Jubilant Sykes Interview with Bruce Duffie . . . . . . . . . .

Baritone Jubilant Sykes

A Conversation with Bruce Duffie

sykes Perhaps no vocalist of our time possesses a more exquisitely versatile instrument than the American baritone Jubilant Sykes. He is known for bringing a unique dimension to the traditional career of the classically trained vocalist by drawing on gospel, jazz and folk influences to deliver performances in differing musical genre.

His unique gifts, have taken him from such diverse stages as the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Arena di Verona in Italy, London’s Barbican Center, to the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Apollo Theater and Hollywood Bowl, among hundreds of other venues around the world.

Mr. Sykes has performed with a number of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors, including the Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, Baltimore Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, London Symphony, Louisville Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco and Pittsburgh Symphonies, St. Louis, Seattle, and Vancouver Symphonies. He has worked with such conductors as Teddy Abrams, Marin Alsop, John Axelrod, Christoph Eschenbach, Marvin Hamlisch, Krisjan Jarvi, Andrew Litton, Keith Lockhart, Lorin Maazel, Wayne Marshall, Kurt Masur, John Nelson, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin and John Williams.

Jubilant has collaborated with such artists as Julie Andrews, Terence Blanchard, John Beasley, Renée Fleming, Josh Groban, Christopher Parkening, Patrice Rushen, Carlos Santana, Jennifer Warren, and Brian Wilson.

The Grammy nominated baritone was named “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone Magazine for his recording of Leonard Bernstein‘s “Mass.”

He made his film debut in the movie Freedom playing the African slave Ozias. He later played the lead in the play Breath and Imagination by Daniel Beaty on the life of Roland Hayes at the Hartford Stage. In New York at the New York City Center, he portrayed Pompey in the musical Bloomer Girl, and Henry Richard Lee in the musical 1776. In late 2023, he will appear in the suspense/thriller Fin.

Jubilant resides in Southern California with his wife, Cecelia. They have three sons.

== Biography from the artist's website
== Names which are links in this box and below refer to my interviews elsewhere on my website. BD

We met in mid-April of 1998, and had a wide-ranging discussion of his career, as well as his musical ideas. I was then able to use parts of the conversation on WNIB, Classical 97, to promote a subsequent concert two months later. Now, in 2024, I am pleased to present the entire chat.

Bruce Duffie:   Is it safe to assume that your first name is your personality?

Jubilant Sykes:   [Laughs] I hope so! For the most of it, yes, yes!

BD:   Was that your given name, or did you take it?

Sykes:   No, that’s the name that my mom gave me. That’s what I was born with.

BD:   So you’ve been jubilant all your life?

Sykes:   Her philosophy was that maybe I would grow into my name. She and my dad thought so.

BD:   Were they right?

Sykes:   I hope so! I think so! For the most part, yes, yes!

BD:   Is it special to you to bring the music that you grew up with, namely the Spirituals, to a racially diverse audience?

Sykes:   I’ve never thought of it that way, but I just think wonderful music should be shared. It’s not that I have a campaign or goal to make these Spirituals stand. They are every bit as legitimate as classical music. It’s our classical music. They’re folk songs, and though they are not specifically European, they have a European influence in that you think of the whole issue of the slaves. It’s part of my culture and heritage, but not just by being African-American. It’s a part of all of America, and it’s a treasure. Maybe I am campaigning for them, but I think they are just as important as Mozart is to Austria. I am equally moved with Mozart as well as spirituals. This is what art is. The notes are a means to the end, and the end is moving us to adoration of God’s gift of music, as well as lifting us to a higher level. The levels of these arts are higher. My buddies and friends love rap music, and when hear it I think there’s a higher calling. This is not to say that rap is a lower calling. It’s just different. But there is something about great music that really speaks to the heart.

BD:   Does it speak to all hearts?

Sykes:   I should hope so! If we all allow it, it will speak to all hearers, even people who say are completely solid in the classical music, and have no interest in anything from Rock to modern jazz. Rap is completely no good to them. I feel that if it’s good, and if the artist is true to himself and to their art, I don’t think you can sit there without being moved.

BD:   In the Spirituals or in Mozart, where is the balance between the art and the entertainment?

Sykes:   [Thinks a moment] That’s a wonderful question. Entertainment is kind of on the periphery. When I sing, I don’t think of entertainment. I think about a moment in time that has to communicate something of what the composer is saying to myself first, and then to the audience, and I try to be true to that. The entertainment is maybe the personality of who God made me. I am trying to put so much of my personality in it, but that’s a part of who I am, and maybe if that’s entertaining, then okay. [Laughs] Watching someone sweat, or just walking out on the stage can be entertaining, but the goal really is to be true to the composer, and to be true to yourself, while allowing that to minister or to touch the hearts of people. Honestly, I don’t know what ‘entertainment’ means. What I call a valuable concert is when I am moved. If it says something to the part of me that I cannot articulate with words, that’s being moved. That may or may not be entertaining. [Pauses a moment] It’s a very tough question. When we watch sports, that can be entertaining. If you watch Michael Jordan, that’s entertaining. I’m not moved to tears, but I know some people are. You wonder how he does that, but being moved is being cut to the quick, or being so moved with joy that it’s inexpressible. It’s a big element, but it’s something more than entertaining, more than just a smile and a laugh. It’s almost painful.

BD:   Painful for the performer, or painful for the audience?

Sykes:   As an audience member. If I’m in the audience when I hear something that is just so incredibly beautiful, it’s a wonderful pain.

BD:   The agony and the ecstasy!

Sykes:   Yes, and that’s what makes you come back for more. It’s kind of a love-hate relationship.

BD:   You find this in the Spirituals, and you find this in Mozart. Do you find it in all the repertoire that you sing?

Sykes:   In the pieces that I like, yes.

BD:   Then how do you decide what you will sing and what you won’t sing?

Sykes:   The conductor will usually ask what I would like to sing. Then it’s great, but if you’re hired for something specific, and maybe the repertoire isn’t really what you are dying to do, but it is a wonderful opportunity, meaning it’s furthering the career, and your agent says this is something I should do, then I’ll do it. Again, the goal is to be true. If you can be true to the music and be true to yourself, fine.

BD:   Do you learn from it even if it’s not what you really want to do?

Sykes:   Oh yes, absolutely!

BD:   I assume you have to sing in various venues, including outdoors, small halls, and big places. Do you adjust your technique for the size of the house?

Sykes:   If it’s a smaller house or a little recital hall, you have to adjust a little more. The sound can be overbearing. Outside it’s a whole other game, and for me, the trick is to pretend that this is a nice intimate gathering, even though sometimes you can’t see all the mass of people.

BD:   [With a wink] 10,000 of your closest friends... [Both laugh]

Sykes:   It’s just you, though again, it’s not singing for them per se, because you can’t. You sing for that intimate few that you feel that you’re going to reach. You imagine that it is a small gathering, maybe about 150 people, and it’s those people you sing to.

BD:   Are you singing for God?
sykes

Sykes:   Always.

BD:   Is God pleased with what he hears?

Sykes:   He is pleased with what he hears when I am true to him. If I am true to him, regardless of how the voice feels, or how I feel, yes, he’s pleased.

BD:   Are you true to him when you’re singing secular music as well as sacred music?

Sykes:   Oh, yes. For me there’s not a lot of difference. Yes, there’s a difference in the text of the spirituals, and I’m actually proclaiming glory to Him directly. But then there’s life! There are just the pains and everyday love affairs and broken hearts. That’s a part of God. God created love. God is love. I think of my wife when I’m singing love songs. I think about our relationship, of dating all those years ago, and I know that’s a part of God. God gave me the gift of being able to love, and to be loved in return. So to me it’s not that one is secular and one is sacred. It all is to the glory of God! Bach said that all music should be in the honor and glory of God, and I think that’s true. If I’m true as I’m praying, then that should spill over into every aspect of my life, like brushing my teeth or talking to you. That’s who I am, and I hope Christ is reigning in me with everything I do.

BD:   Will that come out to everyone who is listening?

Sykes:   It’s not a conscious reigning out, but for better or for worse, that is who I am. So probably that will come across.

* * * * *

BD:   You’re a baritone?

Sykes:   Yes.

BD:   Do you like being a baritone, and having that voice-range?

Sykes:   [Laughs] I love the baritone voice, and I love the low instruments. I love cellos, and I like the low sound of strings. My dad was a trumpet player, so I also love the brassy sounds as well. But this is my voice, and is what I am. I can’t separate myself. When I hear women sing, I’m always in awe of the flexibility there. Tenors have the same thing as sopranos when they’re singing in the high register, and that’s thrilling. But for me, I love the constant sound of the mezzo-soprano or the baritone, and the richness of that.

BD:   Isn’t there something special when a baritone sings an F or an F-sharp or a G?

Sykes:   I guess so. As a singer, you just think when the high note is coming. Yes, sometimes you can enjoy it, and as a listener I can enjoy it when I hear singers are up there. You’re kind of lost in the wonderment of it.

BD:   You wouldn’t rather be a deep bass?

Sykes:   Gosh, if I could pick a voice type I’d probably like to be some kind of dramatic baritone or bass... probably more like a dramatic baritone who can sing the big Verdi baritone parts.

BD:   Have you sung some Verdi?

Sykes:   Yes, I have! That’s probably not my Fach [kind of voice], but in concerts I can take an aria out of an opera. It can be fun. I’ve had conductors say that they think I can sing that material, but I don’t know. I like Puccini, but when I hear a real Verdi baritone, it’s makes me want to close up shop! [Both laugh]

BD:   When you’re offered a role, how do you decide yes or no?

Sykes:   Oh, that’s easy. If it’s Verdi, probably no. If it’s Mozart or some Puccini, maybe yes.

BD:   What kind of Mozart have you sung?

Sykes:   In The Marriage of Figaro I’ve done a little bit of the Count. I’m starting to work on Papageno [Magic Flute], and pretty much all the standard baritone stuff. I did a little bit in college, some scenes, but I’ve never done an actual full role.

BD:   Do you like Papageno, and being a bird-man?

Sykes:   Oh, are you kidding? I’d love to do that! It would be just a kick in the pants! [Both laugh]

BD:   At the moment, how are you dividing your career between the opera performances and recitals and concerts?
sykes

Sykes:   [Laughs] It’s a very tough time but I’m not complaining. I have this new recording with Sony Classical [shown at left], and what’s unique about that is they’re Spirituals, but they’re done in a jazz setting. I’m not a jazz singer, but it’s done with a really small chamber sound, with acoustic piano and string bass. Terence Blanchard is the producer and arranger, and trumpet of course, so I’m doing it like little club jazz dates. I’m singing this material in a kind of a concert setting, but they’re small club dates. Then two days later I’m doing a Beethoven Ninth, and then three days later here I am doing a Mahler song and some Mozart. It’s not the best way to do it, but it’s just the way the chips fell. I can’t ask a record company to hold off and not do these clubs, or tell them that I don’t want to do the Beethoven Ninth now. It’s just the way the dates are set.

BD:   In a way I would think it would drive you nuts going back and forth, but in another way, it might give you the balance and the diversion that you need.

Sykes:   Ultimately, that’s what I thought, and that’s what I’m hoping for, but realistically I have to re-group quickly. Like I said, a day before I was here, I was in a jazz club doing five performances a night, and that’s not what you do as a ‘classical’ singer. And the day before that, literally the night before, I was singing a Beethoven Ninth in Northern California. The goal is to do a few Beethoven Ninths, rest a week, then do a club date and rest another week. But that’s not the way it’s been, so it’s tough.

BD:   As you build up your career, you’ll be able to call the shots a little better.

Sykes:   [Laughs] Let’s hope so!

BD:   Are you leaving enough time for family, and for preparation?

Sykes:   Yes, my family. That’s my heart. What is nice is when I am in a place for a long time. That will happen this summer. I’ll be in Austria, and we’ll all go together to be there for nine weeks, camped out on the lake. That’s going to be nice.

BD:   Will you be performing, or just on a vacation?

Sykes:   I’ll be performing, but I’m there in one place for nine weeks with my family. So, that will be sublime. I will come home, and in spite of whatever, my wife will be there with my three little ones are running around. That’s the ultimate.

BD:   Will they go to your performances?

Sykes:   Oh yes, they’ll go. The little one is kind of young, so he’ll leave at the intermission, and we’ll have someone bring him home.

BD:   What will you be singing over there?

Sykes:   It’s the big Gershwin year, so it’s the Porgy & Bess at the Bregenz Festival.

BD:   Out there on the little island?

Sykes:   Yes, that’s it! I’m doing the role of Jake. The Porgy is Donnie Ray Albert. He’s a great guy, and has a bass-baritone-type voice.

BD:   I trust you don’t want to just be type-cast into that role.

Sykes:   Honestly, when I was asked to do this, I did turn it down. I had done the role so many times before, and it was enough. But I have a great relationship with the general director of the Berlin Opera, Götz Friedrich, and he said he would really like me to come back. His productions are very interesting...

BD:   To say the least! [Both laugh]

Sykes:   To say the least, so it’s an opportunity to work with him. I have a lot of friends in the production, and again, it means nine weeks in one place with a house on the lake.

* * * * *

BD:   How much does the physical production, the sets and costumes, affect the way you do a role?

Sykes:   A lot! Most of the costume designers basically know about opera, of course, and they’re really sensitive to that. If the costume is too heavy or something, they’re quick to make amends. The lighting just comes with the territory. You just get used to that. Again, the goal is to make music, and to try and cut across the foot lights to the audience.

BD:   Are you conscious of the audience when you’re singing an opera?

Sykes:   No, not really.

BD:   Are you conscious of the audience when you’re giving a concert?

Sykes:   I am when I walk out, of course. They are moments in the piece when I am completely sold into what I’m doing. I’m conscious, but in a subliminal way. So I know they’re there, but it’s not like I’m singing to them. I feel like we’re kind of singing together. It’s like we’re together in it. I don’t feel like they’re sitting there watching me. I’m nervous when I really am aware that they are watching me! That’s when panic strikes in! But if I’m there and I just feel lost in the music, I hope they are too, and we’ll meet at the double-bar. Then I’m okay.

BD:   Do you ever get an audience that’s just asleep?

Sykes:   Not yet! [Both laugh]

BD:   I always wonder how a singer can motivate the audience and wake them up a little bit.

Sykes:   I don’t know, but that’s not my job.

BD:   What is your job — just to sing the music?

Sykes:   Just to sing the music??? Gosh, I know I’m sounding redundant, but it’s what I am. It is really being true to what God has called me to do. First and foremost, it is to be a good husband to my wife and father to my kids. Then, he’s given me a unique opportunity with the gift of music. That’s great, and somehow I can be completely transparent with strangers. I can confess all of my deep yearnings and longings and failures and weaknesses, and it will be okay in that I am allowing God to say what he will through me. But I don’t want to sound pious or ‘God is using me’. I don’t want to come across that way. I’m just saying that if I am true to God, being completely real and honest before him, not just on the stage but before I get there, then after I walk out it’s really up to him.

BD:   It’s all in the preparation?

Sykes:   Exactly, and as long as I’m living before Him, and in a way that is honoring Him, then my goal is just to work the craft, work the voice, and study. Once you step out, you know you’re there! For better or worse, here I am.

* * * * *

BD:   Are there any of the roles that you do, or any of the songs that you sing, where there is too much of you contained within them?

Sykes:   Hmmm... I couldn’t tell you that, but I am sure people would say that’s possibly true. I can’t see it myself, but I’m sure that’s true.

BD:   Now you’ve made this new Sony recording. Did you adjust your voice at all for the microphone?

Sykes:   Yes. For this recording it’s very different, because it’s what I call a lighter kind of sound, where I’m singing with a lot of breath in it, and every now and then I’ll kick into a little more legitimate sound. But I wanted to not try to be a jazz singer. I keep coming back to truth. I wanted to be real to the Spirituals, in that some of the paint it adds is as if there were a slave singing — not with a great trained voice, but kind of a plaintive whisper, yet having the intensity and passion when needed to kick in to underline those words, and to underline what he must have felt being out in the slave plantations. He is crying out to God to deliver him, and yet not going off the Richter scale on either side. He is being somewhere in the middle.
sykes

BD:   Do you ever feel you are a slave to the voice?

Sykes:   Yes, I think most singers feel that way. Hopefully, when you walk out onto the stage, you don’t think about it anymore. You do all of the screaming and ranting and raving at the voice behind closed doors, and with coaches. But when you walk out, what is not there — either from sickness or fatigue — you leave behind. You trust God for the results, and don’t look back.

BD:   Do you have to be an athlete in order to maintain this career?

Sykes:   You definitely have to keep healthy. I used to run a little bit, but for me it’s eating right — not eating too much — and sleeping, which is not easy to do. You are really trying to be healthy. It’s tough on the road, but that’s the goal.

BD:   After a concert or an opera performance, does it take a long time to come down from that experience and get to sleep?

Sykes:   Yes. That’s the problem, because that’s when you eat! [Both laugh] That’s when the receptions are. You have some pie, and you stay awake all night because you’re wired. Then, if you have to catch a plane the next morning at 7 or 8 o’clock — which has happened — it’s tough.

BD:   Do you ever question why you’re doing it... or are we back to truth again?

Sykes:   Sure I do. I question it. I question not why I’m doing it because it’s what I do. [Has a huge laugh] I can’t do anything else! I’ve got a wife and three little boys at home, so I’ve got to do something. If it’s not this, what would I do?

BD:   Okay, if it wasn’t singing, what would you do?

Sykes:   [Thinks a moment] Probably my mom or dad would have thought I could have gone into Law, but honestly I really don’t know.

BD:   You’d be singing to the judge and jury all the time!

Sykes:   [Laughs] Probably, and also, as I said, having a name like Jubilant probably would make for a great attorney!

BD:   You’d have to be an advocate for something.

Sykes:   Right! There you go!

BD:   The music that you sing — whether it be Mozart or Spirituals — is it for everyone?

Sykes:   I’d be naïve if I said it were, but probably not. I would like to say yes, it is for everyone. If I’m honest, I’d be sure that if you’d give it a chance, it could possibly be for everyone. But it’s not something you can force down someone’s throat. You lay it out there, and one of the goals is to show that it’s this higher calling. We don’t have music much in schools these days. It’s the radio, and videos, and television, so let’s lift it up another notch so that my peers and younger can see what this is. What is Mahler? What is Bach? Then if you throw in a Spiritual here and there, that’s how they relate! Again, if you transcend the notes on the page and reach the hearts, then it’s for everyone.

BD:   Is the message getting through enough?

Sykes:   I don’t know. I hope so. I’ve got to believe it is. You lay it there and let God do the rest. Once it’s out of the mouth, you can’t take it back. It’s there, and you must pray it goes out in the spirit in which it was intended.

BD:   Do you like singing?

Sykes:   Yes, but it’s a love-hate relationship. For a while I thought people were liking me just as a kid because I sang, but if they saw me when I wasn’t singing maybe they wouldn’t like me. But they liked the singing, so sometimes I could hide behind that. Now that I’m married with children, I know I’m loved in spite of me, and I know God loves me in spite of me. If I were never to sing again, I know he would still love me. I like singing, but I’m human, and there are moments when I don’t like what I do. I don’t like the way it comes out regardless of how it affects the audience. I am the first to know when it’s right, and when it’s not the way it should be.

BD:   Is there such a thing as a perfect performance?

Sykes:   Probably not, but there are some performances that you wish you could carry around! I have a tendency to be a lot harder on myself, and I’m really working on not being that way. But there are performances where you, as an artist, know what you want to get across technique-wise, and when that doesn’t happen when you’re working on it, that’s pretty frustrating.

BD:   I hope it’s mostly not frustrating!

Sykes:   If it were too frustrating, I guess I wouldn’t keep doing it. [Both laugh]

BD:   Are you pleased with where you are at this point in your career?

Sykes:   Oh yes! When I went to school as a music major in college, all I knew was that I wanted to sing. I never thought I’m going to be an opera singer, or a concert singer. I didn’t know what that meant. I knew about recitals and I knew about singing Lieder, but I just wanted to sing. It’s been a longer process for me than for the average singer, because they know they want to be an opera singer, so they study and work at it. They go to Europe, or they study here in the States, and they work toward that goal. I just wanted to sing, and it took a long time for me to zero in and say that I better try and get a career going, as opposed to just singing every day. So, honestly yes, I’m very pleased.

BD:   What advice do you have for younger singers coming along?

Sykes:   [Thinks a moment] Find out early what you want to do. If you want to be an opera singer, zero in on that. If you want to be a concert singer, zero in on that. The sooner you zero in on something, the better off you’ll be. Yet, on the contrary, if you concentrate too much on one thing, you may miss something very interesting. For example, I did enjoy modern music when I was in college, some really avant-garde stuff, and if I were had been a true legitimate opera singer from my first year in college, I probably would not have had the opportunity to do that. But in the end, probably zeroing in on what it is you want to do is the way to go.

BD:   Since you did some new music in college, what advice do you have for composers who want to write for the voice?

Sykes:   Listen to Mozart. He wrote wonderfully for the voice. Listen to really wonderful singing, and hear lots of different types of things... someone like Leontyne Price, with her glorious rich voice. Then think about a jazz singer, like Sarah Vaughan. Within that frame of those two extremes, you’re bound to hear all the qualities of the human voice, and what that entails. That’s important for a composer.

BD:   I wish you lots of continued success. Thank you for coming back to Chicago, and for this conversation.

Sykes:   Thank you for having me!

See my interview with Van Cliburn

This conversation was recorded in Chicago on April 23, 1998. Portions were broadcast on WNIB two months later to promote his subsequent appearance. This transcription was made in 2024, and posted on this website at that time. My thanks to British soprano Una Barry for her help in preparing this website presentation.

To see a full list (with links) of interviews which have been transcribed and posted on this website, click here. To read my thoughts on editing these interviews for print, as well as a few other interesting observations, click here.

* * * * *

Award - winning broadcaster Bruce Duffie was with WNIB, Classical 97 in Chicago from 1975 until its final moment as a classical station in February of 2001. His interviews have also appeared in various magazines and journals since 1980, and he now continues his broadcast series on WNUR-FM, as well as on Contemporary Classical Internet Radio.

You are invited to visit his website for more information about his work, including selected transcripts of other interviews, plus a full list of his guests. He would also like to call your attention to the photos and information about his grandfather, who was a pioneer in the automotive field more than a century ago. You may also send him E-Mail with comments, questions and suggestions.