Agócs, Lisa Bielawa, Kareem Roustom, Jessica Meyer, Sungji Hong, Reiko Yamada, Peter Gilbert, Scott Ordway, and John Supko. As a conductor and recognized leader of vocal ensembles, Willer has been invited to lead performances featuring The Bang on a Can All-Stars, Seraphic Fire, New York Baroque, Inc., and Roomful of Teeth, and has prepared ensembles for performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Cantus, A Far Cry, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Odyssey Opera.
Willer is Associate Professor and Director of Choral Studies at The Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University, where she leads vocal ensembles and will launch the conservatory's new graduate degrees in choral conducting. Previous work includes academic appointments at Bucknell University, Harvard University, and The Boston Conservatory, and preparations for conductors of the Boston Symphony, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Odyssey Opera. A passionate educator and conductor of young artists, Willer has led ensembles at Boston University's Tanglewood Institute, The Walnut Hill School, New England Conservatory’s Preparatory School, and The Boston Arts Academy. A versatile and vibrant clinician, Willer also enjoys work as a guest conductor for student and professional ensembles alike.
Willer holds a DMA and MM from Boston University, B.A. from Luther College. Her teachers include Ann Howard Jones, Weston Noble, Jameson Marvin, and Mark Shapiro.