by Michael Daecher
The first time I saw Irina Mozyleva sing was a few years ago at the Alagash coffee house on Main Street here in Beacon. A friend and I saw her perform a recital of traditional Russian folk songs for an audience of about 25-30 people. I could fit the amount I know about opera into a Dixie cup, but talent like hers moves you fundamentally. As comfortable covering American musical numbers as she is belting out Shostakovich, Irina has made Beacon her home.
Over the next few months she’s planning several performances as part of her “History Through Song” series, the first of which will be on Saturday, May 7, at the Howland Cultural Center. It seems fitting that Beacon, which has become home to so many great visual artists, can also accommodate great musical talent. The Howland Center has become one of Irina’s favorite places to perform in the world. The songs she chooses to perform tell the story of her life growing up in Russia and also reflect her experience as an American immigrant. As an independent artist Irena has found a way to balance her work with her family, which includes her husband, architect Aryeh Siegel, and their 7-year-old daughter Lia. In articulate but heavily accented English, she tells an extraordinary story of growing up in the Soviet Union and making her way to America through song.
Where are you from originally?
I’m from a country called Belarus. It was part of the Soviet Union, but now it’s an independent country. I was born in a town called Miory.
How did you get started singing?
Singing came as speaking came because my father has a very beautiful voice and an artistic personality. His story is part of my story, and I only got to know about it after I came to America.
After World War II his mother was left alone. Her husband did not come back after the war. She thought he was dead, but in fact he had married another woman. Pretty sad. My father was the youngest, so she gave him away to relatives living in Belarus. At 9 years old he would run away and ride on the trains, where he would sing for spare change. And that’s how he survived. Finally there was a teacher in one of the orphanages who wanted to adopt him because he was amazed at his singing abilities. But when the papers needed to be signed, my grandmother took him back.
As a result of all of this my father is a complicated man. He was not very happy, but he tried to make up for it with his art and the singing. He started to work as a mechanic in a factory when he was 15 years old, because he needed to help the family. But his personality was just so glowing! When I was born he was the director of the arts center in town, sort of like the Howland Center here in Beacon. He was entertaining constantly, and every time there would be parties, like in every Russian house, he would be singing and I would be screaming my loudest, just to go with him. They got me a little piano, which had pedals to make noise. And that’s how it all got started.
So you were a natural.
Well, I really took after my father. I still get butterflies before performances, so it’s not completely natural. My ambitions want me to do it, but physically it’s not always the most natural thing. But because of my father’s example, I always wanted to sing.
How long did you study singing?
My first debut was when I was 5 years old, when I sang with the boys choir. I was standing there with a lot of verses to sing. And the woman who coached us told me that if I forgot one of the verses, it’s ok, wait until the verse is finished and then come in again. So of course I forgot one of the verses, and I’m standing in front of everyone, and the boys in back of me are pulling my collar telling me the words. And the story goes that my face was so professional -- I waited until the end of the verse and came in with everyone else perfectly on time. Everyone else was panicking but I was standing there like a professional.
In Russia you were pretty much pushed to give back to the community. This is the talent you have, you almost have no choice. So I started to study piano at a school that was very far away from home, in Minsk. This was a boarding school where all the kids were studying music. The teachers would travel around the republic and choose the children from the kindergartens and do tests to decide who has ability. And then they would talk to the parents. There were a lot of kids who lived away from their parents since they were 7 years old, and would only see their parents on vacations. So it was very intense. We had 2 hours of piano practice in the morning, and then you had choir, and then math, and then after dinner, which is at 2:00 in the afternoon in Russia, you have another few hours of practice. We didn’t play any games. There was no slack for being 7 years old.
You must have grown up fast.
I did. But you spent time learning your craft, which was very important. I was in the same school from when I was 8 to when I was 18. When I graduated my major was not singing, it was choir conducting, which is very developed in Russia because of the churches. Even before the Revolution it was such an authentic Russian thing to do, with the a cappella choir, which doesn’t use any instruments. This is the choir I sing with in the city when I go there. Everyone talks about the deep bass voices – very beautiful.
One of my favorite things was going to the music library to pick the books off the shelves. I would sit and sight read all of the songs. In the end that’s why I’m so excited about the recitals. Because the literature that I sight read during those years is so important to me.
But I decided to go to Moscow because I didn’t want to pursue choir conducting. I wanted to sing, and if I went to the Belarus Conservatory, I’d be expected to do what I always had done. In that last year of school me and my girl friend took a night train to Moscow without telling our teachers. (laughs) I did let my mother know, because she’s always been a friend to me.
So we got to Moscow, which along with St. Petersburg, are very prestigious cities, much like New York and Los Angeles here in the US. So to go there out of nowhere was taking a big risk.
I had graduated the year that Chernobyl happened, and Belarus is one of the closest to the Ukraine, where the accident happened. When we arrived in Moscow we asked a militiaman directions to the school, and he asked us where we were from. We told him we were from Belarus and he said “are you sure?” and sort of backed off! (laughs)
You were in Belarus when Chernobyl happened? Wasn’t the 20th anniversary of the accident at the end of April?
Yes, I was in Minsk. I still have to check for cancer and all the things they’re bringing up in the press. But, you know, what are you going to do?
So we went to the Moscow schools and auditioned. We had a lot of nerve. We were really choosing the schools, meeting the teachers and sitting in on the classes. I was pretty ambitious. But when I came home my father didn’t want me to go to Moscow. He felt that finally after I graduated I could live at home. But in Russia at that time it was a big deal, when you had the opportunity in front of you, you had to take it. So I went and told my father, “You have to let me go.” And he did. I went to Moscow and did the exams, and I was accepted.
It was a college where the specialty was musical theater. In Russia you only start professional singing at 16 or 18, but not earlier. So first you enter college and then you go to conservatory. But I hadn’t even finished college when I went and got accepted in the Moscow Conservatory, which was a huge deal. I think it was pure destiny. I just went and sang and when they said I was accepted, I couldn’t remember my telephone number to call my mother. I really couldn’t believe it.
How long did you live in Moscow?
For 6 years. In my fourth year perestroika was happening, and there was a lot of news from abroad. Young people started to leave, just because of the excitement and possibilities for musicians, and especially the artist musicians. Even though we didn’t suffer as much as the intelligentsia or the artists in the generation before us, it was still a very complicated life. So the chance came that one of my friends who was already in New York City showed my tape at Julliard, and I got my invitation letter to come and audition. In ten days I got the visa, I got the release, everything. But I was very determined. When I went to the US embassy, all I had was my simple letter of invitation, with the time on it. The man at the embassy asked me if I was a singer, and I said, “Do you want me to sing?” I wanted to go so badly – I wanted to taste it myself. It was another opportunity that I would not miss for the world. And in 10 days I was in New York, on the 25th of May, 1992. And in 3 days I was standing on the Julliard stage doing my audition.
My friends found me a Russian accompanist who could speak English, as I could speak none.
You spoke no English? That’s pretty bold.
That’s the story of my life! (laughs) A lot of things I did because I had a certain drive that I now realize came from my father, to fulfill his dreams. When I arrived in America I was accepted to attend Julliard, and I went there for 2 years, without speaking the language. The first year I really had only English language classes, voice lessons, and music terms in English. The second year I entered more of the general education, but after Moscow Conservatory, it felt like first grade. I was not ready for Julliard. I was ready professionally, and my craft was ready, but I was not ready mentally.
Not being able to communicate and learning how things work was a big challenge. Basically by the end of the first year in Julliard I was pretty depressed. (laughs)
But then another opportunity came and I auditioned to attend the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. And I did it with all my heart. I knew there was a lot of competition, but I made it. There it was much more like a family. Julliard is a much bigger college – I felt completely lost. But Curtis felt like family – there’s only 250 people in the entire school. There was a girl there who was 11 years old who was already playing flute with all the major orchestras. When you get into Curtis, they take care of everything. They even paid for my apartment during my second year. All I had to do was sing. It was an amazing experience. The costumes were made for you, and you were treated like a star. In a way it spoils you because the professional work after that is another story!
So basically, from the moment I arrived in this country, for the next 5 years I was studying.
How did you end up in Beacon?
One summer I was invited out to the Hamptons by a woman who needed entertainment for her guests. She was willing to give me a sponsorship. We arrived at this house and it had a walk-in fireplace. On the balcony there was an organ. There were two grand Steinways. It was an amazing place.
I met Aryeh there before a performance, but he left before I had a chance to get to know him. So I ended up going back to Philadelphia to study and a friend of mine, who was staying at my apartment in New York, called me to say that I’d gotten a letter from Aryeh Siegel. I said “open it and read it to me!” It was such a beautiful letter. So I asked Aryeh to visit me, and for a whole year he’d come down to Philadelphia or I’d come up to New York. Eventually we got married and moved to Brooklyn.
When I had Lia in 1999 we started looking for more space, and we first started looking in places like Cold Spring. But the realtor told us that Beacon might have more of what we were looking for, so we started to look here. We took our time, because at that time Beacon hadn’t yet gone through all the improvements. We took a walk along Main Street from end to end and weren’t sure it was where we wanted to be.
But we loved the house we saw right away. And the woman who lived in the house really warmed us to the idea of Beacon. She wrote us a really nice email talking about the history of the house, she told us all about the neighbors, and how the Dia was going to be opening a big museum. So we finally decided that Beacon was the right place for us.
Why have you chosen to perform as an independent artist?
I did a few major recitals after school, but I started getting burned out with the experience of America, of being an immigrant, of me being thrown on the top of those things. I didn’t have the energy to work harder and harder to reach a new level. I’d been singing non-stop since I was six years old, and I was lacking in confidence because I was so burned out. So I decided to take some time off and devote myself to my family.
After I had Lia I decided to record a CD of Russian lullabies, which gave me the confidence that I could conceive an idea and get it done. And once I was here in Beacon I met Florence at the Howland Center, which I thought was the most beautiful place. You know I walk into a place and I can hear the songs that can be sung there. I know exactly which song would be right for the atmosphere of the space, from contemporary music to baroque. And Beacon inspired in me some controversial and diverse ways of looking at things.
I started off with a few recitals and it was exciting for me to perform by myself. I could perform what I wanted and pick the songs that were important to me. I started to learn about myself and my own creativity, and how to express things.
It was a revelation to me that you could create your own programs, and that there were organizations like the Dutchess County Arts Council, who would fund it. I thought the world was smiling on me! It takes a lot of time, and you have to do a lot of research for the grants, almost like Shostakovich had to learn to create within the limits. It’s a weird connection, but I can see that. It really challenged me to think about what I wanted to do, and that’s how I came up with the “History Through Song” series.
The first season was in 2002 and I’m now in my fourth season. Of course the challenge is to learn how to balance the creative work with family, so I’m not doing as much work in the city. But I feel like I finally understand America, I know what I want, and I’m just enjoying it so much.
Can you tell me about your upcoming performances?
Half of the “History Through Song” subjects are Russian. And the lives of the composers are even more fascinating to me than some of the songs. The May 7 performance, “Soviet Songs”, is dedicated to 100th anniversary of the birth of one of Russia’s greatest composers, Dmitrij Shostakovich. He was writing in the 1930’s during Stalin’s “Great Terror.” How he could survive that time and go so deep as to express what hundreds of people around him felt is just amazing to me. This was 1937-38, just before World War 2, when people were very scared. They would be looking outside their windows to watch the cars passing or listening to hear what floor the elevator would stop at. People would speak in a code, and on the radio the propaganda was saying how much better life is. It’s never been so dreamy! The Soviet Union is the best!
In Russia, because of the history of the czars, people did not know how to speak up. We don’t have a history of learning to confront things and question things. It’s very hard to do that when you’re already grown up. At one of Shostakovich’s performances, people just wept. The music was telling their story. And when the piece was finished for 30 minutes there was a standing ovation. That really fascinates me.
For the “Soviet Songs” recital I’m going to go through Shostakovich’s early songs, when he was doing more experimental avant-garde style. The 1920’s were a very interesting period in the Soviet Union. You know, the first avant-garde center in the world was organized in St. Petersburg. After the revolution in 1917 there was a real feeling that we needed to experiment and show the world that this was the best way of living. But most of the intelligentsia had already left: Stravinsky was in Paris, Rachmaninoff left in 1917. The masses who were left in Russia did not accept the new style. It was like my mother going to the Dia museum, pointing to an exhibit and saying “In our collective farm this just lies on the field.” (laughs) There’s no connection. So the government said we need a proletariat culture with songs that will be written and understood by the masses.
Then he wrote some very popular Russian tunes, some of which people know but would never associate with Shostakovich. So I’ll be singing those as well. All different styles of music, and between the songs I’m going to try and tell the story. To me he’s really a genius.
Do you think an American audience can relate to what you’re singing about?
Well “Soviet Songs” is really the story of art and community, and it’s relevant to what’s happening in Beacon now. The people living in the Mid Hudson valley are connected with their history more than any other place I’ve ever been. People who respect their past can relate to the story of Shostakovich. He was sincere about serving a purpose, which was engaging the people. His story is about art, and community, and politics.
It’s fascinating what it is that makes us Russian or American. If you take all of this outside stuff away human nature is basically the same.
If bad things happen to one people in one place, who’s to say it can’t happen to another people in another place? At the same time all this suffering was happening in Russia, it was happening in Germany with Hitler, which is the subject of my second recital in October.
Sounds cheery.
(laughs) I know! I actually started to write a letter to my benefactors to help explain why I chose this subject matter – it’s the saddest part of our history. But you know what, something in me does connect to that.
Irina Mozyleva will be performing “Soviet Songs” on May 7 at the
Howland Center in Beacon. You can see a full schedule of her
performances on her Web site:
http://www.irinamozyleva.com
paryjhsm lugbdneqr trlp mrwoaylci lrpxu xbjigmpc itclwx
Posted by: pzkf nofcsdgw | September 21, 2007 at 03:32 PM