Monroe woman follows her passion and dedicates her life to opera

Monroe - Leilah Dione Kushner is a dark-eyed young newlywed with long brown hair and sweet smile. And she is so dedicated to a budding, promising opera career that she is about to celebrate her first wedding anniversary alone and abroad in intense study. Her husband, Maoz Ezra, an equally talented classical musician, will work here until he can meet her in Israel a month later. “We’re both musicians and this the kind of life we have and it’s very exciting,” Kushner said. “Our relationship is very strong; it’s just a date and we’ll eat the cake out of my mother’s freezer before I leave. “It’s definitely a hard thing,” she aded, “but we know why we do these things because we’re both musicians and we understand.” Kushner is performing at the First Presbyterian Church on Stage Road in Monroe on Friday, May 25, for an “Evening Serenade” at 8 p.m. She first became interested in opera while taking voice lessons at age 14 with Ron DeFesi, her mentor. She began studying voice after taking an interest and participating in school plays as a student at Monroe-Woodbury High School. She was a villager in “Fiddler on the Roof,” Sarah’s grandmother in “Guys and Dolls” and Crazy Chef in Woody Allen’s “Don’t Drink the Water.” Opera first appealed to her when she heard DeFesi perform a one-page piece by Schubert entitled “Death and the Maiden” and remembers thinking “it was only one page long, but so dramatic, such an intensity out of words and notes on a page.” She realized that opera “had it all, theater, music and poetry all wrapped up into one art form.” Hearing him perform as King Philip in “Don Carlo” by Verdi at Merkin Hall in New York City “sealed the deal.” At 16 he asked her where she was going with all of this to decide how serious he should be as her teacher. As early as 16, she performed as a Can Can girl in one of DeFesi’s productions of “The Merry Widow.” When she made the decision to pursue opera as a career, he helped her prepare an audition for SUNY Purchase where Kushner earned her undergraduate degree before recently finishing her graduate work at Brooklyn College. She is coaching with Joan Dornamann from the Metropolitan Opera and studying in the studio of Mignon Dunn. While studying, Kushner has learned to speak French, Italian and to sing in German. She has also lived in France and Italy to “absorb the culture and follow the voice.” Much like an actor tries to get into the shoes of the character he must portray, Kushner wanted to hear on the street around her and feel how the composer of that area felt to understand what it was that he was portraying in his music. “You have to be aware of what’s going on, on the other side of the pond” to be successful in this art although she is very happy that more and more American Operas are being written today. Kushner just did a concert with “Friends & Enemies of New Music,” a group of the leading composers and got to sing one of Tom Cipullo’s works “Late Summer.” She said that Cipullo is one of the composers writing American operas and just completed one. She enjoyed getting into some contemporary works with the group. Other influences in her life have been her mother, Donna Gray Kushner, who has taught violin for many years, performs professionally as principal second with the Greater Newburgh Symphony and in smaller chamber groups. Kushner said it was the beautiful legato sound of her mother’s playing that helped with her own musicality and in her singing. While she taught Kushner to play from the time she was two, she said that singing is not like the violin in that if you move your fingers a certain way you will sound better. “It’s very personal and what’s inside you.” Her dad, Steven Kushner, a systems analyst, once told her before she set off for college when she asked him “what if I can’t do this?” “Nothing you do is ever a mistake. If you don’t end up becoming an opera singer, you will do something else, but nothing is ever a mistake.” It is hoped that Friday night’s performance will help raise enough to defray the cost of the summer programs which include training programs at the International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy, where she will perform in two operas and also be featured in a series of concerts. After this, she will continue her studies at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel where she will also perform in operas, concerts and master classes. These programs are dedicated to finding and training the most talented opera singers in the world. Accompanying her Friday night, will be Maestro Ron DeFesi on the piano. Her husband Maoz Ezra will be featured on the program playing classical guitar. Admission is $20, with a $10 discount for students. For information, call 845-783-3819.