The Inside Story: Judith Clurman and HOLIDAY JOY

HOLIDAY JOY by Essential Voices USA, under the direction of acclaimed conductor Judith Clurman, offers a moving celebration of light, peace, and joy for the holiday season. Through a blend of Jewish liturgical traditions and festive Christmas spirit, the album illuminates the universal need for light and hope in dark times.

Today, Judith is our featured artist in the “Inside Story,” a blog series exploring the inner workings and personalities of our composers and performers. Read on to learn about her earliest performances, and the Juilliard class that equipped her with knowledge that’s carried through her entire musical journey…

What have been your biggest inspirations on your musical journey?

I have had many “inspirations” because I have done many things. It is not the people with whom I have worked, but it is the composers themselves who inspired me. 

Tell us about your first performance.

(1) Piano was my first instrument. I loved playing Bach, Bartok, and short contemporary works. (2) During elementary through high school, I hung out with my friend, who was a violinist; we played Beethoven and Mozart Sonatas as well as Broadway theater scores. (3) I started singing in school choirs in elementary school. I remember the moments that I first sang Brahms’ folk songs and a two-part motets by Lassus. (4) I accompanied various school and local choruses through my school years and played classical and theater music. I started doing this in fourth grade. I remember especially enjoying playing rehearsals of Benjamin Britten and William Byrd. (5) The first time I conducted Bach. I was in public school, in ninth grade. (6) While in junior high, I formed a little local chorus. We played board games and made music together, in the basement of our home! We sang only classical music. I was often drawn to Brahms and folk songs. (7) My high school teacher let me lead the madrigal singers. We sang everything from Gesualdo to Morley to William Schuman. And finally, (8) During high school, I became a solo singer. I recall the first time I sang the music of Bach, as part of a recital. All of these experiences were magical.

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing?

I could never imagine doing anything else with my life. Seriously, I knew that I would be a musician by the time I was eight or nine years old. Music was my safety net, my religion, my life. I listened to every genre of music as a child and loved hearing the best performers from each style — choral, jazz, theater, opera, chamber music, etc.

What emotions do you hope listeners will experience after hearing your work?

The words matter as much as the music. I would hope that they would understand the story my group is telling them and think about the meaning of the piece. I would want a person to be excited and want to listen to my work again.

How have your influences changed as you grow as a musician?

My musical taste has changed throughout my life. I would never program choral music the way I did when I made my debut in NYC, in 1988. Audiences have changed, people have changed, and I have changed. Now I am drawn to larger works. I listen to more orchestral and chamber music, along with choral music and I only want to hear recordings that are engineered well and conducted or sung by a musician whose work I respect. And I only listen to choral and solo singers when I understand the text clearly. 

What’s the greatest performance you’ve ever seen, and what made it special?

I sat in the top row of Carnegie Hall during my school years. I remember hearing the Berlin Philharmonic, under Herbert von Karajan’s direction. Night one was the Verdi Requiem with the soloists Mirella Freni, Fiorenza Cossotto, Luciano Pavarotti, and José van Dam. Then came night two — the Brahms Requiem with Leontyne Price and José van Dam as the soloists. The Berlin Philharmonic Chorus was excellent and performed without scores; the concerts were magical and brilliant. The sounds have stayed with me forever, especially the quartet singing in the Verdi. These concerts have remained my gold standards.

What musical mentor had the greatest impact on your artistic journey? Is there any wisdom they’ve imparted onto you that still resonates today?

Ear training classes at Juilliard. I took four years with the same instructor, Mary Anthony Cox. She got the best out of me. She taught me how to make something better and how to stretch myself. Her class was not easy. In fact, taking dictation in four different clefs was always a challenge for me. But I went for extra help to learn to relax, not get in my own way, listen better and gain confidence. So the class not only taught me about music but I learned that becoming a musician was all about gaining confidence in my own talent and ears! And the important thing is that the tools/skill sets I learned from those four years have stuck with me all my musical career. I often think of those classes. I also learned a lot from my Juilliard classmates. We all learned from one another. And believe it or not, when I conduct a rehearsal or a recording and/or teach a vocal student, I always think about telling the singers how to make it better… it all goes back to the ear training classes.