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Mezzo-Soprano Laurie Rubin Chosen to Sing at White House in Washington, D.C.
Story by Michael Chipman
RELATED STORY
Laurie Rubin, a junior vocal performance major from Los
Angeles, California, will have the unique opportunity to
perform at the White House in Washington, D.C. on October 16
in honor of National Handicap Awareness Month. Rubin, a
singer who happens to have been born blind, is a student of
Richard Miller, professor of singing and director of the
Otto B. Schoepfle Vocal Arts Center.
Miller says of Rubin, "Laurie is a very talented young woman. She has a wonderful ear for sound, for timbre and for language. She is a delight to have as a student."
Rubin's performance is part of the presentation for the Very Special Arts (VSA), a Washington, D.C.-based organization with branches in most states whose purpose is to "help launch the careers of young musicians with disabilities from around the world by providing them with scholarship funds and the opportunity to perform at one of the leading performing arts venues in the United States."
"I won an award from VSA a long time ago, and I have done a lot of things for them since then," says Rubin. "October is Handicap Awareness Month and they selected me to sing for their presentation at the White House."
Rubin says, "I don't know if President Clinton will be there, but the First Lady might be. They are trying to get as many important people as possible. The first half of the event is a panel discussion, of which I will be a part. The second half is the entertainment. I will sing 'Non più mesta' from La Cenerentola by Rossini."
She continutes, "The VSA has never put on such a high-profile event as this before. I do not expect a lot of action to be taken immediately," she says, "but I hope the people in attendance will hear what we have to say and learn from it. Not many people are aware that handicap discrimination exists because we are a somewhat passive group -- there are not many public protests. But discrimination is not always voluntary. It's one of those things that just happens."
Fear and ignorance are most often the cause of discrimination against the disabled, Rubin says. "Blindness in and of itself has not been a problem for me; people's attitudes towards my blindness has been a problem. I want people to be aware of my situation (and that of thousands of others in this country) and to have the chance to ask us questions. Just seeing us in the flesh in a non-intimidating situation should stimulate a certain level of human contact and break down some barriers.
"For people with disabilities, it's the little things that often get overlooked," says Rubin. "In this panel discussion, I want to make people more aware of the details that make our lives livable, to be more educated about the things you would not normally think about, but which are absolutely necessities for disabled people to function. We see these things as discrimination, though it is not what people normally think of. Unfortunately, we are not as protected by the law against discrimination as other minority groups."
A California native, Rubin was born with Leber's Amorosis, a congenital disease that dissolves the retina. She has partial light perception.
Rubin began vocal studies at age ten. "I loved the 'Phantom of the Opera' and always had dreams of being Christine's understudy," says Rubin. "Music was my escape from the hardships of high school. Since I came to Oberlin in 1997 to study with Richard Miller, I have come to love 'real' classical music."
In 1996, Rubin won the Southern California Vocal Association Young Soloists Award for high school students. She followed that win with the L.A. Music Center Spotlight Award for which she sang a solo in the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. In 1998 she won the Sergio Franchi Award, and last year she won the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony Concerto Competition. She also notes that one highlight of her career thus far has been singing the national anthem at Mayor Reardon's Inauguration in Los Angeles.
At Oberlin, Rubin performs with Collegium Musicum, Historical Performance, College Choir and Chamber Music ensembles. This summer, she was a fellow in the Vocal Chamber Music Program at the Aspen Music Festival. In past summers she has participated in Oberlin in Casalmaggiore, Italy, and the Tanglewood high school program.
Rubin will sing the role of Rosette in Oberlin Opera Theater's fall 1999 production of Massennet's "Manon," -- her first full operatic role. "I hope to break ground in opera," she says. "I know conductors are having Andrea Bocelli [also a blind singer] do opera. He will perform 'Werther' in Detroit with Denyse Graves this year. But once I leave Oberlin, I'd love to delve into Baroque or Chamber Music and be a concert singer anywhere -- or everywhere -- in the world."
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