Soprano Molly Fillmore brings the words of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson, Carl Sandburg and others to life on Bold Beauty, a new recording of vocal works by Juliana Hall (Blue Griffin Recording, BGR559, released September 24, 2021). In this insider interview, she talks about the album, her love of poetry, discovering brilliant women artists, and the creative process.
How did you meet and get to know Juliana Hall?
In 2016, Elvia Puccinelli and I were invited to do a benefit concert for the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts. Our program included some songs from Juliana’s Syllables of Velvet, Sentences of Plush, which is music composed to letters written by Emily Dickinson. When the time came to find a composer for the project, I sent Juliana a proposal which included my poems and samples of the visual artists’ work, and she accepted the project.
What interests you about her work?
I can tell that she spends considerable time considering texts – from her text choices, to the way she musically inflects words. One can tell that each word is carefully considered in her compositions.
Tell us about Cameos - the six poems you wrote that highlight the works of 6 women painters.
Were these artists you already knew about? How did you choose these artists as your inspiration?
These were all new artists to me. I wanted to find artists who were not ‘household names’, like Georgia O’Keefe, but who were certainly worthy of being so.
I went to a library and a used book store and searched through many artist’s catalogs, focusing on women. I was not necessarily looking for American female artists, but it ended up that way.
What’s your relationship with poetry? Do you write poetry often, or was this something new to you (to write the poems that became the lyrics in Cameos)?
I love the freedom of structure that poetry offers, and yes, I have written other poems, but more personal rather than about people. My initial thought was to hire a writer, but as I spent time with the work of these magnificent artists, the poems just came to me.
How did you work with Juliana Hall to create these songs?
We worked independently; I had written the poems when I approached her about the project, and she liked them in their form ‘as is’ and so she took them and composed from there.
What do you hope people take away from the Cameos work, or the album as a whole?
My goal for the Cameos cycle was to draw attention to these wonderful visual artists. If anyone looks up their artwork because they saw a name on the album, then I will be very happy about that. Also, there are so many other quality poems and musical gifts, courtesy of Juliana and the amazing writers she chose: Millay, Dickinson, Sandburg, Lowell… I think the album offers much, and I am grateful to have had a part in its creation.