EIF: Masterclass with Thomas Quasthoff
It was Thomas’s show!
Thomas Quasthoff was almost an artist in residence at this year’s festival, major domo in Ariadne for three nights, his jazz concert and now two Masterclasses for young singers from Scottish Opera’s young singers’ section. If anyone had any doubt about Thomas’s ability to sing his former classical repertoire, these masterclasses would have given them the answer. Thomas actively intervened with the young singers and not only gave advice but sang their parts with his wonderful rich deep bass baritone voice, at one point getting off his chair and walking to the side of Lea Shaw and booming out without a microphone (he didn’t need it!) . Some singers take masterclasses differently, often listening to young singers quietly and then giving them advice, but this is not Thomas’s style; this may be a masterclass for students, but it is the Thomas Quasthoff show!
I did feel for the young singers who were part of Scottish Opera’s Young Singers’ programme; they might have got themselves some good advice and it’s good to put on your CV, but they certainly suffered on the stage from Thomas’s frequent interventions. First up was Arthur Bruce a young baritone who began with a Schoenberg song; it didn’t take long for Thomas to intervene to correct his interpretation giving advice and examples on singing loud and deep, sometimes very deep! Arthur has a promising baritone voice, but he had a tough time from Thomas. He managed to get halfway through his programme with Alma Mahler’s ‘Die Stille Stadt’, but again was heavily intervened by Thomas. Next up was young mezzo soprano Lea Shaw who began with a song by Korngold. Thomas seemed to be more sympathetic to Lea and didn’t intervene quite as much and was more generally encouraging. She moved on to a song by Marx (Joseph not Karl!) that got a little more intervention when the very small Thomas held hands with the very tall Lea, who is a very promising young mezzo.
Is it a good idea to have masterclasses as part of a festival? Well yes but maybe in a more intimate hall than the big tent of the Old Quad where it was sometimes difficult to hear the interactions and to see the expressions of the singers. But certainly Thomas Quasthoff showed that he is a good teacher (he has been doing it for 15 years in Berlin), but the real joy was to hear him use that great voice again. Let’s hope we can hear it in recital again soon.
