Industry News
NEC Mourns Death of Eminent Voice Teacher Helen Hodam
New England Conservatory mourns the death of Helen Hodam, one of its most eminent and beloved voice teachers. Hodam, 93, died May 21 at her home in Cambridge, MA. She had retired from the NEC faculty in 2003 after suffering a stroke that made it impossible to come to her studio. In 2004, she was honored by NEC vocal alumni during Homecoming weekend when many of her past students sang at a Helen Hodam Tribute Concert.
Hodam’s 50-year teaching career, which also included tenure at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, produced students who have performed with all of the major American opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and the San Francisco Opera, and with European opera companies in Cologne, Munich, Bremen, Vienna, Paris, Zurich, Madrid, and Amsterdam. Among her most renowned NEC students are mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves and soprano Lisa Saffer.
Her students also won many prestigious prizes: 20 successfully competed in Metropolitan Opera auditions, winning district, semifinal, or final competitions. Two of her students won Dealey awards; three of them Fulbrights, and 20 were first-place winners in National Association of Teachers of Singing competitions. Among currently active noted teachers of singing, NEC's Carole Haber is a former student.
“Miss Hodam,” as she was universally addressed, “had a great ear for the higher voices—the mezzo sopranos and sopranos,” recalled Robert Winkley, NEC’s Registrar and a pianist who played for Hodam’s studio lessons while earning his master in music award at the Conservatory. “She was particularly good with lyric soprano voices and she helped those singers find a real core to their sound.”
“She used to say there was no such thing as a small voice,” agreed current voice faculty Carole Haber. “There were only non-resonant voices.” And she was “always working to get the optimal amount of resonance and ring to the sound so it could cut through an orchestra.” But it wasn’t enough to make a beautiful sound, her lessons were also always about “being artistic and musical.”
An exceptionally well-rounded musician, Hodam was “a pretty decent keyboard player” and a teacher with “an incredible library of repertory in her head,” Winkley added. “There were few who knew as much about the French repertory as she did. And she could talk to the pianists as much as to the singers when it came to coaxing out the sound or the balances she was looking for.”
Hodam was renowned too for her generosity to her students, Haber said. “I can’t tell you how many free lessons she gave. She also gave her students money to help pay their rent and bills. She used to charge only $35 an hour right up until almost the end of her career. She would say, ‘you have so many bills and auditions to perform, if I can keep my fees down, I will.”
Born in Ludlow, Illinois on June 23, 1914, Hodam graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, pursued graduate work at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music, and in 1952 received a master of music degree from Hartt College of Music. She then began her teaching career with one year at Hardin-Baylor College followed by nine years at Muskingum College. She taught at Oberlin Conservatory from 1963 to 1984. She was also on the faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Her constant study of repertoire included time at the Aspen Music School, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Goethe Institute in Munich.
Appointed by President James Stanley Ballinger, Hodam joined the NEC voice faculty part time for the 1978/1979 academic year. After retiring from Oberlin in 1984, she became full time at NEC and was one of NEC's most highly requested studio teachers.
Hodam was elected to the American Academy of Teachers of Singing in 1988. She was appointed adjudicator in 1998 for the Washington International Competition for Singers.
Although teaching may have been her main professional interest, Hodam was a soprano soloist for many years, singing at Christ Church in New York and at other churches; with various opera and summer theater groups, including the Paper Mill Playhouse and the Berkshire Opera Players; as well as on live radio programs.
A funeral service will be held June 14 in Paxton, IL where Hodam will be buried in the family plot. A memorial event will take place at New England Conservatory in the fall.
For further information, check the NEC Website at: http://www.newenglandconservatory.edu/faculty/hodamH.html
ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 750 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.
The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.
NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 100-year old, beautifully restored concert hall. These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.
NEC is co-founder and educational partner of “From the Top,” a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by National Public Radio and is heard on 250 stations throughout the United States. ###
Hodam’s 50-year teaching career, which also included tenure at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, produced students who have performed with all of the major American opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and the San Francisco Opera, and with European opera companies in Cologne, Munich, Bremen, Vienna, Paris, Zurich, Madrid, and Amsterdam. Among her most renowned NEC students are mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves and soprano Lisa Saffer.
Her students also won many prestigious prizes: 20 successfully competed in Metropolitan Opera auditions, winning district, semifinal, or final competitions. Two of her students won Dealey awards; three of them Fulbrights, and 20 were first-place winners in National Association of Teachers of Singing competitions. Among currently active noted teachers of singing, NEC's Carole Haber is a former student.
“Miss Hodam,” as she was universally addressed, “had a great ear for the higher voices—the mezzo sopranos and sopranos,” recalled Robert Winkley, NEC’s Registrar and a pianist who played for Hodam’s studio lessons while earning his master in music award at the Conservatory. “She was particularly good with lyric soprano voices and she helped those singers find a real core to their sound.”
“She used to say there was no such thing as a small voice,” agreed current voice faculty Carole Haber. “There were only non-resonant voices.” And she was “always working to get the optimal amount of resonance and ring to the sound so it could cut through an orchestra.” But it wasn’t enough to make a beautiful sound, her lessons were also always about “being artistic and musical.”
An exceptionally well-rounded musician, Hodam was “a pretty decent keyboard player” and a teacher with “an incredible library of repertory in her head,” Winkley added. “There were few who knew as much about the French repertory as she did. And she could talk to the pianists as much as to the singers when it came to coaxing out the sound or the balances she was looking for.”
Hodam was renowned too for her generosity to her students, Haber said. “I can’t tell you how many free lessons she gave. She also gave her students money to help pay their rent and bills. She used to charge only $35 an hour right up until almost the end of her career. She would say, ‘you have so many bills and auditions to perform, if I can keep my fees down, I will.”
Born in Ludlow, Illinois on June 23, 1914, Hodam graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, pursued graduate work at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music, and in 1952 received a master of music degree from Hartt College of Music. She then began her teaching career with one year at Hardin-Baylor College followed by nine years at Muskingum College. She taught at Oberlin Conservatory from 1963 to 1984. She was also on the faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Her constant study of repertoire included time at the Aspen Music School, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Goethe Institute in Munich.
Appointed by President James Stanley Ballinger, Hodam joined the NEC voice faculty part time for the 1978/1979 academic year. After retiring from Oberlin in 1984, she became full time at NEC and was one of NEC's most highly requested studio teachers.
Hodam was elected to the American Academy of Teachers of Singing in 1988. She was appointed adjudicator in 1998 for the Washington International Competition for Singers.
Although teaching may have been her main professional interest, Hodam was a soprano soloist for many years, singing at Christ Church in New York and at other churches; with various opera and summer theater groups, including the Paper Mill Playhouse and the Berkshire Opera Players; as well as on live radio programs.
A funeral service will be held June 14 in Paxton, IL where Hodam will be buried in the family plot. A memorial event will take place at New England Conservatory in the fall.
For further information, check the NEC Website at: http://www.newenglandconservatory.edu/faculty/hodamH.html
ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 750 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.
The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.
NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 100-year old, beautifully restored concert hall. These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.
NEC is co-founder and educational partner of “From the Top,” a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by National Public Radio and is heard on 250 stations throughout the United States. ###
FEATURED JOBS
RENT A PHOTO
