Congratulations to voice faculty member Kaye DeVries for her 30th anniversary with CSMA! DeVries is a gifted voice teacher who has inspired countless students over the years. She graduated from Chapman University with a B.A. in Music and Psychology and has performed with the San Francisco Opera, the San Jose Symphony and Opera, the Marin Opera and Symphony, the Portland Opera, the Carmel Bach Festival, the Oakland Symphony and numerous others across the world.
Tell us a little about yourself. How did you become interested in singing?
I always loved to sing and I performed my first solo at church when I was seven. I played violin first and was a concertmistress of an honor orchestra in my teenage years. I started singing more when a health issue kept me out of P.E. and people said, “You have a nice voice.” My folks gave me voice lessons when I was 15, which led to voice competitions and singing in semi-professional productions. I received a full scholarship for singing at Chapman University, where I began touring with the William Hall Chorale through Europe, through Community Concert associations, with the opera in Laguna Beach and miscellaneous smaller classical ensembles as a soloist.
After college, I won vocal competitions with the San Francisco Opera Auditions, Metropolitan Opera Auditions and Minna Kaufmann Rudd competition in New York. These led to participation in the Merola Opera Program with the San Francisco Opera, where 14 people from the U.S. are accepted into their training program.
In the years that followed, I sang with the San Francisco Opera for their spring and fall seasons, Opera San Jose, Carmel Bach Festival, Portland Opera, Marin Opera, Symphony San Jose, Modesto Symphony, Oakland Symphony, and also toured the US, Europe, Japan, Singapore and South America.
KAYE WITH DR. NICHOLAS ISAACS AT THE 2010 CSMA GALA.
What brought you to CSMA as a music faculty member in 1990? Do you have any specific memories of when you started?
Prior to 1990, I worked with Dr. Nicholas Isaacs, CSMA’s Music School Director, at the Peninsula Baroque Chorale. It is due to him that I began teaching voice and Broadway Bound at CSMA while it was still located on the old Huff School site. During this time I was also teaching keyboard and after-school voice classes at Monta Vista High and took over their elite Madrigal singers. I eventually made my way to teach for Music4Schools, more Broadway Bound productions and worked with the Peninsula Children’s Chorale. I later had the privilege of being the Director of the Music4Schools program for three years.
I clearly remember moving from the old Huff School site to Finn Center, where CSMA is located today. The Huff School site basically consisted of a multi-use room. Imagine offices on one side, small studios on the other, one larger room, a medium room for group classes and a library in desperate need of attention, which Music School Assistant Barbara Berstein conquered after we moved to Finn Center. When we had to leave the Huff School site, the district office let us use their old facilities for over a year while Finn Center was being built. The biggest problem was the lack of good soundproofing, so lessons were a constant challenge.
Tell us about the early days of Finn Center.
Finn Center is where we call home today due in large part to former Executive Director Angela McConnell, former Executive Director Andrea Temkin and former Performing Arts Director John McGuirk. These three were vital in the early days and created an amazing school. Angela McConnell was an astonishing influence.
When Finn Center was built it had a large open field where housing is now that provided for overflow parking. Our first students were from Summit High School. They came down from Redwood City on the train and there were music, dance, theater and art classes. We staged productions and had art shows. Teachers loved the soundproofed studios, concert hall and beautiful design that brought us a long way from the Huff campus.
KAYE WITH HER HUFF CHOIR STUDENTS AT CHORALFEST 2010.
What are some of your favorite teaching moments from your time at CSMA?
My favorite teaching moments are when I see a student feel successful, whether conquering the fear of performing, having a transforming moment of success in an area, experiencing the musical moment they never believed possible or receiving the recognition that they have a gift in music.
In individual voice lessons, one very shy student who initially couldn’t perform in front of people studied and went on to win a nationwide contest in vocal oratorio. In Broadway Bound, people were brought to tears by the solo of a young girl with a disability who sang “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman. I enjoy seeing adult students who never believed they could sing developing the courage and confidence to sing in public and being cheered by friends at a recital. I remember watching an autistic young student blossom in music, join the choir and also sing in Broadway Bound. I have seen students from the Music4Schools program become music teachers or successful musicians.
“The shared gift of music brings us together as humans no matter where we start—bridging cultures and enriching lives.”
LEFT TO RIGHT: KAYE DEVRIES PERFORMING IN A PRODUCTION OF FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Tell us about your time performing with numerous operas and symphonies.
The funny moments always stand out. I remember performing Mimi in La Boheme, in the last act when Mimi has died, I’m laying there and Rudolfo is singing to my character, but he trips and falls on me, knocking the breath out of me. I had to try not to gasp when I’m supposed to be gone.
A few other memorable onstage moments include being in Portland when I was seven months pregnant singing in The Bartered Bride with news reporters doing a story about me and making sure there was a doctor in the house, just in case. I will always remember the opportunity to observe Joan Sutherland in rehearsal only 10 feet away when doing the Merola Opera Program.
I have great memories of performing outdoors for the San Francisco Opera Outreach doing Czardas’s aria with a costume malfunction and having to hold the back together to finish, performing on floats in San Francisco, singing on tour in the midwest with tornado warnings, getting rained out where the orchestra had to protect instruments and of course swallowing bugs…yuch.
What are some lessons you have learned over your 30 years of teaching at CSMA?
Patience, kindness, listening, encouraging, inspiring and believing in a student’s ability no matter where their beginning point is. Every student can sing and improve, grow and find success musically. Whether their goal is to be able to sing “Happy Birthday” in tune, sing karaoke and not be embarrassed, win competitions and scholarships, perform in a show or sing opera while having hearing loss. Everyone starts at some point. My joy is being able to guide them on the path to that achievement.
Anything else you would like to share with us?
Where did all the years go? Time has passed so quickly. It is an honor and joy to be able to teach music—singing classical to Broadway, jazz to pop, individual and group and stage. I’ve been very blessed.
