All that jazz Head Resident Isabelle Wolfmann is an award-winning jazz vocalist and an accomplished pianist and composer.
When Isabelle Wolfmann talks about music and musicianship, her peals of laughter, breathy pauses, and thoughtful phrasing make conversation a musical experience. Head resident for Porter Hall, Wolfmann is a graduate student in jazz composition and arranging at the University of Massachusetts, where she presented A Long Way From Home, a collaborative performance with twelve area jazz musicians, earlier this year.
Wolfmann came to MHC in the fall of 1996 when she began her graduate studies in music, after completing undergraduate and graduate degrees in linguistics in Canada and France. Wolfmann was raised in a musical family and played the piano, but came to jazz when she was in her early twenties.
"While studying linguistics in France, I took a vocal jazz lesson and the teacher said, 'Have you considered doing this professionally?' Around that time I made the conscious decision to become a jazz musician, and went back to college. I've now been in school for about twelve years!" Wolfmann's change of focus has been rewarding, with opportunities to study with jazz greats, perform professionally, and explore her emotional universe through her music. She received the 1997 Outstanding Performance Award from the leading jazz magazine Downbeat, and has frequently performed locally and in Montreal.
Explaining the sources of her musical inspiration, Wolfmann says, "Each of my songs is impressionistic, like a short story about someone or something. Each describes a major set of feelings, with colors and textures. My goal is to send a message of collaboration, beauty, and purposefulness based on certain themes." Multilingual and cosmopolitan in outlook, Wolfmann draws on the idea of being far from home, both artistically and literally, in creating new compositions. "While I'm free to decide who I am, sometimes that's a shock. Not only is the U.S. the third country I've lived in, but my music has changed and I'm a long way from where I was musically."
Serving as Porter's head resident brings her into contact with another new world, that of a women's college. "This atmosphere was completely new to me, and I had no preconceived ideas. I work with men almost all of the time; often I'm the only female musician present. I like the fact that away from men, traditional ways of empowerment are different here. Through my work at the College I've learned a lot about conflict resolution, counseling situations, and one-on-one interactions that have resonance with my personal life, and I feel I've grown a lot."
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