ANNE HAGAN BENTZ
JANUARY 2012, FRIDAY MORNING MUSIC CLUB
David - My Experience
Hmmm...........
My relationship with David began in 1996 while we were both working on our Doctoral degrees at the University of Maryland. From that time on David became my coach, accompanist, mentor, sometime teacher and good friend. He played for me whenever possible; for my doctoral studies and many concerts after that, at my first job in Omaha Nebraska, for my job audition at Westminster College and subsequent performances including recitals and “The Concert of the Bugs” in Washington, D.C. And at Westminster College. Wetraveled to NATS conferences together, to Russia to perform, and all over the DC. Metropolitan area for recitals with the Friday Morning Music Club. What has tied together has been our shared experience of having worked over seas in Germany, through our love of music and our fascination with the workings of the voice.
Working with David has been a special experience for me. Once I found him I felt incomplete without him. Not only is his musicianship impeccable, but the way he plays is the most wonderful combination of masculine strength and feminine delicacy. I have told David over and over that having him play for me is like putting on your best dress and jewelry – one compliments the other and is incomplete without the other.
My favorite story about David has to do with his desire to be a singer, (I think). I discovered while working with him early on that David had this tendency to hum while accompanying his singers. Maybe he was trying to sing along, I don't know. At first I thought it was coming from some other source, but I soon found out that it had been a long standing habit of his that even Richard had tried to break him of, by tying a piece of string to his wrist and jerking it whenever he would start doing it. Obviously it wasn't successful because he would (and sometimes still does) hum during recitals. Once while playing for one of Rose Bello's doctoral recitals, it got so loud that the audience started to look around. No one realized that it was David, but I did. He was mortified when he heard about it later and we all had a good laugh at his expense. Anne Hagan Bentz
Hmmm...........
My relationship with David began in 1996 while we were both working on our Doctoral degrees at the University of Maryland. From that time on David became my coach, accompanist, mentor, sometime teacher and good friend. He played for me whenever possible; for my doctoral studies and many concerts after that, at my first job in Omaha Nebraska, for my job audition at Westminster College and subsequent performances including recitals and “The Concert of the Bugs” in Washington, D.C. And at Westminster College. Wetraveled to NATS conferences together, to Russia to perform, and all over the DC. Metropolitan area for recitals with the Friday Morning Music Club. What has tied together has been our shared experience of having worked over seas in Germany, through our love of music and our fascination with the workings of the voice.
Working with David has been a special experience for me. Once I found him I felt incomplete without him. Not only is his musicianship impeccable, but the way he plays is the most wonderful combination of masculine strength and feminine delicacy. I have told David over and over that having him play for me is like putting on your best dress and jewelry – one compliments the other and is incomplete without the other.
My favorite story about David has to do with his desire to be a singer, (I think). I discovered while working with him early on that David had this tendency to hum while accompanying his singers. Maybe he was trying to sing along, I don't know. At first I thought it was coming from some other source, but I soon found out that it had been a long standing habit of his that even Richard had tried to break him of, by tying a piece of string to his wrist and jerking it whenever he would start doing it. Obviously it wasn't successful because he would (and sometimes still does) hum during recitals. Once while playing for one of Rose Bello's doctoral recitals, it got so loud that the audience started to look around. No one realized that it was David, but I did. He was mortified when he heard about it later and we all had a good laugh at his expense. Anne Hagan Bentz
Dr. Anne Hagan Bentz, soprano, is a native of Silver Spring, Maryland. She received her Bachelor degree in Music Education at the University of Delaware, a degree in vocal performance at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, West Germany and her D.M.A. in vocal performance at the University of Maryland. Dr. Bentz was engaged as a soloist in Germany for more than fourteen years at the following theaters: The Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, at The Städtisches Landestheater Flensburg and at Eduard von Winterstein Theater in Annaberg Buchholz in former East Germany. Her many roles which span the opera and operetta repertoire include, among others, Gilda, Rosina, Pamina, Adina, Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Susanna (The Secret of Susanna), Blondchen, Gräfin Mariza, and Csardasfürstin. As a guest artist and recitalist Dr. Bentz has performed extensively in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, at the Shanghai and Zhoung Zho Opera houses in China and at the Conservatory of Music in Moscow, Russia. In 2001, she received a Governor's Citation and award from the Montgomery County Arts Council for excellence in singing. Her most recent performance in September 2004 was with the Valley Lyric Opera Company as Gilda in Rigoletto. Dr. Bentz is also an active member of the Friday Morning Music Club, Phi Kappa Phi and the National Association of Teacher's of Singing. Currently, Dr. Bentz is Associate Professor of Voice and Head of the Vocal area at Westminster College where she teaches voice, vocal pedagogy, vocal and opera literature, and French, German, Italian and Latin diction, and directs Opera Westminster. Her most recent performances were with the Seraphim Chorus as the soprano soloist in Felix Mendelssohn’s Oratorio, Elijah and the New Castle Music Club as the soprano soloist in the Handel’s Messiah.