The Inside Story: Donald Nally and THE TOWER AND THE GARDEN

On THE TOWER AND THE GARDEN, the multi-GRAMMY winning choir The Crossing and conductor Donald Nally ponder the fragility of the earth, the awe of nature, and the power of language to unite, or divide, society.

Today, Donald is our featured artist in “The Inside Story,” a blog series exploring the inner workings and personalities of our composers and performers. Read on to discover new insight into his musical journey, from his own church performance in second grade to attending his first opera in college…

Do you have any specific hopes about what this album will mean to listeners?

I honestly never have an idea of what the listener will take away. I don’t like prescribing that to myself or to others because I feel it gets in the way of my simply connecting with the music and the singers in an honest, transparent way. I do hope the listener will hear something they recognize in themselves and that, in our attempt to describe and define our world, others will connect with us, hear us, and be changed a little in that recognition. I depend on art to remind me of my humanity; that’s a good way to think about my work.

If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

Barbra Streisand. Yup. There are a number of singers that I heard regularly as a child that helped form my love of sung words and my ideas about pronunciation, diction, and meaning in delivery. Sinatra and Streisand were fundamental to that and that foundation stays with me. So, while I don’t see our role in life and music as back-up, working with Streisand would bring it all together.

What were your first musical experiences?

I’m not sure; I have many fond memories of singing as a kid – at school and at church. I was raised in a tiny Presbyterian church in the country that was indescribably liberal and, in hindsight, ridiculously ambitious in choral selections – and somehow it all made sense. I do remember in 2nd grade I played the glockenspiel in a performance of Silver Bells and felt I had truly made it – my musical career had been launched and from there it would just be some more practicing before the record deals began coming. Turns out it does not work that way.

What are your other passions besides music?

Reading. That’s about it. I don’t do too much else besides music, reading, and spending time with my husband. I read a lot, much of it leading to or related to projects, though I identify periods of time throughout the year to just turn off and spend time with books. That’s usually a vacation so it often involves a beach or a mountain, which are very good places to read… and to drink cocktails.

What was the first performance you remember seeing?

So many categories of ‘first performance!’ I’m going to go with opera in a big house, because I remember very well seeing John Dexter’s historic production of Poulenc’s Dialogue of the Carmelites. That image of the prostrate nuns is burned into the brain of anyone who saw that production and, of course, there is so much incredible music – brutal, beautiful, spiritual, stark. And the cast: Crespin, Norman, and Quivar. I was a freshman in college and a university professor took me to see this, but I don’t think either of us were prepared for the power of that production.

Who are your musical mentors?

I have so many people I consider to be mentors. It goes back to church as a kid, the choir directors there who took me under their wings, the wonderful teachers in elementary, Jr. High, and High School who gave me so much extra attention to help me hone skills that would get me to college, and then a long and really unbelievable line of gifted and giving musicians in four different schools. But, the one person who stands out truly changed my life, and that was Joe Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College, where I got my Master’s degree. We became life-long friends and wrote a book together decades after I studied with him. He opened up my brain and my heart and led me through ways of connecting them; he served as a model of respect, grace, and kindness; he never shied from making profoundly personal music at every moment in every rehearsal and every performance. “Being available” is inherent in many people, but figuring out how that works takes a guide.