Teaching Simon

By Charles Kellis

A memoir of the author, despite an incurable recurring virus, describing his life and preparation, for the teaching of the great Simon Estes.

 

The grandson of a slave – an underprivileged African American student at the University of Iowa in 1961 and a new, young professor who first discovered him and then became his teacher/mentor, nurturing him through to international fame. Two interwoven themes connect Simon Estes and Charles Kellis. Described as a "Union made in heaven," their student-teacher relationship became legendary. Like a diamond in the rough, it took a determined commitment with many hours every day for two years at the University. Then Simon Estes, onto Juilliard for one year; a winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow; his operatic debut as Ramphis in "Aida" at the Berlin Opera in Germany; "The Flying Dutchman" at the Bayreuth Festival; and subsequently, all major opera houses and most important symphony orchestras throughout the world. The rest is history.

 

This writing, however, also progressively evolved into an exposition of varied impressions. A microcosm of people and events including the unusual professional experiences of some exceptional international performers, who were also significant in their youthful interaction at a time of their relative anonymity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ENOSIS Foundation
• Release date: Aug 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781733197618

Book preview

In Memoriam

My Mother and Father

My mother Eleni

My mother, Eleni, represented what I loved most about women. I grew up thinking, When the time might come, that is the kind of woman I would be happy to marry. As pretty as she was charming, I felt like she could have been a girl friend or a younger sister. A helpless little doll who looked and functioned like she needed emotional nourishment. That is, until one day with a gleam in her eyes, she uttered the fatal words, I’m smart!

That did it! An amazing transformation! She then became more like a whirlwind and began to become the Queen of the household. Without imposing any unusual, insensitive demands, she always, nevertheless, had an observation to offer whenever she heard me sing. The uncanny and often irritating reality was that she was almost always right! She had an intuitive sense of - what was good or bad singing -- without any possible connection to any training. She continued living with me, until our dog Tabitha, my mother’s constant companion and best friend, died. Afraid of living alone during the week while I was away in New York, I decided to find her an apartment in a senior-citizen village just about 10 minutes away. Continuing to always still see her on weekends, I was the loving son who took care of her until she passed away at age, 103. Motherly love was always a structured part of her caring makeup. She was the most unusual woman I have ever known. When I finally got married to my beautiful Polish wife, my mom was heard saying,

You are now married! -- NO MORE WOMEN!!

My Father Arthur

I grew up respecting the real meaning of fairness and justice from my father. His history dates back to 1891, getting on a big ship all by himself from Greece, at the age of 12, arriving at Ellis Island and beginning his new life as a naturalized American Citizen. After an initial period of working with personnel for the railroad in Maine, he gradually became a recruiter for the American National Railroad until he eventually started his own personnel, insurance and real estate business. He was highly esteemed by all of his colleagues and beloved by his clients.

He was a great man and a great father. I truly loved and respected him. Since I was always traveling or busy with many activities, it seemed like there was never an opportunity to spend any real quality time with him. He was already in his nineties -- getting weaker and becoming increasingly in need of more attention. I felt an obligation to somehow find a way to help my mother with his care. This then became a luxury that could never again be experienced. I remember once saying to him,

I think you are a Saint!

Fairness surrounded him like a halo. He was the most honest and kind human being I have ever had the fortune to know. And he was my father. What a wonderful feeling of confidence he instilled in me. He taught me what justice meant in life and society. When he died at the age of 93, it felt like a huge tragedy. I cried incessantly for a few months and then it was all over. But he left me a legacy of knowing what it is like to feel loved and to have feelings for other human beings together with an unbounded understanding of basic fairness.

Acknowledgements

My sincere thanks to a few people for their inspiration and advice. They all maintained their interest and encouragement in this book.

Margaret Shaffer for her helpful advice.

My wife, Dr. hab. Malgorzata Kellis for her astute ability to find errors and correct some of the context. Her help has been invaluable.

And particularly -- John Bakas who, besides lending numerous useful thoughts and ideas together with helpful editing advice, was also instrumental in finally choosing the actual Title.

Table of Contents

In Memoriam

My Mother and Father

Acknowledgements

Preface

Through a Closed Door

Boy Soprano

The Violin

High School

Juilliard Student

The United States Army

Back to Juilliard

Roxy Theater

Fulbright Scholarship

Cigars

The Vespa

The Beretta

Arturo Sergi

Siena

Milano

Mariano Stabile

Maria Callas

Petrassi’s Son

Roommates in Milano

British School of Milan

Greece

Austria and Germany

Back to America

Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

The University of Iowa, Iowa City

Simon’s Move to New York

Simon’s Family

Simon Living in New York

Two Relevant Incidents

Racism

Success in Bayreuth and Later New York

The Key to the City of New York

Simon’s Wedding in Switzerland

King

Simon Estes Foundation

- Malaria Project -

Save the Children

My Return from Iowa

Carlo Celli

John Brownlee

More Experiences

Goyisher Chozin

My New House in Connecticut

Candlewood Chorale Society

Triple By-Pass

Simon To The Rescue

The Virus

Juilliard Faculty

The Piano

Puerto Rico

Bravo Simone!

The Iowa Award

China

Hong Kong

Simon’s Birthday

Back to Iowa

Conclusion

Letter from Simon Estes

List of Pictures

Preface

The grandson of a slave – an underprivileged African American student at the University of Iowa in 1961 and a new, young professor who first discovered him and then became his teacher/mentor, nurturing him through to international fame. Two interwoven themes connect Simon Estes and Charles Kellis. Described as a Union made in heaven, their student-teacher relationship became legendary. Like a diamond in the rough, it took a determined commitment with many hours every day for two years at the University. Then Simon Estes, onto Juilliard for one year; a winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow; his operatic debut as Ramphis in Aida at the Berlin Opera in Germany; The Flying Dutchman at the Bayreuth Festival; and subsequently, all major opera houses and most important symphony orchestras throughout the world. The rest is history.

Through a Closed Door

Since I was the new professor in the music department at the University of Iowa in 1961, the ones who were considered to be the best students were not readily assigned to my class. I was, therefore, not given the cream of the crop. But, lo and behold, here comes Simon Estes, this tall, skinny kid. He reportedly tried out for the University Choir and was turned down. Instead, he was advised to join the Old Gold Singers, a choral group involved with popular music. The head of the vocal department said,

I’m sorry, you’re not good enough to study with me! Oh, but a new young teacher is coming this year. Maybe he might accept you as a student?

After our first lesson, one day I heard him by chance – through a closed door of North Hall. He was rehearsing with the Old Gold Singers, and I was impressed hearing him through a closed door. The impression was not particularly of his voice, which at that time, was still not yet very strong or developed. It was the very fact that his quality had a certain ingredient of penetration that indicated an ability to carry – thru a closed door. That is what I recognized as an important element in my evaluation and that was when I started to encourage him to intensify his vocal studies.

Old Gold Singers

After realizing I was devoting so much time and energy with Simon, Himie Voxman, the chairman of the music department confronted me asking,

Why are you wasting time with that kid? Do you really think he is talented?

Upon my answering,

He seems to have some ability,

he quickly added,

Come on, Charles! He will probably just turn out to be a bartender.

Those were his exact words.

Prof. Himie Voxman

Letter of recommendation from Prof. Himie Voxman

There was also another teacher in the vocal department, Patricia, who actually exclaimed while grabbing her throat with a rolled eye gesture, Oh, I’m glad I don’t have to teach him. She didn’t have the imagination to envision beyond what was obviously an inexperienced young man without any prior effective training. At our first lesson, I optimistically envisioned some potential, like some of my other students, but certainly nowhere near what would later emerge as his destiny.

Gerhard Krapf, the professor of Organ, was looking for a section leader in the bass section of his church choir and contacted me for a recommendation. It was before Simon had enough lessons and was not yet completely ready for that kind of activity. Although fully realizing it might be a little premature, I decided to send him Simon anyway, because it surely looked like he needed the money. Perhaps it was not fair to have pushed him into that kind of responsibility so early in our training period. I thought, however, besides the fact that he could use the extra money, he could start getting some valuable experience.

Simon’s story, nevertheless, had a wonderful ending. After his success in Moscow, and after successfully singing all around the world, the University of Iowa was obliged to bring Simon back in 1967, but this time as an artist in a paid recital arranged by Columbia Artists Management. When Krapf heard him again, this time he promptly called me to say,

I am really surprised! I could not have imagined that he would become such a famous singer. He is absolutely wonderful!

And by that time Simon was already speaking to him in Krapf’s native German. Amazing?

At first, I treated him just like every other student until he began showing more promise. I then began to imagine how Simon might possibly become a successful black opera singer. My sympathy for African Americans together with the hope that he might possibly somehow succeed in becoming instrumental in helping their cause, prompted my decision to increase the instruction period progressively until it became an everyday experience. Always encouraging him with a super positive attitude, I tried to protect him from any forceful or unproductive vocal habits. Since he knew absolutely nothing about opera, he was like a clean blotter. The decision was later made that he should be a bass-baritone. Trying to make each day a regular tune-up, I brought him up in keeping with my orientation as a student of bel-canto in Italy – encouraging freedom with expression, effective breath connection, clean articulation and meticulously committed attention to a clean sense of pitch.

In those days, there was no such thing as a vocal coach, at least certainly not in the mid-west. Besides being his voice teacher, I therefore also became his coach, at least in our two years in Iowa. For anyone who may not be involved in the everyday workings of the singing vocabulary and is not familiar with the difference between a voice teacher and a coach, I will attempt a brief explanation.

The job of a voice teacher is to encourage the best possible beautiful sound in a singer’s voice. To improve range-extension and to modulate volume with a smooth legato line, applied breath support and good clean diction – eliminating all physical obstacles to healthy vocal integration. Balanced and coordinated! All to do with a singer’s technique.

The need for a coach initially arose from the lack of knowledge by many American voice teachers regarding foreign languages. Also, some voice teachers, mostly involved with emission of sound, were not paying enough attention to correct note values and rhythmic patterns. That left the task to the accompanist, who then also became more involved in musical phrasing.

Since a pianist usually plays for rehearsals and concerts, the term used to be accompanist. This gave rise in America to the added term, collaborative pianist. It created, by default, a new category of musical interaction for a pianist who might be unwilling or unable to sustain the pressures and responsibilities of becoming a Concert Pianist. It created a new terminology for the specialization of a new breed of accompanist who is taught to also deal with language as well as musical involvement. Hence the birth of the word Coach.

It also borders on the integrity of the voice teacher’s use of languages in the enhancement of their complete teaching experience. In the early history of opera, the voice teacher was responsible for it all.

An accompanist was then needed to musically secure his/her role, bringing to life the term, maestro-pianista in Italy and Korrepetitor in Germany.

My personal view on this subject is that, when possible, I prefer dealing with the entirety of a singer’s learning process without any interference or any possible conflicts.

Managing this without Simon’s understanding or even wondering about any division, we combined it all into blending a balance of vocal technique together with musical and expressive involvement. Attempting, therefore, to direct all aspects of successful singing into one umbrella of vocal excellence.

I tried to instill in him a sense of artistic musicality with expression, including his pronunciation of three new foreign languages. We freed his jaw and tongue from any impediments to clear diction, encouraging a correct coordination of freedom in his throat including attention to every other muscular impediment that could interfere. Part of the equation was also note values, expressive phrasing and declamation into correct breathing, adapted to fluid musicality. The correction of any pitch inaccuracies was all a part of what I liked to call, Fine tuning. Trying to guide his voice into gradually taking on that wonderfully beautiful, warm quality – all leading to the great Simon Estes distinctive identity.

Attempting To put him in touch with himself, we worked on what was swallowed sound, what sound was not emerging comfortably and how to encourage properly applied breathing in order to enable graceful projection. We worked a lot on trying to maintain a legato line. His U vowel was part of a mid-western drawl, so I also tried to steer him in a direction of balanced freedom with energy. A conscious effort to maintain pure and clean sound without any of the junk that could interfere with this purity, careful also to avoid any breathiness or any possible wobble. We also engaged in speaking out entire phrases with a commanding use of the breath, before actually trying to sing them. Unadulterated purity of tone quality was the goal and what ultimately developed – we liked to call, The Simon Estes quality.

I used to say, You can always know it is Callas when you hear her. You cannot mistake Caruso when hearing his recordings. You can always recognize the individuality of a Botticelli or an El Greco painting. We wanted to retain the Simon Estes quality in all its distinctive splendor – no tricks, no falsifications, no gimmicks – only pure unadulterated sound. I tried to keep him unaware of most of the problems that I was dedicated on solving, without ever broadcasting the intent.

El Greco, The Opening of the Fifth Seal 1608-1614

At the very beginning of our training he once very innocently asked, after Richard Stanche’s introduction

Opera? What’s that?

When I had him listen to some operatic recordings of Callas, Price, Siepi and Caruso, he immediately reacted with,

I like that stuff.

I recall his also relishing, Scheherazade.

Bass-Baritone, Cesare Siepi

Old recording of Enrico Caruso

I could not yet dream or imagine, at that point, that he would become a great important international performer who would be in high demand all over the world. It would have been enough to have envisioned just bringing an African American singer into the operatic singing world. A singer who could at least be accepted as a competent black classical and operatic performer. The big bonus was his amazing success as a famous major world-class opera star.

One day early on, he asked,

Will I ever have a voice as big as yours?

My answer was,

Of course, but that will come with time.

Never allowing him to force his voice, I tried to save him from any of the neuroses that singers develop, worrying about their voices. The real Simon Estes warm, beautiful quality was becoming more and more in focus every week. I carefully had him move his jaw from side to side to release any possible tension and to be sure that his tongue was also free from swallowing the tone. Many of these procedures were activated through our attention to comfortable articulation, allowing him to gracefully achieve a fuller commanding forte. We also dedicated attention to alternating into a free, round, full-throated pianissimo, which we used to refer to as, Cuppo.

Early in our training experience, I had him bend over to take a full breath, sending the air to free his throat. When another student, Mimi Stuart, told me,

Simon was demonstrating the same breath procedure with a couple of your other students upstairs.

I began to laugh! That, however, already showed his potential future instincts as a good teacher.

While having him sing demanding phrases, I was obsessed with trying to make him feel that it was all very easy. Even if he were not able to accomplish everything I asked of him, all the corrections were designed to make him aware of the temporary, simple requirements, not necessarily the final results. And the results continued to develop. I purposely stopped him from taking breaths between successive long phrases in order to encourage his fuller breath capacity, making the whole process work more efficiently. He was even encouraged to laugh like me. A kind of Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa Claus belly chuckle, designed to get the breath working with good support coming from below, engaging the diaphragm.

I could still not yet imagine his becoming a significant international star. All I knew for sure was that he was improving steadily. Making him envision the roof of his mouth, attempting to pretend that the sound was going up to the ceiling and out to the balcony of a theater, I sometimes attempted to have him sing more towards an U or AW vowel, in his upper range. We continued working on the passaggio and after a period of trial and error, one day later on, he called to say,

I think I found it.

I asked,

What did you experience?

His answer was,

I don’t know, but it feels right.

The fruits of our labor were becoming realized. Our long road was finally coming to the point where Simon was better able to instinctively be In touch with himself, feeling the sensations in his throat and body and maneuvering into the right orbit. Without ever even mentioning either the soft palate or the larynx, and by exercising effective indirect means, I managed to encourage his soft palette to be high and his larynx low. He had no idea what I was ultimately after, but he always responded with complete faith in whatever I had to offer. His voice