Twisting Fate for a Once-in-a-Lifetime International Performance

Stephanie Brink
April 2, 2014

In this blog post, Stephanie Brink, who graduated from the UA in December 2013, shares her love of opera, and speaks about the definitive moment that led to her chance to sing with other UA performers as part of an international invitation this May.

I was blessed to grow up in a musical family. My parents and brother are all professional musicians – my father is a professional opera coach, conductor and lecturer in music; my mother is a voice teacher and a church pianist and organist; and my brother is a freelance musician and piano teacher.

If I wasn't doing music, I don't know what I would be doing.

Choral music, in particular, is an area of great personal joy for me because there's nothing greater than creating such incredible art with your best friends.

Last spring, Bruce "Doc" Chamberlain informed the Arizona and Symphonic choirs of a prestigious invitation to perform Dvořàk's "Stabat Mater" for a Varna International Tour in Vienna and Prague. As I was staring down my graduation date – December 2013 – I approached Doc after the announcement and begrudgingly asked: "Why would you plan this trip when I'm leaving?" 

Doc told me he had no control over when the invitations come in, but also said he would do what he could to ensure that I could go on the trip. Doc is so supportive of all of us, and the Arizona Choir really feels like a family.

Bruce Chamberlain, fondly called "Doc." (Beatriz Verdugo/UANews)

I had intended to remain in Tucson after completing my degree to continue my vocal study, so remaining a member of the Arizona Choir was a no-brainer for me.

I could not be more excited to be a part of this trip.

The Dvořàk "Stabat Mater" is a beautiful work that I have loved learning and working on. I have had the honor this semester to be the alto soloist for the work, which has been personally challenging as well as a wonderful opportunity for me to get to sing an aria with an orchestra. We all have different tastes in music, but I happen to love almost all works from the romantic period. The orchestras were big and lush, and drama was definitely a priority for a lot of composers in that period. I love being dramatic. Of course – I'm an opera singer.

Doc runs a tight rehearsal schedule, which can be overwhelming at times. For example, we may rehearse a movement for only 20 minutes one week and not revisit that movement for another two weeks, and be expected to read through it with no mistakes.

Obviously, perfect read-throughs are rarities in the music world. As professional choral singers, we are expected to be able to sight-read quickly and mostly correctly, and also be able to fix our own mistakes.

Common mistakes include singing a step rather than a leap, singing the wrong note entirely, coming in at the wrong time, or not cutting off with the rest of the group. Most of these are little mistakes and shouldn't need to be addressed by the director, but sometimes there are difficult passages in the music that require specific phrasing or have a difficult rhythmic pattern that we need to break down as a group.

As harsh as this rehearsal process may seem, it has been proven to be highly efficient, and it is inspiring when we can learn an entire large-scale work in just three weeks.

Doc demands professionalism in all of his rehearsals, and our hard work and dedication definitely pays off.

I am constantly impressed and inspired by Doc's work ethic as well as the focus and hard work exhibited by my colleagues. It is such a pleasure to walk into choir every day and make music with such an amazing group of musicians.

And this trip hits particularly close to home for me because I have Czech heritage on my mother's side. My great-grandparents came to the U.S. from Bohemia and Moravia, the capital of which is, or was, Prague.

I am constantly impressed and inspired by Doc's work ethic as well as the focus and hard work exhibited by my colleagues. It is such a pleasure to walk into choir every day and make music with such an amazing group of musicians. This experience will aid in my professional development because I have a wonderful concert aria addition to my resume from a beautiful work that I hope to have the chance to perform again in the future. I am also able to forge many connections with colleagues in diverse fields throughout music and around the globe.

Stephanie Brink, a UA alumna, graduated in 2013 from the School of Music with a master's degree in vocal performance. During her studies, Brink sang with the Arizona Choir under the direction of Bruce Chamberlain and now is a volunteer with the group. Brink sings Alto I in the choir, and she is also the alto soloist for Dvořák's "Stabat Mater." She and a group of about 80 others from the UA have been invited to perform in May at the Wiener Musikverein in Vienna and the Dvořák Hall in Prague, which are among the most prominent stages in the world. 

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