Conductors' Q&A: Felicia Barber and Jason Max Ferdinand on the upcoming "Shout for Joy" concert

Thursday, October 24, 2024
J Max Ferdinand and Felicia Barber

On Saturday, November 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Woolsey Hall, Yale Camerata will present “Shout for Joy” featuring the music of Hailstork, Mozart, Hogan, and Harris. They will also welcome guest choir, the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers, a professional choral ensemble of talented musicians and educators from across the country. The concert is free and open to the public. View full details of the concert here.

In anticipation of the upcoming concert, Yale Camerata conductor Dr. Felicia Barber sat down with Dr. Jason Max Ferdinand, conductor and founding artistic director of the J.Max Singers, to learn more about his life and work, from his earliest memories growing up in the Caribbean, where he started out his musical career playing the piano and singing, to the people who influenced his transition into conducting. He also discusses his philosophy about music and what the audience might expect in the Nov. 2 program. Read the transcript of the Q&A below or watch the entire interview at this link

Q&A with Drs. Felicia Barber and Jason Max Ferdinand

Can you give us a brief introduction of yourself, of where you currently teach, and any background you’d like to share.

Hello everyone. I’m Jason Max Ferdinand, and I teach at University of Maryland in College Park on main campus as director of choral activities, and associate professor in the conducting Division and the Voice Division.  I am originally from Trinidad and Tobago, hence the thick accent. I’ve been living in the United States for quite some time now and enjoying my work here. I’ve been teaching at Oakwood University for the last, well, fourteen years before I came to Maryland three years ago, returning to, I guess, my second alma mater, which is here at Maryland.

Tell us a little bit about how you got started in music and what is your earliest memory of music making?

Yeah, so I pretty much grew up on a university campus, which was filled with music, choirs, groups, quartets, orchestras, bands, the whole nine; and a children’s choir. Children’s choir was a big deal. My elementary school—the entire school—was a choir because we had a principal at the time who was very musically inclined. So, our Christmas programs of the elementary school were epic events. I remember those very, very clearly…singing at home. And then my parents started me on formal piano lessons at, I don’t know, six or something like that. So, it has just always been a part of life. But in the Caribbean…no one aspired at that time to be a classical musician, but many of our parents saw it fit that we take piano or some sort of musical training along with the studies. For me, it was a lot of sciences, so it was always paired with music, always. So those are some of my earliest memories. Piano was my primary instrument. Later I played trumpet in orchestra for many years, but my undergrad degree is in piano.

Can you talk a little bit about how you were led to the conducting profession?

No, no, I never quite thought I’d be a conductor. But again, going all the way back to Trinidad, it seems like I was always the one to get stuck in front of the ensemble to lead in some sort of way. My piano teacher at the time in Trinidad, Rosie Ward, was also the chair of the music department, and there was a juncture (of time) where I wasn’t even on campus. Now that I think about it, I was off campus at another school; for those of you who understand anything about the British system, I was taking courses in biology, chemistry, and physics for my A levels (or advanced levels). 

My piano teacher, she was also a fabulous pianist, and there was a juncture (of time) when the university choir did not have a conductor and she needed to play.  So, she asked me to come in and conduct.  It was during those years, too, we formed a young people’s choir, and I was, again stuck to conduct that. But even then, I wasn’t thinking I’d be a conductor. So, like I said, I came up to the States to finish my degree in piano. And that last semester, finishing my undergraduate degree, I still had no plans of being a conductor; however, I had a very serendipitous moment when I literally met Dr. Nathan Carter in a very informal setting. 

I was hanging out with my conductor at the time, Lloyd Mallory, who studied with Dr. Carter as well; we were out in Las Vegas at the Black Extravaganza, I don’t know if anyone remembers that—it was a HBCU choir competition that used to happen out in Las Vegas. Dr. Carter looked at me and said, “Hey, are you about to do a piano recital?” And there so happened to be a piano sitting over there and he had me play some things and I think I played….Rachmaninoff. He said, “you also conduct, do you?” I’m like, “a little bit.” And on this side was Morgan State University choir and he had me to conduct something right there on the spot. It was right after that, he said to me, “you know what? I’m going to make you my graduate assistant next year;” which was the very next semester. So that literally was my interview audition and grad school. And at that point I had not applied to any school. I had no idea really what I was going to do. So, this was February of 1999, and it was when I got to Morgan (State). I was like, oh, you know what, maybe I can become a conductor. And he was the one that really guided me and pointed me, and literally by example, showed us what it was to be a conductor in academia, in church, and outside. So, I think that’s when the lights came on for me about really being a conductor as a profession.

I know that Dr. Nathan Carter was a major influence for you. Did you have any other foundational conducting influences?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. She would laugh when I say this, but I mean really, like I said before when I mentioned the children’s choir back in Trinidad, Auntie Cheryl, as we call her; Cheryl Thorpe, she was just someone upfront leading. I don’t know, I think there were a hundred kids at a time; it was just like, wow. Another important influence that time was the president of the university, Dr. Vernon Andrews, who probably was the first person I could remember who knew how to formally conduct, whether it was choirs or congregation. And then I just mentioned Dr. Lloyd Mallory, who was my conductor at Oakwood University for my undergrad. And then I went to Dr. Nathan Carter for my graduate studies. And he was a huge, huge influence in so many ways that we don’t have time to talk about now. And then Ed McClary, who was my professor at University of Maryland when I was a student here, and there’s some more people outside that, but those people, I guess my direct trajectory and the people that really helped shape me into what I am as a conductor and a human being now.

For many people around the country…they were first introduced to you and to your career through the wonderful work that you did with the Aeolian Singers at Oakwood University. Can you tell us a little bit about your time there and your work developing that sound, especially with the Aeolians?

Yeah, so I spent fourteen years at Oakwood and to understand the Aeolian sound, I guess you have to understand Oakwood. Oakwood is a small, historically black college in Huntsville, Alabama that has such a rich history of music making. Many of you may be familiar with the group, Take Six…many of you’ll be familiar with the singer Brian McKnight or the classical Angela Brown or Janice Chandler, Wintley Phipps, who has sung for every U.S. president for the last, I don’t know how many decades. Oakwood is a place, they used to joke, you could pull any four guys and have a great quartet, right? I mean, the people there sing. So, the sound was always very unique. Probably what happened was when I got to Oakwood, one of my goals was to try…I thought the Aeolians was a very insular group, and I wanted to take it to the outside world. Now, yes, there are a lot of things I had to implement and add to the great things that were already there to present it to the outside world. And that’s a whole other interview. But the sound there, the kids are very, very talented, just innately very talented, great ears, a great culture, and a great pride in the choral tradition. So, it was not abnormal to have kids in the choir and their parents sang the Aeolian, their grandparents sang the Aeolian. So, it was a rich, rich legacy there and a generational type of tradition. So, the work day was very enjoyable. The kids were very talented, the kids there worked very hard, and we had a great time at Oakwood, fourteen amazing years, and I gave my best to Oakwood, and hopefully people appreciate that. 

Felicia Barber: I think you certainly left a legacy. I remember particularly, I had already known about of course, the Aeolian Singers and had albums, but I particularly remember, their 2019 performance at ACDA (National Conference). The reaction of attendees made it seem like people never knew the historically black colleges could sing. It was a bit insane. As a (black) person (and now choral music educator) who grew up listening to that sound, I was so proud and excited that the larger choral world in the United States was made aware of the fantastic work that you had been doing, and that’s being done at historically black colleges all across the country (for years). But that was the first time in sixty years of ACDA’s history that a historically black college had performed at the nationals. And I do remember that it was just such a special conference. I’m really excited that more and more people are tuning in to what’s happening, not only with Aeolians, but with other ensembles at historically black colleges, because of that. So, you’ve created a legacy in many ways, I think just with that one performance. 

What made you decide to launch the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers?

Well, I thought of starting a professional group started even while I was at Oakwood, not necessarily after I left Oakwood. I remember even pre-Covid having some meetings with some folks trying to put some pieces together. And the reason behind that was just that there’s certain things you can accomplish in academia, and there’s certain things that are harder to accomplish in academia. A simple thing, like let’s say you want to do something during the summertime. And at Oakwood, 98% of the kids in the Aeolians came from everywhere except Alabama. So unless there was some kind of organized tour or something during the summer, that’s an example (of what is hard to do in academia). There are certain things that a certain age group of voices can do and certain things that they can’t do. So, the thought of starting something like that was always there. 

Then Covid came and that door got shut down. I mean, everybody was shut down. This particular group was started, was at the behest of the VOCES8 foundation….they were way ahead of the game during Covid. They had this series called Live from London where they would invite groups from all over the world literally to record concerts….it had a platform where people could buy tickets and we got to view these concerts. So, the Aeolians participated in the festival, I want to say this was Christmas of, what was it, 2020? Yeah, it was Christmas of 2020, the Aeolians did a Christmas concert, six or seven, eight songs, I don’t remember. And VOCES8 loved it so much. They asked us to do another one in the spring, but the timeline to record and do all the production stuff was just too tight again for the academic cycle. Because the kids went home for Christmas, we would have to come back. We didn’t have enough time to learn the rep, or to record the rep. So, I told them, no, we cannot do it just because of the time. And Robin Tyson, who serves as a manager of VOCES8, who himself is a former King Singer, and just like we were talking on Zoom right now, he looked at me (via zoom) and I felt like he was looking into my soul, and he said to me, “Jason, have you ever thought about starting a professional ensemble?” And I said, “yeah, I have thought about it, but why would I do that right now, we are in the middle of a pandemic.” And then he said to me, “Jason, you might want to think about it.” He said it with such pathos, it shook me a little bit. So, I slept on it for a couple of days and said, you know what, let’s give this thing a try. So, I got on the phone, called some of my friends, and friends called friends, and we called people who we knew, and who knew the style. And again, this is during the pandemic. So, between deciding to do it and actually recording it, I believe we had, it was either five or six weeks. People learned the music. We all flew to Maryland. I was still in Huntsville at the time. I flew to Maryland to record it and literally, literally, just hit record and we started going. It wasn’t any kind of serious rehearsal time….and we put it together. So, that’s how this iteration of this group started in the middle of the pandemic at the behest and at the nudging of Robin Tyson.

Are many of the singers Aeolians alumni?

Yeah, we have some people that went to Oakwood. We have people that I went to school with at Morgan State. There are people who I had never worked with before, but knew of them, and they just came in. And so, it’s a very interesting blend.

Can you tell us, do you have, or do you feel like there’s a specific mission or intention that’s a part of the fabric of this new ensemble?

Yeah, when we started, we were really big on a term we called cultural health because at the time we were going through this pandemic and just trying to sing songs and trying to address some of these social issues that were very fresh and raw at the time. George Floyd and the pandemic and on and on and on. And we’re like, man, people need music. And as my teacher would say, we need music like we need air, water, and food. And that was our overarching goal and mission to just try to bring something to society and really speak to some problems and some issues. And yes, keep the whole choral tradition alive and still sing and Bach and Handel and everything in between, but really doing a great mix of things that everyone could find something. And if you don’t, that’s fine with us. But that was the overarching mission. Cultural health.

Is there an overarching method to your programming, or do you like to do themes? How do you approach programming a concert?

It changes for me from time to time. I don’t have a formula per se. It just depends on who I am, I guess mentally what’s going on in society. It changes. Sometimes something will come to me. I’m not really a thematic type of person, at least on the front side. A lot of times the theme will reveal itself to me after I’ve gone through everything like, oh, here’s a common thread. But it comes to me in different forms. I don’t have a set formula. I just try to remain open and listen and see what’s happening. Or sometimes you choose material for a didactic reason, right? You feel like your group is not that this skill, let me introduce this into the repertoire to help with this. So it changes for me from just from day to day, month to month, season to season.

And can you tell us a little bit about the program that you put together for the Yale audiences in November?

So, what we did was we sent in our program and on the top I believe it says something like will be chosen from, so again, anyone who knows me will tell you I’m terrible at sticking to a printed program. I really like to read the room and see how we feel in the moment. But what’s on there will take you through a journey from everything from, I think we have Beethoven on there all the way down to Blake Morgan. Blake Morgan is the tenor who sings with VOCES8. He did a fabulous arrangement of This Land is Your land. We’ll probably do a short piano concert type piece with amazing, wonderful accompanist, John Stoddart, which really was a piano solo initially then we added and orchestra and choir.  We’ll sing some Jubilee spirituals, some sorrow, spirituals….so it is a potpourri of things.  But hopefully in the moment it’ll all link together and make sense so that people can have an experience by the time they leave.

Is there one thing that you….would like the audiences to leave with after hearing your ensemble?

Yeah, during Covid, I just came up with this thing. You know what? I didn’t want people to come to my concert anymore and just say, oh wow, that was wonderful. But I really want them to leave… and I’m using this word in a positive way…I want them to leave almost provoked, in a sense….to think deeper about some aspect of life, some aspect of society, and how he could leave and make the world better. Going back to Blake Morgan’s song, he did an arrangement of This Land is My Land, this land is your land; is it? I don’t know, is it really? So, hopefully people leave provoked and leave with a sense of, wow, I need to rethink this or think more into this or do more or do less. So, if we could provoke them in our positive way, we’ll feel like we did our job.

Read more about Jason Max Ferdinand

Read more about Felicia Barber