Chad Somers
11 min read ⭑
“Scriptures talk about God singing over us, and my question for my own career is: Can God sing through me? Can my voice resemble his? … What if my whole idea of being on stage became about being a conduit of truth and beauty?”
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
There's much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?
At this point, I’ve lived in the South, the Northeast and the San Francisco Bay Area, but I spent the first 18 years of my life in the humble Midwest — Florissant, Missouri. In that suburb of St. Louis, there is a small authentic Mexican restaurant named Ruiz, where I might as well have been born. We didn’t eat out much as a family growing up, but when we did, there was a 99% chance it was at Ruiz.
We celebrated birthdays, engagements and graduations over those enchiladas, and it was at Ruiz where my extended family first met the woman who would become my wife. We’ve even made life-long friends there.
One time, a server gave us the exact amount of chips our hearts desired and forever became our requested server. We got to know her and meet her son, she watched my siblings and me grow up through middle school and high school, and she welcomed us home when we visited from college. And now, she greets my kids when we visit from California!
When I was growing up, there were always trendy, new restaurants to visit, but we didn’t even consider them — true evidence of my parents’ faithful consistency during my formative years. Whenever I get the craving for Ruiz’s green salsa (which is frequently), I know it’s time to leave California and visit home.
Giusi Borrasi; UnsPlash
QUESTION #2: REVEAL
We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So, what are yours? What so-called "nonspiritual" activities do you love and help you find spiritual renewal?
There are about two weekends a year that my buddy and I throw a ridiculous amount of ramen, bargain bin deals from Grocery Outlet and a few beers into backpacks and step out into the wild. My friend is really the hero here — he’s a planner and loves finding the best trail with great views that ends at a lake in the middle of an isolated wilderness. I’m just glad he invites me on the ride, so I bring the fun and general good cheer.
I happen to live in the most bonkers place to backpack, so we get dramatic views, high Sierra lakes and mountains to ourselves. After throwing up a hammock and taking a nap, I usually venture out alone for an hour or two of silence, stilling myself from the pace of life and orienting myself to the voice of the Lord. It’s a transformative practice where I can receive God and be received by him in love.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness. Every human too. We're just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So, what’s your kryptonite and how do you hide it?
I find that I have a great artistic vision, but little to no vision to put these plans into motion. You see, I have ideas. Lots of them. All the time. They usually hit me when I’m running, and I work out elaborate plans and innovative projects that will for sure result in artistic satisfaction and fulfillment.
These moments are like sunrises — frequent but still always exciting. So when I get home, I’ll run to share the plans with my wife, but before I get to her, my wonderful children usually stop me to play. My son may be playing the piano, so I’ll stop to play a song with him, and then I’ll probably be hungry, so I’ll go pick some oranges. And then by the time I actually reach my wife, she’ll have actual logistical things to share with me.
Even if am fortunate enough to remember the most strategic plan of my life that manifested on my run, by the time I sit at my laptop to draft a plan, I don’t really know where to begin. Now I’m lucky if I even reach this point because ideas tend to slip out of my mind as quickly as they come.
This struggle to turn my visions into reality could be due to the daily stresses of life, being the father of a young family, having a nontraditional career or even getting lost in the stream of pondering. But ultimately, I think it’s because I have a serious lack of logistical acumen and the discipline to prioritize which projects to pursue.
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your obsession? And why should it be ours?
I always try to put myself in the way of beauty. I find that my heart wants both to experience it and to be involved with it. I want it to take me up and allow me to participate in it! Maybe that’s why I’m a classical singer — it’s such a collaborative art. When I attend concerts or the opera or other performances, I’m taken to a place that may not explicitly apply to my life, but it reminds me that beauty exists. It models the ways of beauty for me and helps me recognize that in my own life.
I’m very excited about a recital I’m performing with the Maui Chamber Orchestra. This project has been delayed two times due to the pandemic, but the team is so kind to give me artistic control and program whatever I want!
As I shaped the recital, what formed was a contemplation of place. The first half includes Vaughan Williams’ “On Wenlock Edge” for tenor, string quartet and piano, with poetry from A.E. Housman, who re-encounters his homeland, paired with two Poulenc songs for voice and piano about the fragmentation of a city after war and a plea to God for peace. The second half includes Chansons Madécasses by Ravel for voice, piano, cello and flute and ends with the avant-garde Changing Opinion by Philip Glass, a meditation on the mundane infused by the presence of the prayers of our parents and finding our place in time in that grace. Ultimately, it’s a statement of faith — we matter, you matter, this here-and-now matters to God.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Cashiers, CEOs, contractors or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it's God when it happens?
Even though I’ve been both a Christian and a singer my entire life, certain truths hit home for me in a new way during the early days of the pandemic. Psalm 29 talks about the voice of the Lord, its majesty, its generative power, its destructive power and its intimacy. I know this idea has been around for centuries and is even represented in some of my favorite books — The Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien’s Middle Earth in “The Silmarillion” — but something just clicked for me a couple of years ago.
Scriptures talk about God singing over us, and my question for my own career is: Can God sing through me? Can my voice resemble his? What would happen if audiences heard his timbre in mine? What if my whole idea of being on stage became about being a conduit of truth and beauty?
These questions have come to mark my repertoire choices on the opera stage and recital hall. Sometimes it’s easy to identify. For example, just recently, I appeared as the tenor soloist in the “Messiah,” the lyrics of which are essentially comprised of Scripture.
But other times, it’s not so clear. I just finished a recording of a work called “Lament” by Denver-based composer Matthew Langford. He collaborated with a visual artist to write a piece for me, which is part of a larger series. There’s a visual element to the series in that each piece is paired with a work of the artist. First, it is for solo voice.
This is unusual because singers usually collaborate with other musicians — pianists, guitars and so on. Another unusual aspect is that there’s no clear melody. It also employs various extended techniques, which is a common way for classical singers to describe things like shouting, screaming, whooping and other effects a singer is called to execute in a piece.
It has three sections: the first, a beautiful, moaning melody (without words!) that gives way to a very cacophonous middle section of shrieks. The work transitions into a detached, fragmented melody using phonemes and erupts into an ending, recalling elements from the previous sections. It is not traditionally beautiful. There are moments of beauty, for sure, but the true beauty lies in the transfigurations of musical elements in the final moment, which brings all three together in harmonious unity.
At first listen, it may not make sense. But isn’t that how life is? God uses our laments, our sorrows and our pains to create in us works of beauty and grace. It isn’t always pretty, but it is good. I hope that audiences will hear the voice of God in those recordings.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied actions that open our hearts to the presence of God. So, spill it, which spiritual practice is workin' best for you right now?
Every morning at 5:30, my wife and I drag ourselves out of bed. I make coffee and a cold brekkie while my wife showers, and we meet on the couch to open our daily lectionary readings of Scripture. We read and journal separately yet together on the couch as the sun rises over our backyard view of Mt. Diablo. They’re short readings — maybe a part of a Psalm and another short reading from Scripture — but they’re perfect because they invite multiple re-readings.
That aspect is important for me because I’m so quick to “get” what I’m reading intellectually without investigating what God might want to show me regarding how he wants me to live.
By the second or third reading, my mind is calm enough to let Scripture read me and to ask God to reveal how he wants me to live, love and serve others.
Finally, I contemplate the Scripture, silencing all other thoughts. This is essential for me. I need to experience God’s loving presence to root me in my identity as a loved son of God before I attend to my daily tasks. That’s how I truly live in that identity throughout the day.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Our email subscribers get free ebooks featuring our favorite resources — lots of things that have truly impacted our faith lives. But you know about some really great stuff, too. What are some resources that have impacted you?
“Live No Lies” by John Mark Comer. I’m a huge Comer fan, and his latest book really moved me. He looked at the ancient paradigm of the world, the flesh and the devil through the lens of the 21st century. I felt totally encouraged because his critique of our cultural moment is so lovingly presented and well-conceived. I also felt challenged by the ways I’ve maybe allowed this culture of hustle, success and image-curating to shape me without even realizing it. It opened my eyes to cultural formative practices that I have adopted that run against the way of Christ.
“The Quartet for the End of Time” by Olivier Messiaen. Messiaen was a Catholic organist in Paris and was taken to a concentration camp during WWII. While at the camp, he wrote this piece for fellow prisoners (who were also musicians) to perform on the piano, violin, cello and clarinet. It premiered on a very cold night to hundreds of guards and prisoners in January 1941. It has eight movements and is based on the passage in Revelation where John sees the angel with a rainbow around his head declaring the end of time.
He experienced something called “synesthesia,” which is seeing specific colors when you hear certain pitches. This makes the piece a potpourri of textures and timbres. The highlight, though, is the last movement, “Praise to the immortality of Jesus.” After wading through difficult music, you hear it open with a violin solo full of searching, longing and love. I cannot listen and not be moved to tears.
“Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis. This book is such a classic. I read it when I was 17 and had a lot of questions about God, the church and the Christian faith. Not that this book answered all of my deepest questions, but in it, I found an intellectual who was also a Christian, who had reasonable thoughts and ideas for me. More than anything, I think it showed me that the answers are out there and that I might be asking the wrong questions.
We all have things we cling to to survive (or thrive) in tough times. Name one resource you’ve found indispensable in this current season — and tell us what it's done for you.
The lectionary I mentioned above is called “Seeking God’s Face” by Philip F. Reinders. In addition to the short readings, it has prompts for prayer (for example, governments and governing authorities) and a guided prayer as well. Sometimes when I don’t know how to pray, it helps to have others’ words as a guide rail.
“Every Moment Holy” by Douglas McKelvey. This is a book of prayers about every little common thing, such as “Prayer for a day of laundering” and “prayer for those who sleep in tents.” It is a moving reminder that every mundane moment is an opportunity to encounter God.
QUESTION #8: dream
God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So, give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
Something is stirring in my heart, but it’s super new, and I don’t know where exactly it’s leading. And yet if I truly believe God can use my voice to bring healing, love and wholeness through music, I want to go to people that wouldn’t or can't come to an opera or concert of mine.
Recently, the grandmother of one of my close friends passed away. Before she did, I asked the family if I could come and sing her some old hymns. Her children were in the room, and it was truly a holy moment.
I want to get into communities of people that haven't grown up on classical music and give them some songs. I want to get into schools, nursing homes and even prisons. I know it’s not glamorous, but I want to sing to people who need a song the most.
People have enjoyed classical music for hundreds of years, but research has only recently started to reveal its numerous benefits. Researchers have found that listening to classical music can actually improve our overall mental health, and one study indicates it could strengthen our heart health, too.
This shouldn’t surprise us, though. We know that God created us to enjoy beauty — because he created us to enjoy him. And when we consume and create beauty, we get to reflect his nature.
So how can we do that this week? You may not love classical music as much as Chad Somers does, but you can still find ways to reflect God’s beauty in how you live — and how you create.
The San Francisco Chronicle recognizes tenor Chad Somers as among the “who’s who of Bay Area operatic luminaries,” known for his “uniquely personal and eloquent” performances (Stage Magazine). Chad has performed on the opera stage and in concert halls across the country. He won the Philadelphia Classical Singer Competition and was a finalist for Friends of Eastman Opera Competition. With his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, Chad maintains a studio in Pleasant Hill and Stockton, California, and teaches voice at San Joaquin Delta College. You can follow him on Instagram @chadsingsthings.
