Conductor Elim Chan has had remarkable success since being named the first woman to win the Donatella Flick Conducting competition ten years ago. This month Chan is realizing two big dreams: to open the classical music season at the Hollywood Bowl and to conduct the First Night of the Proms in London at Royal Albert Hall. Not too bad for a young girl who years ago was inspired by Mickey Mouse in Fantasia.

The July 9th concert at the Hollywood Bowl finds Chan conducting the same piece that led to her winning the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. The July 19th First Night of the Proms concert will open with Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks Overture and close with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.

Earlier this week I spoke with Chan about these two concerts and what they mean to her, her evolving relationship with Scheherazade and what new dreams she has as she moves forward with her career.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview with Chan, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: Could the young girl who responded so passionately to the image of Mickey Mouse conducting in Fantasia have ever imagined these two big concerts for herself?

Absolutely not. Even though as a young girl I think I had quite a crazy imagination. Of course I have dreams. But this kind of dream, the Hollywood Bowl, it’s already very cool. And to think I’m going to start the classical season! Then the Proms is basically like a unicorn. To conduct the Proms on the first night – the biggest summer festival in the UK and famous one in the world? It’s more than a dream come true.

What was your first experience conducting the Proms, and how do you think this one will be different? 

The first time that I conducted the Proms was an amazing experience because the Royal Albert Hall, it’s a very different concert hall. You really feel that you’re in sort of like a stadium. You have the audience standing at your feet and you can literally touch them or they can touch you. The feeling of how the audience cheered for you and they really are so involved. That’s really quite something I never experienced anywhere else. That was such a huge honor. I felt like a rock star.

To know that this concert was like one of the first ones to be sold out; the tickets were gone the moment it went out there. I don’t know, I’m going to just stay open and let this just be a surprise.

We often hear about how conductors think about music. What do you think is unique about the way you hear music – whether you’re reading a score or when you’re conducting an orchestra? 

I think that’s a very interesting question. Conducting is so cool in the sense that I have this concept in my head, this story, a narrative or some sort of sound soundscape the moment I start opening a score. It starts. I can hear it. I can play it on the piano and then it builds this world that I’m hearing or envisioning.

When I’m on stage with the orchestra, I have to compare what I’m hearing with this vision in my head and then have to bring it closer. Sometimes, actually, what I’m hearing is nicer than what I thought. It’s like a constant synergy of both worlds. It’s, in a way, like a tango, right? Of course, I’m the conductor and I want to mold it in the end that we arrive at the vision that we’re all happy about.

I interviewed conductor Simone Young four years ago, and she told me that, “Everything comes from the written page. I spend hours and hours studying scores, but also studying manuscripts. References. I want to get as much info about the thought process and the work process.” Do you think there can be a definitive understanding of a composer’s thought process? Or will it always be open to interpretation?

I think the second. I also do the same. I want to really put myself back in the time, in the context. This is really, I feel, like investigative work. There’s like a crime scene. Something happened. Okay, what really happened? You can collect evidence. You can talk to people who think they saw the thing happened. But each perspective is different. Then collecting all these things and then I try to build an interpretation of what exactly happened because no one actually really knows. And I think this is so cool. That’s the beauty of it, that there’s really not one right way. We’re all interpreters in that sense.

At the Proms, you’re going to be conducting probably one of the top five best known compositions in the history of the world: Beethoven’s Fifth. With a work so familiar to audiences and so familiar to the musicians, how do you think your approach to it might be the only one that you, as an individual, could have imagined? 

Well, there’s only one Elim, right? In that sense. It will be my interpretation of it. One thing that came out from this whole crazy time, and we’re still in some crazy times, is that I really want to give this life experience to everyone who is there. That you need to be there to experience that because it only happens once.

Beethoven Five is so familiar. And the audience thinks they know, too. The world is so messed up with wars happening everywhere and we get to make music and to celebrate first night of the Proms. The beginning of Beethoven Five is like a moment to really express something that fuels it to become a Beethoven Five that is fresh and happening now.

How often do you surprise yourself in the middle of a concert?

A lot. I laugh actually when mistakes happen because that shocks everyone. I love those very raw like a minute or two and everyone is like, wait, what? Oh no. And everyone’s awareness is insane, right? I love these waking up moments.

That sounds like a jazz musician, not a classical musician. Because a jazz musician moves past the mistakes and who knows where it leads them? I bring that up because I was very surprised to see a list of the five most important works for you and Bill Evans is on your list. What inspires you most about Bill Evans and do you see a way in which the way Bill Evans created and performed music that inspires the way you create and perform music?

He’s such an immense pianist and musician and it’s not ever the same. This is something I really want to take into a Beethoven Five or a Clara Schumann or Handel, Bruckner. I’m going to just take this opportunity and just really bring in that spirit. I think we can learn so much from all the other genres.

Note: First Night of the Proms includes performances of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto by Isata Kanneh-Mason and Bruckner’s Psalm.

You’ll be leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Music director Gustavo Dudamel is set to leave soon. if the L.A. Philharmonic came to you and asked if you would like to be the next music director, what would be the first thing that you would think? 

That’s another unicorn. And then I’ll start doing a happy dance. I will probably be like, unbelievable. You know what? If that happens…thank you and let’s get to work. I want to be as ready as possible They are one of the most adventurous, curious, orchestras institutions in the world. They take chances, they take risks, and they can afford to do it. So yeah. Let’s see.

At the Hollywood Bowl you will be revisiting Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. How was your relationship to this particular composition evolved in the ten years since your winning the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition?

The piece has a very special place in my heart. It’s the piece that jump started my career. Ten years ago I was the first woman to win the competition in London. And now ten years later, I’m still the only woman to have done that. And I’m like, hey girls, where are you guys?

Talking about the piece itself, it’s literally about a woman having to stand up for herself every night telling stories, and if she doesn’t tell a good story, she gets killed. I’ve done this piece again and again and I really feel very like I identify myself with her – Scheherazade. Each time I do the piece I get more brave. I’m more convinced that we really need to be strong. My interpretation is like a steady slow cook. It takes more flavor. Every time I go back to it, I still see something new and I want to try something new so I can tell the story in different ways. I really love the fact that this piece lends itself for that. 

Rimsky-Korsakov is quoted as having said, “I had no idea of the historical evolution of the civilized world’s music, and had not realized that all modern music owes everything to Bach.” Do you agree that all modern music, even today, owes everything to Bach? 

Wow, what a statement! I think a lot of it, yes. I always believe that we all need to actually understand what happened in the past, especially Bach as such a master. To really understand what the traditions [were] that came before. Then you can decide to keep it or break it. All the greats follow Bach. If you look back, Brahms, Beethoven, everyone basically comes from there.

We started the conversation by my asking you if you could have imagined opening the classical season at the Hollywood Bowl and then opening the BBC Proms in London. That seems like a dream come true. But everybody has to have new dreams as well. What dreams do you have beyond what this July is going to offer you?

My dream is to find an orchestra, a place where we can do some crazy things and grow together, fly together. Another dream of mine actually will come true is that I finally can do some opera. I came from voice choirs and so I love theater, I love drama. So what’s better than actually opera to have all these elements coming together? This is like in two years. There are crazy dreams to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, all this stuff. Sometimes I put a dream and then things like the First Night of the Proms comes in. So in a way, I’m like, life – come on, surprise me.

To view the full interview with Elim Chan, please go here.

All Photos: Elim Chan (Photo ©Simon Pauly/Courtesy for artists)

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Menken has won 8 Academy Awards, 1 Tony Award and 11 Grammy Awards. Fear not, he’s an EGOT with his winning of a Daytime Emmy Award for the song Waiting in the Wings which he co-wrote with Glenn Slater for Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. He’s had a variety of collaborators and by any measure a massively successful career.

He will be celebrating that career this weekend when he gives performances of his show A Whole New World of Alan Menken at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona on March 31st and The Soraya in Northridge, California on April 2nd.

Recently I spoke with Menken about his career. Rather than focus on the projects everybody knows (many of which are featured in his show), I opted to ask Menken about some of the lesser-known works of this remarkably successful composer (and sometimes lyricist). What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview (which includes him singing part of a beautiful song you’ve probably never before), please go to our YouTube channel.

I want to get your perspective on your work by asking you about a lyric that comes from one of the songs that you wrote. The lyrics go: “In the end, it’s only your voice matters. You never hear it, though, for free. You got to pay dues before you choose to be the man you’re going to be.” Those are David Spencer’s lyrics from The Man You’re Gonna Be from your musical adaptation of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. At what point did you find your voice and become the man who created the work we’ve all grown to love?

I fell in love with music at a very young age. I was kind of just this kid who was a dreamer. I liked to just play at the piano. But I really hated to practice. I just hated schools. I just didn’t like where it was going. All the men in the family are dentists or doctors or whatever. So I would say that voice always lived inside of me. 

When I was in college I went as a pre-med. I just didn’t want to go into the lecture hall. I just said no. I made a right turn and went to the piano practice room and just made music. I didn’t care. I would say my voice was found there. My voice is not my music. My voice is my love of music and my desire to make it in all the different forms. I take my voice from characters, from stories or from myself.

A Whole New World of Alan Menken began its life almost seven years ago in 2016. How has the show evolved?

For the most part, as I perform it, I really go back to the moment when I wrote them. Just the memories of where they came from. People say, “Oh, Disney composer Alan Menken.” I love Disney. I adore Disney. But I said I would like [the show] to be some medium in which it’s my career. Which contains Little Shop of Horrors or, as you said, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz or A Christmas Carol or Sister Act or A Bronx Tale or whatever it is. So it really came from wanting to share.

There’s a whole generation of people for whom you are so closely identified with Disney properties, whether they are on screen or on stage. I happen to be a little bit older than that. My first Disney reference is Robert and Richard Sherman. Is there any way in which they were influential on you or were part of your understanding of the Disney history when you started getting involved with Disney?

Obviously they are a big part of the history. To be honest, I go further back to the Disney films that set my imagination on fire like Fantasia. It was that marriage of classical music and images that just forever had me creating images in relation to music. Nobody was more welcoming to me when I came to Disney than Richard Sherman. Richard and [his wife] Elizabeth were so kind. I’ll never forget that.

Just before I started writing the Disney films the AIDS crisis was just this unbelievably horrifying specter that was killing our friends. By that time Tom [Eyen – Kicks: The Showgirl Musical], passed away. First it was Howard [Ashman – Little Shop of Horrors], then it was Tom. Before that it was Steve Brown [Battle of the Giants].

But leading into this time Anna had been born. [I was] bringing my daughter into this world that is fraught with this nightmare because none of us knew the extent of it or how it could be contained and how it was being treated. I would sit with her on the couch and all the Disney classics had come out on VHS. I was putting in Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty or Peter Pan and just sitting with her. Watching them and going this is the ultimate safe space in the world. You just felt it. I felt that from that material.

We are creating the ultimate safe space. We want to be emotionally true and to come from a place of love and redemption and belief in the beauty of life and everything. And so all of that informs, I guess, my approach to Disney.

What stands out to you most about your days at Sesame Street? 

I was making a living. “We have an assignment for you.” Yay! 35 bucks. Yay! I can pay my rent. Literally. Sesame Street was a wonderful, safe space. Howard and I wrote a song which is called The Count’s Lament. “Why I can’t I say ‘w.’ I want to and wish that I could.” Oh, God. Howard’s brilliance. The most special part was being able to write something with Howard for Sesame Street.

I saw an interview you did with Michael Riedel around the time of Sister Act and you said, “I never let go of anything.” What relationship do you have with the works that haven’t been seen as much that maybe will someday have new opportunities? 

Occasionally we would like to nudge them forward if there’s an opportunity. I remember [Music Director/Composer] Lehman Engel always used to say “What’s next?” I will always prefer to just move on to what’s next. I’ve learned that things come back on their own. I didn’t bring back Newsies. Newsies brought itself back. We would see it everywhere. People were just doing the songs from it.

Tom Schumacher [President of Disney Theatrical Group] said, “Look, we should do something. Just a a version for stock or amateur. Just so there’s something because people are cobbling together their own versions of Newsies.” If I sense an opportunity. I go for it.

You mentioned Duddy Kravitz. It’s a really well-written musical. At the same time it’s complex and it’s got a real darkness to it. Duddy is a conundrum because he is one tough, complicated character. It’s going to take context and an audience that really wants to dig into something that’s got some real guts to it.

There was a musical Howard wanted us to do a following Little Shop on stage. It was based on the movie The Big Street and we couldn’t get the rights at the time. He knew that he had a very finite amount of time. He wasn’t telling me at that moment. So I said, we’ll wait. After he passed away I did get the rights. I worked on that twice. But again, the genre, the story, the complexity of it, the the darkness of it, you have to really handle it in just the right way. I’ve learned not to try to force things. Somehow the time will come. I just am a believer in that.

If you dig deep enough on the internet you can find seven demos from The Honeymooners, which I think are some of the best songs that you wrote in your career. 

Those are my music and lyrics. Before I met Howard I was exclusively composer and lyricist. We never got the rights to do it. I am very proud of that. Someday maybe we’ll get those songs out there again. People occasionally record the songs.

There’s a lot of there’s a lot of material that you’ve written that people don’t know unless they were lucky enough to be in workshops or to be at shows. I love the song Hero from Babe.

We have five songs from from Babe.

You have a song, Daughter of God, that you wrote for Emmylou Harris…

Atina: Evil Queen of the Galaxy. It was written for Divine. That one I am now actively reviving and hopefully getting that on stage.

You have such a wealth of material. It seems to me you probably have at least two two discs worth of material, probably more, that could be recorded so people can experience them. Is that something you would like to see happen? 

Sure I would. My daughter Anna, who is a singer, songwriter and producer living in Nashville, one of the things she’s been discussing with me is she would love to have me open up the archives and either record it myself or get other people to record things. So it’s always a possibility that those things will get out there.

I think one reason I have had the success I’ve had is because I’m never resistant to throwing something out. Never. Generally the best thing will always rise to the surface. I’m just that kind of collaborator. It’s not about me. It’s about being part of something bigger and putting your talent out into that. That’s how you maximize your abilities.

I threw out a song I loved from the movie of Hercules. It’s called Shooting Star. Love that song. And then we wrote Go the Distance. We tossed out a song called We’ll Have Tomorrow from the second act of Little Shop of Horrors. But we didn’t need it. Part of its success is that tightness. I mean there are some shows where I’ve written 14 songs for one moment. Leap of Faith – it’s just like the most ridiculous archive of songs.

The Howard Ashman Archives published a two-part interview with you. I don’t know how long ago this was because there was no date on it. But you were asked about Howard and you said, “But I know honestly that he has remained my collaborator in so many ways in the over 20 years since he’s been gone.” Is that still true for you today? How do you feel his presence in your work today?

Occasionally he’ll just be in a dream where we’re writing together. Sometimes in your subconscious there’s almost an alternate arc of your life that’s happening on a subconscious level. When he passed. First of all, I had vivid dreams. I mean, literally on the moment he passed.

Please watch the clip below to see images of Howard and hear the next part of the story.

And then I went back to sleep and that’s when he had passed. Shortly after he and I met in the dream I said, “Tell me what happens. What happens when you die?” He sort of talked me through what his experience was, which was very interesting. Sometimes in the dream we’re writing something, but he’s saying “You’ve moved on. I can’t keep up with what you’re doing or I don’t want to.” I do have a visceral sense of him in my life. I just think in some ineffable way he’s a part of me. He’s just a really deep part of me.

When I think about the things we would have done. Howard wrote Smile. It was really a wonderful score. But people wanted it to be about a beauty pageant in a nice, light, kind of happy story. And it wasn’t. It was about the dark side of a beauty pageant. I was playing [Disney Fan Club Expo] D23. It was already planned that I was playing it. Marvin Hamlisch, who was Howard’s collaborator on Smile, passed away. I said I really should play Disneyland [a song from that musical]. I knew what Marvin and Howard had written for the basic song, but I wanted to sit with the lyric and kind of play what they had written, but put it in my own voice and my own fingers. I wanted to play this from my heart and it was the first time I had a lyric of Howard’s in front of me since he passed that I hadn’t worked with before. It just blew me apart, the memory of that, because he was just on an absolutely incredible level as a writer.

You said on New York Theater Talk that at various stages when you were growing up you wanted to be Beethoven, then the Beatles and then Bob Dylan. What’s been the most satisfying thing about being Alan Menken instead? 

If I think about being me, to be honest, is that I’ve maintained. I’m the same person I was when I was struggling to write. Janice [his wife] and I are together over 50 years now. I talk to my daughters all the time. I’m dad. I love that. I know this thing… Well, Irving Berlin called it my little knack. I think that was his. My little knack is great. I love having it.

I was working on a new song for this Nancy Drew musical I’m writing and I get lost in them. I want to go someplace I’ve never been before. And I want to take an audience someplace they’ve never been before. I’m blessed that I move on. I think it’s a blessing to move on. Even with my concerts there are times I go, “Wow, I’m up here. I’m reliving the last how many years of my life?” 50 years. 50 years of my life. But I see how much it means to audiences and I kind of go there’s something here that’s special. What am I going to do if I’m not doing this one thing? 

Because of what I’ve done in my life, I don’t really have hobbies. So this is kind of it. I’m going to do this or I’m just going to my feet up and I don’t know what am I going to do. You just love the craft, you breathe it in and then you breathe it out and you leave it to others to define what it is you do.

To watch the full interview with Alan Menken (complete with some singing), please go here.

Photos: Alan Menken (Photo by Shervin Lainz/Courtesy AMP Worldwide)

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My top pick this week is a charmingly idiosyncratic celebration of an icon of New York City.

TOP PICK:  CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL:  SONGS AND SYMPHONIQUES: THE MUSIC OF MOONDOG– Ghost Train Orchestra and Kronos Quartet – Catanaloupe Music

Composers Philip Glass and Steve Reich referred to Moondog (Louis Hardin) as “the godfather of minimalism.” But do you know Moondog? If you lived in Manhattan in the mid 20^th-century you might have seen a blind musician dressed like a Viking who would sing his music, sell sheet music of those songs and read poetry. He was the type of cultural icon best found in New York City.

His music is celebrated in this collaboration between these two incredible ensembles. But they don’t do it alone. They are joined by Sam Amidon; Brian Carpenter; Jarvis Cocker; Petra Haden;  Joan As Police Woman; Karen Mantler; Marisa Nadler; Aoife O’Donovan and Rufus Wainwright.

Some of this music exudes such joy you might be tempted to replay individual songs before moving onto the next tracks. It’s a richly rewarding album worthy of your time.

The rest of New In Music This Week: September 29^th are:

CLASSICAL: MOZART: THE VIOLIN CONCERTOS – Renaud Capuçon/Orchestre de Chambre De Lausanne – Deutsche Grammophon

Violinist Capuçon is an avid supporter of chamber music. He first released a recording of Mozart’s Violin Concertos 1 & 3 in 2009. But what instrumentalist does only one recording of the great works?

For this recording he’s doing all five of the composer’s violin concertos. The first was composed in 1773 and the other four were composed two years later. Added to this release are Mozart’s Rondo in C Major, J. 373from 1781 and the Adagio in E Major, K. 261 from 1776.

Fans of Mozart won’t want to miss this recording filled with 2 hours of beautiful music.

CLASSICAL: FANTASIA – Igor Levit – Sony Classical

Nearly two hundred years of classical music are covered in this 2-disc set of solo piano perforamnces by Levit. The album begins with three works by Bach (including the very well-known Suite for String Orchestra No. 3 in D Major – arranged by Alexander Siloti).

The first disc continues with the Piano Sonata in B minor by Franz Liszt and the composer’s Der Doppelgänger. Disc two features Alban Berg’s Klavierstück in B Minor and Piano Sonata op. 1. Levitt concludes the recording with Ferruccio Busoni’s Fantasia contrappuntistica  and Nuit de Noël.

The simplicity of the opening Bach track is built on and challenged throughout this incredible recording.

CLASSICAL: DIABELLI VARIATIONS – Shai Wosner– Onyx Classics

Maybe you prefer Beethoven more than Mozart (not that one has to choose). If you do, you will enjoy this recording of the 33 variations Beethoven wrote based on a waltz by Anton Diabelli. By the time you get to Variation 3 you will recognize immediately the brilliance of Beethoven’s writing.

Wosner makes the recording an enjoyable one and does not approach it from a scholarly point of view as to take the life out of these variations. This recording is full of life and consideration.

Trivia: these 33 Variations inspired playwright/director Moisés Kaufman to write his play of the same name which opened on Broadway in 2009 with Jane Fonda in the lead role.

JAZZ: BLOODY BELLY COMB JELLY – Andrew Krasilnikov – Rainy Day Records

I didn’t know Krasilnikov before listening to this album which sounds like it was timed for Halloween. There’s nothing scary about this large ensemble recording. It has one foot firmly planted in the future and the other keeping track of all that came before him.

There are seven tracks (including the title track) with most of them composed by Krasilinkov. A couple tracks were composed by Alexey Bekker, a core member of his quartet who plays piano and Rhodes on the album.

Making the album particularly interesting is the varying uses of woodwind instruments, brass and marimba. Regardless of the title, this album is all treat, no trick.

JAZZ (adjacent): AJA  – Steely Dan – GEFFEN/Ume

Anyone familiar with Steely Dan (Walter Becker and Donald Fagen) will know how much jazz influenced their sound. Yes, they were considered a rock band, but they fused jazz with rock in a way that was all their own.

This vinyl release (the first time since its original release in 1977) is probably best known for the opening track, Black Cow and the hit song Peg.

UK’s New Musical Express called the album “simply the most sophisticated and intelligent rock album to be released this year.” Rolling Stone’s Michael Duffy said, “By returning to swing and early be-bop for inspiration – before jazz diverged totally from establish conventions of pop-song structure – Fagen and Becker have overcome the amorphous quality that has plagued most other jazz-rock fusion attempts.

MUSICALS: THE TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE THE MUSICAL – Original Cast Recording – Sony Masterworks Broadway

On November 1^st the world premiere of this musical based on Audrey Niffenegger’s novel will have its official world premiere at the Apollo Theatre in London. The score and lyrics were composed by Joss Stone (whose early 2000s albums are amongst my favorite) and Dave Stewart (he of the Eurythmics). It should be noted that the musical is also inspired by the 2009 film.

As in the novel, the musical tells the story of Clare, a sculptor and Henry, a time traveler. Their relationship is more give and take than most because little of their love story happens in a linear fashion. They remain in love, but time gets in the way. Can they find a way to each other? (Of course they can, it’s a musical.)

For tickets and more information for the West End production, please go here.

OPERA: THE GREAT PUCCINI – Jonathan Tetelman/Prague Philharmonia/Carlo Rizzi – Deutsche Grammophon

When one thinks of Chilean tenors Ramón Vinay is probably the first tenor that comes to mind.  With this collection of, shall we say, some of the greatest hits of opera, Tetelman’s name is going to quickly gain on Vinay.

Tetelman makes his Metropolitan Opera debut in two productions next spring:  as Ruggerro in Puccini’s La Rondine beginning in late March and assuming the role of Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in April.

You get a preview of those two operas along with Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Turnadot and more in this crowd-pleasing recording that heralds the arrival of an opera star.

That’s our list of New In Music This Week: September 29th.

Enjoy the music. Enjoy your weekend.

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Avery*Sunshine, whose real name is Denise White, has a show tonight at Yoshi’s in Oakland. On Saturday she’s performing at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel as part of the CAP UCLA season.

In these excerpts from our conversation we discussed music old and new, mixing of genres and how her father’s passing inspired her.

You are still touring behind your 2017 album, Twenty Sixty Four. Two plus years after releasing it, how do you make the material fresh for yourself in performance?

You know what’s interesting, because I’m an independent artist, there are so many people who have no idea who I am and have never heard the music. I’m always introducing it to people. That’s the upside of being an indie artist and playing clubs and not arenas. If I’m playing somewhere and 50,000 people come, I have to do more music. But for the way we tour, it’s not really hard to do. From my first album [2010’s Avery*sunshine Album] I have to sing it like it’s new.  My husband [Dana Johnson] and I write all the music together and I love it. I really love the music.

You seem to release new material about every three years. Is new material on the way?

I’m actually working on new material. The album is almost finished. We’re finishing that album and we’re going to do a live recording in Atlanta on December 28th. There’s a bunch of stuff going on.

Will you be performing that material in these upcoming concerts?

We are going to do three-to-five tunes from the upcoming album.

You can’t easily be defined by any one genre. Why is that important to you?

It is important to me, but I don’t do it because it is important to me, but because it is a part of me. I am a roux of all the music I’ve ever been exposed to and all the experiences I’ve ever had. I find that when I just let it come out in the way it is supposed to come – it might come out in a gospel song or a love song – whatever it is, it comes out however it comes out. My focus hasn’t been on doing it because it is important but because it is honest to me.

I saw a video where you spontaneously sat down at a piano when Fantasia was being interviewed and sang Safe in His Arms in a blend of gospel and jazz styles. I’m not religious, but if every gospel song sounded like that I would sign up.

What’s so funny about that interview with Sirius XM and Cayman Kelly is we were on a tour with another artist and we had to wait [for someone to show up] and Fantasia came in and so he interviewed her and we’re all in the room. And he spontaneously says “Avery, come to the piano.” I was sick. It was her time and I didn’t want to do that. Everywhere I go in the world somebody tells me about that.

Thank you for reminding me that I have to allow the universe to move and to dictate. Sometimes I have to get out of my own way. I didn’t want anybody to see it. It felt like a really vulnerable space for her and me. It was too personal for people to see. But for someone like you who isn’t religious, that’s my hope that whatever I sing, I want people to feel better or be better. It’s not about which religion.

We live in troubled times. What role do you want your music to play in helping get through it all and what role does music play in helping you get through it all?

I just touched on it. i want people to feel better, to feel hopeful. The same way I feel hopeful when I listen to [Marvin Gaye’s] What’s Going On. For lack of a better way of saying it, it’s the songs like [Public Enemy’s] Fight the Power, the kind of songs that don’t exist now. The songs that make you feel like we’re going to be alright as long as we’re together. Aretha Franklin wrote songs like that. I want my music to be that way.

I hope that my music, and in no way am I comparing myself to them, I want people to feel better. I want them to feel hopeful. I know when I’m at a show and people say, “That one thing you said, you said that to me,” it’s real.

Does using a stage name allow you to do things Denise White would never do?

I thought so at first. No, it’s the same thing. God rest my father’s soul, he passed in March. My father and my daughter called me Avery. That burned me up. And they wouldn’t stop. He said, “It’s the same thing. You’re the same thing.” So no, I thought it would be a big deal.

I was in a non-creative space before Dad transitioned. I didn’t want to do anything and then he transitioned and it felt like the sky opened up and things were clear. So I’m grateful. On the upcoming album we have a song called Boomerang, the first song I wrote after Dad died. 

I asked my Dad, he had been gone for three or four days, I said, “Man, you left us. I’m hurting. My heart is broken. I have not created in months. If you want me to do this, you have to help me.” It took fifteen minutes and the song was done. It was one of the best thing I’ve had the honor of being a vessel for. 

By this point in our conversation, their Uber had found the venue and it was time for Avery to get inside, have a shot of espresso and get ready for her performance.

Avery*Sunshine performs November 21st at Yoshi’s in Oakland. Her Los Angeles performance at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel is on November 23rd.

All photos by LANSTU/Courtesy of Averysunshine.com

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