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A Special Note
from the Artistic Director
Read also Dr. Lockemann's newest feature: Lieder as Mini - Operas?
LAI looks forward to its seventh season. Join us as we continue to challenge and change many of the common views and ways, which wrongfully make Lieder either into the specialty of a highly educated elite or, the most blocking prejudice of all, the  repertoire of beginning singers, who are not yet “ready for opera”. Lieder, if dealt with properly, are something so very different! I can assure you that the work at LAI will open and release the unique life and existential glow of Lieder to you. Experience with us the genuine reality, truth and power of this art form. It demands a high level of singing, true musicality in your intimate work with your partner at the piano, and total and full comprehension of musical values of spoken and sung words. In short: great artistic productivity.
The Lied is an art form of its own, with its individual challenges and chances. It does not borrow from, and imitate, theatrics and storytelling. LAI is, to the best of my knowledge, the only program, which, in its concept and approach, respects the Lied’s special set of demands. This is clearly indicated by our working method: repertoire is not prepared by the students beforehand. This would necessarily lead to constant corrections during the program, to suggestions, small or big, how to improve on something, which was, most of the time, approached with a lot of uncertainty and guesswork, in a word: inappropriately. This makes corrections and suggestions as practiced in other programs, at best, not very productive.
At LAI we go through the whole process of preparation, step by step, together, starting with a very different and new concept of “Work with Words”. We are convinced that changes on the fundamental level, in understanding and approaching Lieder, are urgently called for. The usual modus operandi is simply insufficient.
Our complete and balanced approach goes straight back to the composers themselves. It can be traced from Franz Schubert to Hugo Wolf, and beyond to Hans Pfitzner and Othmar Schoeck. It lets singer and pianist shine, the texts unfold in a new musical way, the music soar, and very importantly, it lets the audience be fully involved and care.
Those documents become understandable, which describe the genuine joy, excitement, and enthusiasm, which the Lied composers themselves, like Schubert and Wolf, their friends, the early performers and audiences expressed so vividly.
The work at LAI may challenge what you originally thought, change many of your artistic views and initiate new ways and possibilities. It will lead you, as a person and artist, to a broader and deeper scope of perception, expression and communication.
We expect of you openness for new experiences. You should feel ready to fully immerse yourself into new artistic experiences. You will encounter a healthy mixture of work within and outside of your comfort zone. We need your trust in this process. You will always be safe and supported; we are a small personal program, where everyone is fully available for each individual artist and her or his needs.
If you just want to have an “academic” European vacation, or are afraid or not interested in learning something you haven’t encountered before – LAI is not the program for you. If you are ready, willing and able to take advantage of a summer full of intense, innovative artistic work, where joy, fun and satisfaction come from genuine involvement – we certainly should be in touch and prepare for an experience of a lifetime!
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"I believe that the work of art is much more important than all the interpreters
. . . For me the best interpreter is the one who retreats behind the work."
- Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau |
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Isn't this what you wish for too:
"If only my talent for music and poetry would converge into a single point . . . I could attempt a great deal."
- Robert Schumann |
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"A poem should not mean but be."
- Archibald MacLeish
American Poet |
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"Great poetry already has its meticulously crafted music -- strong and intact. I feel that I have a serious responsibility . . . to discover the music of the poem".
This work is "resulting in the poem directing the writing of its own unique and innate music."
- Libby Larsen
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