"One of the wonderful things about this era of technology, if we can use it as a tool, is that it enhances our lives," says Hila Plitmann. The two Grammy award-winning soprano, songwriter, and actress enjoys listening to and singing a mixed genre of music. Though she grew up in her hometown of Jerusalem, Israel listening to the beautiful sound of Israeli folk music—the kind that touched and moved her heart—for her, the attraction to music lies in the connection rather than in a particular sound, regardless of country or style.
When she talks about her upcoming tour with Frost Wind Ensemble, conducted by Robert Carnochan, she expresses her admiration for the students with loving deference. "They are extraordinary. I'm very blessed by the people I have worked with in my life."
Together, they will be performing Plitmann's "In This Circle" and Michael Daugherty's "Songs from a Silent Land," a new work she has added to her stellar professional artistic portfolio, which started at the age of 14, in the role of Flora in Benjamin Britten's "Turn of the Screw" at the Israeli Opera.
She continued to perform with companies across the US, including notable roles as Mrs. Clayton in Stephen Schwartz's "Séance on a Wet Afternoon," Yan in Mark Adamo's "Becoming Santa Claus," Cecily in Gerald Barry's "The Importance of Being Earnest," and as an alien in Yuval Sharon and Annie Gosfield's "War of the Worlds."
In 1998, only one year after she graduated from Juilliard, she gave her first world premiere with the New York Philharmonic in Pulitzer Prize-winner David Del Tredici's "The Spider and the Fly." She has been called "a composer's dream" and widely recognized as one of today's foremost interpreters of contemporary music.
Below, Plitmann has a candid conversation with us about her performance with the Frost Wind Ensemble, her fascination with different music genres, and how after blowing up and hitting mainstream success in 1998, the songstress went on to conquer the world with her music.
Hila, you are the daughter of a Hebrew university botany professor and a musicologist mother. So, music was all around you from a very young age. How did that help develop a love of all genres of music?
While he's not a professional singer, my father has the most beautiful voice, and he played guitar and some violin when he was young. He stopped playing, but he has a natural musical sensibility. And my mom is just a lover of arts and music. It was very important to her that I embraced that as part of my life.
Tell us about your collaboration with the Frost Wind Ensemble last fall and at the College Band Directors National Association [CBDNA] Conference in Athens, Georgia this weekend.
Their [FEW] concerts are extraordinary. Robert Carnochan is one of those teachers, conductors, and leaders who show care and sensitivity and can listen and lead by listening to all the elements. That creates a very special experience. These are students in name, but they play at a level of a professional group. And then, there's their enthusiasm, which is so prevalent. That's always an example of whoever is leading.
You started in the business at a very young age. How did that experience change your life?
That exceptional experience unfolded into my life. Benjamin Britten writes with so much psychology in his music. In a way, it sounds funny, but he really writes the music in support of the characters, the drama, and the intent underneath. I learned so much about the underlying current of music and communication, of expressiveness and storytelling, through that experience at such a young age. This was the first big professional gig I adopted, and he taught me to pay attention to music.
Looking back at your remarkable life, what has been your greatest achievement?
My biggest experiences in life are in the relational realm—having a child, being a mother, and being a daughter. That teaches you a lot.
Some of the more meaningful experiences have come to me in these later years as I entered the world of education. I do workshops with master classes and musicians/artists' residencies.
What and who inspires your music?
It has to do with energy. I so respect when I've worked on other pieces of music and composers and the craft that goes into it. When a composer writes something cohesive, where there's some underlying element—sometimes it's effervescent. It's not particular. You can't pinpoint a conversation to it; it's just something that's there stylistically. But I have such respect for that when it all comes together. And I'm such a fan of this era of new technology. I listen to many kinds of music and engage in new art. The fact that that's accessible to us like never before through technology blows my mind.
So, you don't see boundaries in music.
No! We can incorporate and listen to different genres and borrow from them all. I usually go for things that have a dramatic edge. Now, more and more, I love jazz in so many ways. My son is an exceptional jazz musician. He's been indoctrinating me, though, from English jazz musician Jacob Collier to American pianist and composer Emmett Cohen . . . [laughs]
Who are those composers who have impacted your career?
David Del Tredici. He has a big name in the contemporary music scene in New York. He's a close friend and a unique, fascinating man who's taught me a lot. There was a whole era where he was obsessed with the "Alice in Wonderland" books and the works for orchestra and soprano. One of the things that I discovered from him was this idea of a boundaryless approach to his artmaking. That fascinates me. Whatever speaks to him is what he fearlessly writes about. And sometimes, it doesn't suit the social norm, or it's not so much in the vein of what's popular or mainstream.
And you're performing his piece In the Circle at the CBDNA National Conference tour.
Yes, David is one of those composers with a great mind and creator of classical music in our time. His orchestrations and his approach to thematic ideas . . . the clarity and complexity that lives together in his music is a lifelong lesson. And I'm still learning.
