Support for the Alaska Live series of live music and conversation on KUAC is made possible by a grant from Design Alaska.

Design Alaska-- strengthening community through support of the arts.

Welcome to KUAC's Alaska Live.

I'm your host, Lori Neufeld.

And it is my pleasure to have here at the KUAC Alaska Live Archive Studios UAF music vocalists.

And it is so exciting-- I can't wait for you to hear and witness the talents of these singers.

Edward Brown and Steven Anderson, so nice to have you take the KUAC Alaska Live stage.

And who's introducing the piece that you'll be-- I'll introduce it.

We will be singing "Lily's Eyes" from the musical The Secret Garden.

["lily's song" playing] (SINGING) Strangely quiet, but now the storm simply rests to strike again.

Standing, waiting, I think of her.

I think of her.

Strange, this Mary, she leaves the room yet remains-- she lingers on.

Something stirs me to think of her.

I think of her.

From death she casts her spell.

All night we hear her sighs.

And now a girl has come who has her eyes.

She has her eyes.

The girl has Lily's hazel eyes-- those eyes that saw him happy long ago, those eyes that gave him life and hope he'd never known.

How can he see this girl and miss those hazel-- She has her eyes.

The girl has Lily's hazel eyes-- those eyes that closed and left me all alone, those eyes I feel will never, ever let me go.

How can I see this girl who has her hazel eyes?

In Lily's eyes, a castle this house seemed to be.

And I, her bravest knight became-- my lady fair was she.

She has her eyes-- she has my Lily's hazel eyes.

Those eyes that loved my brother, never me-- those eyes that never saw me, never knew I longed to hold her close, to live at last in Lily's eyes.

Imagine me a lover.

How I longed for the day she'd turn and see me standing there, would God had let her stay.

She has her eyes.

She has my-- She has Lily's hazel eyes.

Those eyes that saw me happy long ago.

Those eyes that first I loved so.

How can I now forget that once I dared to be in love, alive, and whole in Lily's eyes, in Lily's eyes?

[applause] Bravo.

Steven Anderson and Edward Brown, that was fabulous.

And if you're just tuning in, this is an "Alaska Live."

We are over in the KUAC archive studio and just blown away by this UAF music department talent.

Edward Brown, you are just such a gorgeous tenor voice.

Thank you.

And we want to hear that voice in the interview part, so cozy up to that mic.

OK.

I know.

I know it's a different part of your voice that you use when you're talking and when you're singing.

Your singing voice just knocks me out.

You are a music education major, is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.

And you are going to teach kindergartners?

No, actually.

[laughter] I just actually decided my concentration.

So I want to do secondary, so middle school and high school.

Middle school-- they're just finding out some of their passion, and so you could turn them on to music like that.

That's what actually started me with music because I started chorus in middle school.

And where I used to grow up, chorus and after-school activities was a thing to keep me out of trouble.

And so I was like, I can return the favor and do that for someone else.

Where did you grew up?

I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia.

Oh, wow.

And so now you're in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Yes.

You see-- I never thought I'd be here.

You see more snow.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Wow.

Less sun.

Less sun.

Have you spent a summer here yet?

Yeah.

OK.

I really like the summer, yeah.

Yeah.

[laughter] You don't have to have air conditioning like you do in Atlanta.

Oh, I miss air conditioning, actually.

I bet.

See?

I miss central air.

I was like, oh, God, we got to open windows and all.

[laughter] Oh.

Well, how did you end up at UAF?

This is awesome that we have here.

Yeah.

Well, my husband is in the military.

Oh, great.

And so we're stationed here for three years.

So I was like, why not?

I looked up the area, and they have a great music program.

And, of course, let me go back to school and finish that degree.

Why not?

That is really wonderful.

And speaking of this summer you are part of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival.

Yes.

Tell me about that.

This is my first time doing that.

I'm so excited because I know I'm going to learn a lot.

It's going to hone in my skills.

I'm going to get better next semester.

I also have my recital next semester, also-- oh, well, it's going to be in spring of next year.

Is it your junior recital?

My junior recital.

Mm-hmm.

So hopefully this will prepare me for that.

So you're taking some classes with the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival?

Mm-hmm.

And that is quite the opportunity because there are some greats that come in from all over the nation to teach people who are amateurs and professionals alike.

I'm excited.

Yeah.

Are you part of the-- Celaire's studios, too?

I am, yeah.

And so, Jaunelle-- what are some of the pieces that she has been turning you on to?

Well, she introduced me to Richard Hundley.

And he's a funny composer, I think, because-- Who is it again?

Richard Hundley.

Richard Hundley.

Yeah.

Never heard of him.

I'm singing a song-- me and Jim.

We've been practicing that song-- Moonlight's Watermelon.

And it's a funny song, and I'll be singing that in my recital.

But a lot of his songs are just funny.

You can interpret them a lot of different ways.

I think it's just sitting in the moonlight eating watermelon.

But I asked the class, what do y'all think?

They're thinking different ways of this song.

And I'm like, maybe it's just about watermelon.

Maybe it's not.

Who knows?

But, I mean, he's really cool to sing.

I like it.

I think you're going to make a great teacher because you already have an inquisitive mind, and you already are asking questions, which I think is going to serve you well in any classroom that you end up in.

That is so awesome, Edward.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

And you are looking forward to the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival.

What are some of the classes you're taking during that time?

Do we know yet?

Uh-uh.

OK.

I'm not sure-- first time.

But I'm waiting.

I'm waiting in my email like, OK-- because we're supposed to be getting a cast list because we're doing an opera program, so we're doing some kind of opera or something.

Right.

So I'm like, what role am I going to get?

I don't know.

Have you been in any opera theater before?

I've done some plays back in high school, so this is going to be like me getting back into it.

I'm a little rusty.

So we'll see what happens.

[laughter] That song that you performed with Steven, "Lily's Eyes"-- that is from a musical, correct?

That is, yes.

And we first done that song with the FLOT here.

Fairbanks Light Opera Theater-- great.

Yes.

And that was a really fun performance.

And it was slightly staged, too, right?

You had some-- We had costumes.

We had staging.

We was-- Oh.

Yeah.

It was a little grand.

Yeah, that is a little grand.

[laughter] That's an awesome way of describing it.

Well, Edward, it's so good to have you here at UAF, and it's so great to have you here at KUAC's "Alaska Live."

And stay up here because, Steven, I wanted to chat with you just a second or two.

Hello.

Steven Anderson, it's so nice to have you here.

You're no stranger to KUAC.

I am not, no.

I've been-- when did I even start here?

I can't remember.

You've been on air a few years.

Yeah, since, I believe, August of 2020.

Yeah, yeah.

And you are hosting various programs at various times.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, this is a very different experience because usually I sit-- I'm usually alone at a desk in the studio and practicing who KUAC is voiced by for the next 20 minutes.

Right.

Well, it's so wonderful to hear your talents not just on air as a host but here as a singer.

Thank you.

I had no idea you had such a wonderful baritone voice.

I mean, I've walked past you doing some Zoom vocal lessons during COVID, which was always interesting, and I tried not to linger you know.

I didn't know I had an audience for those.

[laughter] You'd be outside sometimes, and I'd walk past, and you'd be-- Right.

--on Zoom with one of your professors, I had assumed, and doing a vocal lesson.

Yeah.

So I know that your parents listen to you host sometimes on KUAC.

Were growing up in a musical household, or how did you get turned on to music?

I'd say I grew up in a casually musical household.

My mother-- she's sort of a flutist.

And just about every Christmas Eve for our little church in Anchorage, she's usually asked to play some special music, and then she digs out her flute again for the first time in a year.

Sorry for revealing that, mama.

[laughter] And then she drills it for a few weeks, usually for a couple songs.

And she often accompanies me because they often ask me to sing, as well.

Oh, great.

Yeah, it's wonderful.

And all of her siblings, as far as I know-- I believe they all learned instruments.

And it's something they find as a hobby.

So I don't want to call it casual, but it's something-- For sure.

--I decided I wanted to pursue professionally.

Awesome.

Yeah.

And you are a junior or a senior this year?

I tell people I am in my fourth year.

Sure.

But I'm graduating next year-- Awesome.

--barring any acts of God.

And you have-- [laughter] --you have already done your recital, or you have yet to do your recital?

I'm a music minor-- Oh, right.

--so I don't have to do a recital.

But I might do-- I'll be performing-- even just outside of UAF, I'm always performing in some sort of capacity.

No stranger to the stage and screen.

Well, thank you so much, Steven and Edward, for sharing "Lily's Eyes."

That was absolutely gorgeous.

And so we've got the next group coming up and-- thank you.

I'll just introduce again, we've got UAF music students here as vocalists for KUAC's "Alaska Live."

I'm your host, Lori Neufeld, and this is just a wonderful setting here with the UAF music students.

So up next, who would like to introduce this piece?

I think I've got Grace on deck to introduce the piece.

I will take it.

We are doing "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" from a musical called Company.

[STEPHEN SONDHEIM, "YOU COULD DRIVE A PERSON CRAZY"] Right.

Right.

Right.

(SINGING) Doo-doo-doo-doo!

Doo-doo-doo-doo!

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!

You could drive a person crazy.

You could drive a person mad.

First you make a person hazy, so a person could be had.

Doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo.

Then you leave a person dangling sadly outside your door, which it only makes a person gladly want you even more.

I could understand a person, if he said to go away-- doo-doo, doo-doo, doo.

I could understand a person, if he happened to be gay.

Doo-doo, doo-doo, doo.

Doo-doo, doo-doo.

But worse than that a person that titillates a person, and the leaves her flat.

He's crazy.

He's a troubled person.

He's a truly crazy person himself.

You son-of-a-- I think you're crummy.

Up yours, turkey.

When a person's personality is personable, you shouldn't oughta like a lump.

It's harder than a matador coercing a ball to try to get you off of your rump.

So single and attentive and attractive a man is anything a person could wish.

But turning off a person is the act of a man who likes to pull the hooks out of fish.

Knock-knock!

Is anybody there?

Knock-knock!

It really isn't fair.

Knock-knock!

I'm workin' all my charms.

Knock-knock!

A zombie is in my arms.

All that sweet affection!

What is wrong.

Where's the loose connection?

How long, O Lord, how long?

Bobby-baby-Bobby-bubbi-Bobby, you could drive a person buggy.

You can blow a person's cool.

Doo-doo, doo-doo, doo.

First you make a person feel all huggy, while you make her feel a fool.

Doo-doo, doo-doo, doo.

When a person says that you've upset her, that's when you're good.

You impersonate a person better than a zombie should.

I can understand a person, if he wasn't good in bed.

Doo-doo, doo-doo, doo.

I can understand a person, if he actually was dead.

Doo-doo, doo-doo.

Exclusive you!

Elusive you!

Will any person ever get the juice of you?

You're crazy.

You're a lovely person.

You're a moving deeply maladjusted, never to be trusted, crazy person, yourself.

Bobby is my hobby, and I'm giving him up.

[applause] Ah.

Kaylee Ives-Perez, when did you find out that you had such a wonderful soprano voice?

Oh, goodness.

Can I get you to cozy up there?

Honestly, I'd probably say middle school or high school.

Yeah.

I was always big into choir, and it just happened.

They were like, hey, you go here, and I was like, let's do it.

So go-with-the-flow-- Nice.

--type of person, I guess.

Well, you have just such a clear and beautiful soprano voice.

Thank you.

And that song was so fun.

It was really fun.

It's my third time performing it for an event.

Great.

What were the other two times?

Last summer, I did the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, the opera program, the one that Edward will be doing this summer.

So I did that with a few of the other performers, and it was really fun.

We had a lot of choreography for that, let me tell you.

And then we-- You did a little choreography here, but, boy, there's more when you have-- Yes, we had a lot more.

We were spinning.

We had chairs.

Let me tell you, that was something else.

But it was a lot of fun.

And then with the FLOT program that Steven and Edward were in with the "Lily's Eyes," we also performed that.

That's when us three performed it for the first time together.

Oh, well, the three of you, Ellie, and Kaylee, and Grace, just sounds so great together.

And, Grace, can I ask you about-- so it was great.

Amy put this together, your professor.

She put this together and sent us all the lyrics and then said, oh, there's been a change in "You Drive Me Crazy."

And I understand that you changed the lyrics.

And I'm not sure if somebody else had changed those lyrics, or you changed them yourself.

So, yeah, originally, in the original lyrics for the show and in the original lyrics that we got last year when we performed it for the first time, there was just a homophobic slur in the lyrics.

And we were looking at it, and we were like, there's got to be like another way.

We can't say that.

I'm not going to say that.

This program is full of diversity.

I'm a queer person myself.

We're not going to say that.

So we looked up the updated version of the musical, and they had changed the lyrics.

And we're like, OK, cool.

We can still sing it.

We're good.

Let's go.

And, yeah, so we changed the line.

Great, great because that song has a lot of rhyming and a lot of uniqueness to it.

And so that's great that you were able to look up the lyrics to this music.

What musical is it from?

It's from Company.

Company-- right on.

And so that's something-- you're a music education major, right?

I am, yes.

And so you're probably going to run into this.

As we grow as a society, you're probably going to run into this-- people wanting to change lyrics or people wanting to keep them the same because of tradition.

Yes.

My real outlook on this-- I want music to be inclusive.

I want it to be accessible.

I want everybody to feel safe and comfortable singing with me and being directed by me.

And in this community and others, I think that music should always be a safe space.

Grace, you're going to make a wonderful performer and educator because you've got it going on.

That's awesome.

Thank you so much.

Yeah-- Grace Farrell.

Ellie, you are headed to Italy.

Is that true?

Yes.

Oh, so exciting.

What's something that you are looking forward to going to Italy?

I am honestly looking forward to the feedback.

I'm a performance major, so I do a lot of performing, so any kind of feedback that I can get from anybody is so helpful, and I really do love it.

"You could fix this a little bit."

"You can do this."

And I will just-- I will do whatever.

If they want me to fix something, I will totally do it.

I'm totally open, and I love all the help that I can get.

Are you a performance major or a music education major?

I am a performance major.

Great.

So you're going to be on that receiving end of that feedback a lot, so it's very good that you're already in tune with that.

Yes.

What's one of those things where you heard that feedback and had no idea?

Can you take yourself back to one of those situations?

I mean, freshman year.

[laughter] I'm from one of the-- I'm from a rural community.

I'm from Nome, so I'm off the road-- Oh, you're from Nome?

I'm from off the road system, as we say, because it's not really a village.

It's a hub.

So I just say, I'm from off the road system.

And we don't get a lot of that-- musical terms and things.

So I definitely had to approach things a different way.

So I was definitely standing there like, what is Dr. Celaire asking me to do?

So that definitely took me a little while to get used to the musical lingo.

There was a whole new music vocabulary that you had not been privy to yet.

Yes.

So freshman year was pretty eye-opening to you, I bet.

And you are a junior or senior now?

I say I'm a third year.

Yeah, it's OK.

I understand.

Yeah.

I say I'm a third year.

Third year-- that's great.

And so since you're a performance major, you'll be looking forward to doing your senior recital someday?

Yes.

Awesome.

My senior recital will be in the spring, next spring, just like everybody else.

Oh, just next spring?

Yes.

Oh, yay.

Well, what is next for performance?

That would be me.

I will be singing-- Ellie Martinson.

--"Zueignung" by Richard Strauss.

And this is one of the pieces that I did for the most recent NATS competition.

It translates to "devotion."

Great.

[richard strauss, "zeuignung"] [singing in german] [applause] Wow.

Ellie, that was gorgeous.

Thank you.

It's my favorite.

It is.

This is one of my favorite pieces that I've done so far, and I just love German.

I love the diction.

I love everything about it.

So that's why it's my favorite.

That's awesome.

We're going to get the cast up here, and I get to speak with a few people that maybe we haven't seen on stage yet or haven't spoken with yet.

So let's get the rest of the vocalists up here that will be performing.

I think it's all of you performing at the-- no, it's all the women.

The gentlemen, the "Lily's Eyes," they have-- they'll come up for the curtain call.

[laughter] Well, who is introducing this piece?

I will introduce this piece.

Oh, perfect.

We are going to be singing "Bella Ciao."

It's an Italian folk song.

[singing in italian] [applause] Well, I want to thank all the UAF music students that were here today for "Alaska Live."

It has been absolutely wonderful.

You can find links to more episodes of "Alaska Live TV" and download audio podcasts of the "Alaska Live" radio show online at KUAC.org.

Support for the "Alaska Live" series of live music and conversation on KUAC is made possible by a grant from Design Alaska.

Design Alaska-- strengthening community through support of the arts.