NEC celebrates an opera champion
In the summer of 1940, the Russian-born pianist, conductor, and stage director Boris Goldovsky reported for duty at the newly established Berkshire Music Center. He was there to help run the opera department, and in his introductory meeting with the Boston Symphony Orchestra's music director Serge Koussevitzky, he owned up to a secret agenda: "I would like to find out what would happen if we were to treat opera singers like full-fledged artists and not like unmusical and clumsy marionettes who cannot be trusted to think for themselves," he said, as recalled in his memoirs.
Koussevitzky was taken aback. "Good Lord, this certainly cannot be done," he replied. But, he allowed, Goldovsky was welcome to try.
That he did, over a remarkable career that spanned more than five decades. In addition to Tanglewood, the outlets for his opera conducting, directing, teaching, and advocacy included New England Conservatory (where he ran the opera department), the Met (where he hosted a much-loved intermission radio broadcast), and the Goldovsky Opera Theater (his touring company that performed in small cities across the country). He led the first American performances of Mozart's "Idomeneo" and Britten's "Peter Grimes" at Tanglewood, and in Boston, he led the American premiere of Berlioz's "Trojans" in a cut version.
His life and his significant legacy will be recalled this weekend with a series of events at New England Conservatory, held to mark the centenary of his birth.
"In the US, he was the single biggest operatic force," said the baritone Sherrill Milnes by phone. Milnes trained with Goldovsky at Tanglewood and then joined his touring company, singing over 300 performances. "His biggest thrust was realistic drama, determined by the energy of the music. That's what motivated his staging. And I used the stage savvy that I learned from Boris [when singing] at the Met."
Throughout his opera career, Goldovsky worked tirelessly to help singers move beyond the era of stolid "park-and-bark" singing. Among those he influenced was conductor and director Sarah Caldwell, who earned international recognition with her Opera Company of Boston.
Another Goldovsky student was the soprano Phyllis Curtin, who worked with him at NEC, and later for several summers at Tanglewood. "I would say he gave me the absolute basis to grow on for the rest of the time I performed," said Curtin by phone.
As part of his commitment to revealing the art form's dramatic immediacy and its wide accessibility, Goldovsky fervently championed the idea of opera performed in translation. Curtin recalled once witnessing him challenge a young baritone who had sung an excerpt from Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" in a strained version of the Russian-language original. Goldovsky asked the singer, why bother? "If you're doing it for Tchaikovsky, he's dead. If you're doing it for Russians in the audience, believe me my dear, it's only painful."
The events at NEC begin this morning with a master class led by Milnes and conclude on Monday with another master class led by Justino Diaz. On Sunday afternoon, there will be a roundtable featuring Curtin and other musicians who knew Goldovsky well, followed by a dinner with more storytelling. Sunday also features a student performance of opera scenes in Jordan Hall, including portions of Mozart's "The Impresario." Appropriately, it will be sung in an English translation, prepared by Boris Goldovsky. 