Grammy-nominated singer Susan Narucki makes transformational music  – San Diego Union-Tribune

Soprano Susan Narucki knows where she’ll be during the first weekend of February: At the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

The UC San Diego professor and acclaimed soprano is a Grammy nominee this year in the Best Classical Solo Vocal Album category for her most recent recording, “György Kurtág Kafka Fragments.”

“It’s a very competitive field,” said Narucki, speaking from her Hillcrest home. “And since I do primarily modern music, a nomination’s not something you expect will happen. It’s wonderful when it does.

“So, I figure we might go up a few days early and just relax, enjoy it and have some fun. The Grammys are always quite a scene.”

On Wednesday, Narucki will perform a pre-Grammy concert at UCSD featuring music completely different from “Kafka Fragments.”

She is no newbie to the Grammy Awards. This is Narucki’s third Grammy nomination. She also earned a Latin Grammy nomination in 2017 for her album “Cuatro Corridos” (“Four Songs”). She was also the soloist on George Crumb’s “Star Child” album, the 2001 Grammy Award-winner for Best Classical Composition.

Her 2019 Grammy-nominated album, “The Edge of Silence,” also featured György Kurtág’s repertoire. The Hungarian composer, who turns 100 on Feb. 19, is beloved in Europe but not well-known in the U.S. Narucki has worked with him on and off for 40 years.

The album “Kafka Fragments” just that — snippets by the famous Prague-born, German-language author, Franz Kafka. With deep feeling, Narucki performs dazzling musical feats (mostly in German) as she sings short, long, profound and nonsensical excerpts from Kafka’s work.

“Susan is amazing,” said her colleague, Pulitzer-Prize winning opera composer and UCSD music professor Anthony Davis. “She does things no one else can do. The vocal control that is needed to do Kurtag’s music, she does perfectly. She’s a consummate artist.”

Accompanying Narucki to Los Angeles will be her husband, David Rutherford, and violinist Curtis Macomber and his wife, Judith Sherman. The couple were crucial to the Kurtág album. Macomber is the only other musician on “Kafka Fragments” while Sherman was its recording producer and engineer.

The project received help from UCSD in terms of grants, rehearsal space and production staff.

“It takes a village to make a recording,” Narucki said. “You see the names of the artists, the producers and the composer, but a lot more goes into it.”

‘A big party!’

Wednesday’s concert at Conrad Prebys Concert Hall on the UCSD campus will find Narucki performing with two frequent collaborators, coloratura soprano Kirsten Ashley Wiest and pianist Donald Berman.

Narucki and Weist will preview pieces from their upcoming recording project due to be released in August. Through commissions, they’ve been developing repertoire for two sopranos without instrumentation.

“Kirsten has a very special voice,” Narucki said. “She’s a fantastic singer and a capella singing’s not something that everybody likes to do. Our voices in combination really complement each other in a very particular way.”

The two will perform the world premiere of “come sempre” by Dutch composer and poet Rozalie Hirs, who Narucki has known for 30 years. The climate-change-themed poem, sung in in Italian, describes endangered Siberian cranes who are known for singing ornithological duets.

Berman is a well-known advocate of contemporary music who has worked with Narucki for 35 years. He will accompany her Wednesday on a world premiere as well. She commissioned her friend, Boston-based Scott Wheeler, to set to music a 20th century poem by the late Jewish writer Rose Ausländer.

“In the poem, Rose was talking about how we think we create words, but in some way, the language that we use creates us,” Narucki said. “It creates our experience with life.”

The Wednesday concert will also include poems by Jorge L. Borges. They have been set to music by Colombian-born, New York based composer Alba L. Potes.

“They’re just short Haiku, but they are absolutely beautiful and evocative. They’re little gems,” Narucki said.

“This concert is like a big party for people I’ve known a long time!”

In March, Narucki will feature two of her graduate students in another concert at UCSD. The program will center on the work of female composers. The concert honors Women’s History Month, Narucki said, adding that Google no longer includes that cultural observance in its online calendar.

Kudos to Joni Mitchell

Not surprisingly, Narucki’s Grammy-nominated “Kafka Fragments” was created by people she has worked with for decades, including composer Kurtág and violinist Macomber.

“Curtis is so integral to the piece, it’s more of a duo album,” Narucki explained. “Kurtág wrote it for voice and violin. For this, somebody needs to be flexible and responsive, but also strong in their own ideas and execution of the part, and that is Curtis.

“Being nominated tells me that more people are appreciating this music. And it’s a recognition of the composer and his work, as well as what we were able to do with it. It tells me this kind of music is reaching people, and you can’t ask for more than that.”

Another Grammy nominee this year is the iconic singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, who is up for Best Historical Album. If the opportunity comes up during the nominees’ festivities, what would Narucki say to Mitchell?

“Thanks for being a beacon of light!” Narucki responded. “I love her music for what she does with the poetry she writes. The connection between all these different types of music is about transforming texts into beautiful art forms that can communicate with us and touch us.”

Transforming Texts: New Music for Voices: Susan Narucki, with Donald Berman and Kirsten Ashley Wiest

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, 9410 Russell Lane, UC San Diego

Tickets: $10-$20

Phone: 858-246-3600

Online: music-web.ucsd.edu/concerts