Soprano Rhiannon Giddens and Pianist Spencer Myer Win VARN Competition and Sing the Praises of Collaborative Art Story and Photo by Michael Chipman
			Soprano Rhiannon Giddens, a masters student from Greensboro, North Carolina, studying with Marlene Rosen, and pianist Spencer Myer, a senior from North Ridgeville, Ohio, studying with Peter Takács, recently won the VARN (Vocal Arts Resource Network) competition, a competition offered by the Columbus-based organization that rewards three winning singer/pianist teams each year. In addition to a cash award, Giddens and Myer will perform a spring recital in Cincinnati and participate in a three-hour coaching session with Ken Griffiths, a prominent vocal/piano coach in Cincinnati and at the Tanglewood Center. VARN chooses winners each year from a pool of tapes submitted by various singer/pianist teams. There is no live competition round. What makes the VARN competition different than most, is that the singers and pianists apply individually. "That is cool," says Myer, "because it shows that VARN is really looking at the singer and pianist equally." Myer says he and Giddens "felt good about our tape. We thought we individually represented ourselves well, and we thought the tape was a good representation of our collaborative skills." The winning duo collaborated for the first time last spring when Myer accompanied Giddens' senior recital. "There was an immediate chemistry, without a doubt," says Myer. "I have so much respect for Rhiannon as a musician and singer. I wanted to play for her when I first heard her my freshman year. Her voice has a gorgeous quality, and I have always found her an innately musical person. She is truly blessed and I know she will go far in the voice/opera world. We speak very well to each other through our instruments, and it makes for very exciting music-making." Giddens expresses the same respect and delight in her work with Myer. "Spencer is one of those rare musicians who is a fabulous soloist but also an amazingly talented collaborator and accompanist," she says. "He is always sensitive to singers' needs, always aware when I need to breathe and when to pull back and support. Also, no matter who the composer is, Spencer is able to perfectly convey the style and emotion appropriate to each piece." Each winning team chose a theme for the recital program. Giddens and Myer titled their program "Highlights of Romantic German Lieder," to include songs of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Strauss. "We both love the repertoire," says Giddens. "I had never performed a lot of it and we decided together what we wanted to do. Both artists believe passionately in collaborative art, particularly the combination of piano and voice. "I do quite a bit of vocal accompanying," says Myer. "I feel most at home working with singers. There is something so immediately expressive about the human voice that I think is not matched by any other instrument. As a result, I find it so natural to communicate with the voice as a result. What I have found to be the greatest quality in vocal accompanists (through observation as well as experience) has been the ability to lead as well as follow. I think this applies when collaborating with any instrument. The singer, of course, wants to sing the piece the way he or she is used to doing it, but at the same time, the singer is always thankful to feel supported. If the singer does all the work, it's exhausting and it pulls the entire performance down. A give-and-take peformance offers vitality and excitement." "Spencer and I see eye to eye when creating music," says Giddens. "I don't ever remember a disagreement. What is interesting is that in rehearsals, we don't talk much. We are both after the same goal -- communication. I communicate through words and my voice; he communicates through his hands and the piano. "I am absolutely spoiled to work with him." Myer, a prize-winning soloist, sees professional vocal accompanying in his future, but not as a main focus. "My first love is solo playing, definitely," he says, "but accompanying will always be a part of my life, because I love working with people so much." Oberlin has a good track record of winning the VARN competition. Last year mezzo-soprano Rosalie Sullivan (MM '99) and pianist Karl Lo (BM '99) won; the year before the winning team was Baritone Alex Hurd (BM '98) and pianist Jason Hardink (BM '98). Why does Oberlin win so consistently in this particular competition? Perhaps because VARN is, by nature, a collaborative competition. Oberlin seems to cultivate students with a sense of mutual trust, respect, and support -- always with the highest level of individual artistic standards -- which engenders rich collaborative work. "I love that they judge you together in this competition," says Giddens. "A collaborative project such as a piano/vocal recital is best served as a team."
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