Masterclass
Rebecca Plack
Departments
Courses Taught
Composer Recordings
Opera on Record
Lieder; Mahler; Schumann
Music History of the 18th and 19th Centuries
Music History of the 20th and 21st Centuries
Education
PhD, Cornell University
Post Graduate Diploma, San Francisco Conservatory of Music
MM, Manhattan School of Music
BA, Princeton University
Ensembles
Sacramento Opera
Caramoor Music Festival
Aspen Music Festival
Awards and Distinctions
Edison Fellowship, National Sound Archive, British Library
First Place, Vocal Division, Los Angeles International Liszt Competition
Spencer Prize for Excellence in Teaching (honorable mention), Cornell University
magna cum laude, Princeton University
Q&A
What is your hometown?
Davis, CA
What is your favorite recording?
Only one??! Malcolm Bilson, Sonata in Bb K.333 (Mozart); Heinrich Schlusnus, "Avant de quitter ces lieux” (Gounod); Werner Güra and Christoph Berner, "Da unten im Tale" (Brahms); Paul Anka, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Nirvana)
What are you passionate about outside of music?
Education, gardening, cooking, and my family.
What is a favorite quote that you repeatedly tell students?
"Where's my time machine??! I WANT A TIME MACHINE!!!!!"
What was the defining moment when you decided to pursue music as a career?
Composing a piano sonata for first-year theory. It was probably terrible, but I got lost in it anyway.
What was a turning point in your career?
The first summer I studied at Aspen, hearing students griping about their music history classes made me want to teach music history at a Conservatory.
If you weren't a musician or teacher, what do you think you would be doing now?
I'd probably be a pediatrician.
If you could play only three composers for the rest of your life, who would they be?
Mozart, Schubert, and Schumann.
What are your academic publications?
The Substance of Style: How Singing Creates Sound in Lieder Recordings, 1898-1939
What is your unrealized project?
Recording the complete songs of Clara Schumann using a Wieck fortepiano
Events
News
News Story
Classical California KDFC Holds Classical Kids Discovery Day at SFCM
July 1, 2024
edwin outwater
Edwin Outwater Named Principal Guest Conductor and Curator of BBC Concert Orchestra
June 27, 2024
News Story
American Guild of Organists Names David Conte as Distinguished Composer of the Year
June 26, 2024