Oberlin Portrait: Scott Mello

Scott Mello
Photo by Liz Fox

Certain e-mail addresses are revelatory. Like vanity license plates, they offer a quick character study or a shorthand résumé. Take, for example, one that begins: "Teatromello." Even without knowing Italian, it's easy enough to parse out "theater" from "teatro" to glean that the person in question has some connection with the performing arts.

In Scott Mello's case, "some connection" is an understatement.

Mello makes his Carnegie Hall debut March 25 as a featured tenor soloist in Monteverdi's Gloria, with John Rutter conducting the New England Symphonic Ensemble.

The opportunity arose when Mello sang a solo recital of Handel, Schubert, Finzi, Weill and DiCapua a year ago in his hometown. In attendance was a colleague of his father's who recruits Carnegie Hall soloists for Mid-America Productions, the company presenting the John Rutter concert. "He called my father," says Mello, "and asked him if he thought I'd be available to sing."

Mello's father, executive secretary of the Association for Choral Music Education and president of the New Jersey Music Educators Association, phoned Mello to prepare him for the news.

"My father likes to play tricks on people," says Mello. "When he asked, 'How would you like to perform at Carnegie Hall?' I thought--for 15 minutes--that he was kidding."

How did his father convince him otherwise?

"Well, a person's voice eventually gets a certain tone, and I said, 'Oh, you're serious!' The impresario's telephone call arrived shortly thereafter.

A native of Newton, New Jersey, Mello was surrounded by music while he was growing up. Both of his parents are music educators for the New Jersey public schools; both teach piano and voice privately out of their home. They have, he says, instilled in him an unflagging love of music.

Yet, despite making his stage debut at five as young Patrick in a high school production of Mame, Mello says that he did not sing formally until coming to Oberlin. His parents would not permit it.

"They had very specific reasons," he says. "Because they teach voice, they understand the importance of protecting a young person's vocal experiences. They wanted me to wait until college to study voice."

Mello is in the fourth year of a five-year bachelor of music degree program in vocal performance and music education. "Of all schools I applied to, Oberlin offered the most opportunities for undergraduate students," says Mello.

"My parents and I were very concerned with how much attention I'd get as musician at undergraduate level. When we visited Oberlin, it seemed that Oberlin had everything that any other major conservatory had with one exception: other conservatories offered the majority of opportunities to their graduate students. It was important to us that I go to college in an environment where I'd have the chance to develop musical skills and apply those skills to performance."

Mello studies voice with Associate Professor of Singing Lorraine Manz. She is his first voice teacher.

"It has been very gratifying to work with Scott," says Manz. "I'm so pleased that such a performance opportunity has come at this point in his young career."

As a soloist, Mello has appeared with Cleveland's Trinity Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Daniel Hathaway, and with the West London Sinfonia at the Tuscany International Children's Chorus Festival, conducted by Doreen Rao, in Florence and Rome. In 1997, he was awarded a New Jersey Governor's Award in the Arts for Excellence in Music Performance.

His stage credits with the Oberlin Opera Theater include roles in Bizet's Carmen, with guest conductor Stephen Lord of Boston Lyric Opera, and in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, with guest conductor Ward Holmquist of Kansas City Opera. Most recently, he appeared as Guillot de Morfontaine in the fall 1999 staging of Massenet's Manon, under the baton of Associate Professor of Conducting Robert Spano, music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Mello has been a member of the Oberlin College Choir since 1997, and sang Bach's cantata Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen with them--and bass-baritone soloist Thomas Quasthoff--earlier this month with The Cleveland Orchestra, under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst. In May, Mello returns to the Oberlin stage to portray Harry in the Oberlin Theater and Dance production of Stephen Sondheim's Company.

His Carnegie Hall concert is sandwiched between a performance on March 13 with Cleveland's Trinity Chamber Orchestra at the famous Old Stone Church on Euclid Avenue, and his Oberlin senior recital on April 7. Throughout the spring he will perform Monteverdi's Vespers with Apollo's Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra.

Despite his growing performance résumé, Mello is equally at home behind the scenes. He says he enjoys the administrative aspects of music making--he's been a tour manager and producer, and he is the intern in the Office of Career Development. He also loves teaching. He volunteers with the Oberlin Music Coalition, has done work with the Oberlin Youth Chorale, under the direction of Assistant Professor of Music Education Jody Kerchner, and he teaches six students in a private voice studio.

"Oberlin has instilled in me so many different ideas about what my possibilities are after graduation that I don't feel pin-holed or stuck in a corner."

What inspired you to be a musician? What keeps you inspired on discouraging days?

My parents inspired me to be a musician. They instilled in me a love of music. Although I was a good student in high school and could have gone in any direction--except in mathematics--I really felt music was my calling; it's too embedded in my soul to ignore. My family keeps me inspired.

What is the most memorable performance you have ever seen and why?

Mozart's Requiem at Carnegie Hall with James Conlon conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the Robert Shaw Festival Singers. The performance of this amazing work was exquisite. I have always loved this piece. It will survive as one of the great masterpieces of human existence.

If you could perform with any musician, living or dead, who would it be? What would you perform?

Honestly, I think that I would just like to hang out and jam with the great Ella Fitzgerald.

If you could master another instrument, what would it be?

Violin. I studied it when I was a child and gave it up for awful adolescent reasons. It's one of the most beautiful instruments in the world.

If you could not be a musician, what other profession would you choose? What profession would you definitely NOT choose?

I would choose a profession where I was in some way serving the public, either through community service or in the medical field--possibly a doctor. I would most definitely hate to be a taxidermist.

What do you listen to for inspiration? In your free time?

Cecilia Bartoli, John Mark Ainsley, anything by Benjamin Britten. Opera. I love all kinds of music. I'm totally hooked on the pop phase. I love Tori Amos--she's an amazing artist.

What do you like to read?

I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and I've just read The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.

What are three words that describe you?

Moody. Over-committed. Driven.