Shirley Knight once contemplated a career in opera, a fact that might surprise some fans of her extensive television, stage and film career.
"I studied to be an opera singer," the Tony Award-winning actress said in a recent phone call from Los Angeles.
She tossed out this tidbit as if it were common knowledge, then quickly admitted most people would be surprised by it.
They may change their mind when they see her on the Berger Performing Arts Center stage Sunday. No doubt her passion for music and music-makers will be evident as she gives voices to six women who influenced the life of famed composer Amy Beach (1867-1944).
Knight will star in Chamber Music Plus Southwest's production of "Remembering Amy," a musical portrait that combines a dramatic biographical reading with the composer's music. The piece was written by Chamber Music Plus co-founder and cellist Harry Clark.
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"I'm fascinated by Amy Beach. I think it's wonderful that they're resurrecting her," Knight said.
"Remembering Amy" recounts the famed Romantic composer's life and legacy through the personal vignettes of six women close to her, including Beach's mother, Clara Cheney; prominent violinist Maud Powell; and Clara, a young admirer of the composer.
This is the first time Clark has included this many voices in his works, said his wife and music/business partner, Sanda Schuldmann. Usually, the music portraits are told through one person or possibly two people.
The performance also features the premiere of one of Beach's unpublished pieces, "The Song of Love," with text written by Victor Hugo.
Schuldmann said she and Clark came upon the work when they performed "Remembering Amy" in Connecticut in 1998. The composer's biographer, Adrienne Block, was in the audience and presented the pair with the handwritten score for piano, voice and cello.
Knight won't be singing the vocal part of the song. Tucson soprano Jennifer Nagy will have the honor, while Schuldmann, a pianist, and Clark perform the music.
Knight said she occasionally performs recitals, informal events not meant to be springboards for anything beyond entertaining friends and family.
She instead focuses her energy these days on writing. She recently finished a one-woman show, "Audition," which she will soon workshop at the Actors Studio in New York.
She also is working on a play that centers on several characters who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. The play crisscrosses time and explores the notion that sometimes we are in a place that doesn't fit.
She got the inspiration from her family. Her grandfather, she recalled, was from England and found himself miserably assigned to a life in Kansas. Another relative was a Parisian who dreamed of returning to France. One day, unannounced, she left America and went home, never to be heard from again.
"I wanted to write about people who, for whatever reason, end up where they shouldn't be," Knight said.
She then quickly assures you she's exactly where she needs to be.
Preview
"Remembering Amy"
• Presented by: Chamber Music Plus Southwest.
• Starring: Shirley Knight, with soprano Jennifer Nagy.
• When: 3 p.m. Sunday.
• Where: Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway.
• Cost: $30, through Chamber Music Plus Southwest, 400-5439.
• More online: To hear samples of Amy Beach's works, visit www.cmpsouthwest.org.
