Nel cor più non sento
About the artist(s)
Mary’s career spans her interests in arts administration, textile art, writing, and teaching. Along the way, she has been a choir member and soloist in Unitarian Universalist churches and a member of vocal ensembles. In Bloomington, Mary sings in Voces Novae, directed by Susan Swaney. Mary and her husband Markus are the parents of two children. Their daughter, Miriam, is entering her final year of undergraduate studies at the University of Tübingen. Their son, Simon, died of childhood cancer at the age of seven. Mary’s work in poetry and prose reflects this difficult loss and feeds on foundational knowledge of language sound and musical expression acquired during her conservatory studies.
Here are highlights from Mary’s conversation with The Enormity of Now.
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Mary Craig. I live in Bloomington, Indiana, but only barely, because I got here six months before the pandemic started. I’m an editor, academic mostly. I am a poet and I sing now and then. It’s been a morphing career.
How did you get here?
Over the years, I thought about what I was interested in. I was always more interested in the text than in figuring out how to sing a high C. It’s now emerged as ‘I’m going to write poetry.’ It’s all interconnected – like a root system underground – my interest in words, my ear for music. I’m still doing what I did then, in a way. I remember how riveting it was and how terrifying. My ambition was to be as good as a professional musician but not to be one. I had a sense of impossibility about being good enough to be a person who made singing into a career.
How has the journey of your art/career engaged your voice – personally, artistically, politically?
I think my singing is quite apolitical. I take my voice out, see how it’s doing and work with it again. It’s kind of a companion more than a quest.
What is the voice that you found while finding your voice?
I think I’m finding my voice now. If I spend a whole day at my desk, editing, I end up with a froggy throat. A therapist in Germany suggested that as I’m working with words, my vocal apparatus is activated in some way and that’s straining it. I still think that is somewhere in the puzzle of language and voice for me. All aspects of my work life are intrinsically related to how the voice works.
Artist Biography
With degrees in voice and East Asian studies from the Oberlin College and Conservatory, Mary Craig spent a year in the costume shops of German and Austrian opera houses under the auspices of a Watson Fellowship. She met her husband, Markus, at the International Youth Meeting in Bayreuth, where they attended the Wagner festival. The couple has lived in multiple settings in the U.S. and Germany, currently in Bloomington, Indiana. Mary’s career continues to span her interests in arts administration, textile art, writing, and teaching. Along the way, she has been a choir member and soloist in Unitarian Universalist churches and a member of vocal ensembles. In Bloomington, Mary sings in Voces Novae, directed by Susan Swaney. While Mary is new to the 24 Italian Songs and Arias (+Voices) project, her connection to pianist Allyson Devenish goes back to their time at Oberlin.
Mary and Markus are the parents of two children. Their daughter, Miriam, is entering her final year of undergraduate studies at the University of Tübingen. Their son, Simon, died of childhood cancer at the age of seven. Mary’s work in poetry and prose reflects this difficult loss and feeds on foundational knowledge of language sound and musical expression acquired during her conservatory studies. Her publications can be found on her blog, Chapter This.