Meet the Hosts
Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith, D.M.A. was born and raised in Greenville, SC where he attended Furman University and earned a degree in piano performance. From 2005-2010, he attended the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he received graduate degrees in piano and conducting. He recently received his doctorate in conducting from the University of Notre Dame, where his research interest was continuous practice of the Baroque and Classical eras; further, his thesis examined W.A. Mozart’s “Great” C-minor Mass. His primary teachers include Ruby Morgan and Elisabeth Pridonoff, piano and Elmer Thomas, Earl Rivers, Brett Scott, Annunziata Tomato, and Carmen-Helena Téllez, conducting.
Dr. Emerson Eads has served as Director of Choral Studies at Southern Illinois University since Fall 2025. He previously spent seven years at Minot State University as a tenured Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities, where he guided the program through the COVID-19 pandemic and grew enrollment beyond pre-pandemic levels.
Eads studied Vocal Performance at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, earning both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in the field. He went on to the University of Notre Dame, where his research explored musical expressions of empathy in the works of Joseph Haydn. At Notre Dame, he studied choral conducting with Carmen-Helena Tellez and he also studied composition with John Luther Adams.
Walk With Us Around the Lakes
As doctoral students, Elliott Smith and Emerson Eads spent countless hours walking around St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s lakes talking through the music that shaped them. Now, the Notre Dame alumni bring those conversations to Around the Lakes, digging into great works of music from every angle — the musicology behind them, what it takes to perform and conduct them, and how it all connects to faith and life. Each episode brings in scholars, performers, conductors, and clergy to help us glimpse why this music resonates, and how it keeps pointing us back to the sublime.
SEASON 1 EPISODES:
Music, images, scores, etc. used in our episodes will be listed here:
Mozart — Mass in C Minor
Notre Dame Concordia Choir & Ritornello Orchestra;
Elliott Smith, conductor
Howells — Requiem
Notre Dame Concordia Choir; J.J. Wright, conductor
Beethoven — Symphony No. 6
Dresden Philharmonic; Kurt Masur, conductor
Handel – For Unto Us a Child is Born, Messiah
Messiah Orchestra & Chorus, Minot; Emerson Eads, conductor
Weelkes – Hosanna To The Son of David
Notre Dame Concordia Choir; Elliott Smith, conductor
Mozart — Davide Penitente
Chor Collegium Musicum Bruneck & Streicherakademie Bozen;
Georg Egger, direction
Belvedere Torso:
Yair Haklai, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Mexico City, October 2016, maestro Mario Lavista one of Mexico’s leading contemporary composers walking arm-in-arm with maestra Carmen-Helena Téllez, one of Latin America’s leading scholars, interpreters, and musical ambassadors…
I took this picture because of the civility, the friendship, the tenderness. Unbeknownst to me then, they would both die this year (2021) within a month of each other.
The scarf that was given to Emerson Eads from the Carmen-Helena Téllez estate that was framed by his wife, Abbie Eads, for a birthday present.
Join the Conversation
We’d love to hear from you — whether you have a question about an episode, a work of music you’d like us to explore, or simply want to say hello. Drop us a note and we’ll get back to you.
In this episode of Around the Lakes, Elliott Smith and Emerson Eads welcome acclaimed musicologist and author Pierpaolo Polzonetti for a fascinating exploration of Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor. Drawing on his deep knowledge of Mozart, opera, and eighteenth-century musical culture, Polzonetti brings fresh perspectives to one of Mozart’s most extraordinary and enigmatic sacred works. Together, they explore the intersections of music, faith, history, and the human experience, discovering how a work left unfinished nearly 250 years ago continues to inspire, challenge, and move us today.
We are grateful to Universal Music for the permission to use this recording in our podcast: This recording utilizes the Alois Schmidt/John Elliot Gardiner reconstruction of Mozart’s unfinished Mass in c minor:
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Mass in C Minor, K. 427. Sylvia McNair, soprano; Diana Montague, mezzo-soprano; Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor; Cornelius Hauptmann, bass; Monteverdi Choir; English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor. Recorded November 1986. Decca/Philips, 1988.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Mass in C Minor, K. 427. Sylvia McNair, soprano; Diana Montague, mezzo-soprano; Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor; Cornelius Hauptmann, bass; Monteverdi Choir; English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor. Recorded November 1986. Decca/Philips, 1988.
In this episode of Around the Lakes, we welcome the extraordinary American soprano Sylvia McNair for a candid and deeply personal conversation about music, artistry, mentorship, and friendship.
McNair reflects on her remarkable career, including her experiences performing and recording Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor with Sir John Eliot Gardiner. She offers a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes, recalling Gardiner’s exacting standards, difficult temperament, and uncompromising pursuit of musical excellence. Her reflections raise compelling questions about the relationship between artistic greatness and the human cost of achieving it, and why musicians were willing to endure extraordinary demands in service of extraordinary music.
She also takes us back to her beginnings as a young violinist who dreamed of joining the Cleveland Orchestra, recalling the teachers and mentors who helped shape her musical identity and ultimately led her to a celebrated career as a soprano.
Finally, McNair shares touching memories of her friendship and artistic collaborations with our beloved late mentor, Carmen-Helena Téllez, reflecting on a relationship built upon mutual admiration, musical imagination, and a profound love of the art itself.
Throughout, McNair reminds us that behind every great performance are the people, relationships, challenges, and experiences that shape the music we hear.
We are grateful for Universal Music for the permission to use this music:
George Frideric Handel, “He Shall Feed His Flock,” from Messiah, HWV 56, Part I. Sylvia McNair, soprano; Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano; Academy of St Martin in the Fields; Sir Neville Marriner, conductor. Recorded live at the Point Theatre, Dublin, April 13, 1992. Philips Classics, 1992 (434 695-2).
Read Sylvia McNair on working with John Eliot Gardiner at Slippedisc.
