When Miles Plant graduated with a bachelor’s of music in applied piano from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2015, he knew that a music industry career was the goal, but he did not yet know what it might look like.
Even after graduate school, Miles says the exact path was still uncertain, but he knew he had the skill and drive to make it happen.
“I’ve freelanced a lot, been an accompanist, an understudy, worked in higher education, worked with the Rockettes at Radio City — I even worked for Caribbean Cruise line,” Plant says.
“Ultimately, this business is all about being in the right place at the right time. There’s no shortage of talent wherever you turn, and lining up opportunities with availability in a world where short-term jobs can last many months, it is tricky.”
Living through COVID-19 in the live music performance industry was a particular challenge, Plant says, but even making it to living in the ultimate location of New York City can present irony.
“Once I got to New York, then it became about jobs that had me traveling and working anywhere but New York,” he says. “Boston, Connecticut, Phoenix, Florida, most recently Atlanta — it’s an interesting business.”
While the career can and does present many changes and surprises, to know that Plant currently enjoys a busy and fulfilling industry career is not at all surprising, especially if you ask UW-Eau Claire’s Dr. Kenneth Pereira, professor of music, and one of Plant’s former instructors and mentors. Pereira recalls an extremely hard-working and talented student whose current success was much expected.
“Miles is one of the hardest working, curious and studious people I have ever known,” Pereira says. “He was clearly talented in many ways, but what set him apart as a student was his insatiable desire to learn more. At no point did he ever stop progressing, and I still see that same drive and curiosity in him today.”
Pereira adds that Plant always is willing to meet with Blugold students on the NYC Young Artist Domestic Cultural Immersion trip, and he recently returned to campus to deliver a master class for vocal students.
“Miles still displays a joy for the learning process that he had as a student — it’s simply who he is,” Pereira says.
Plant recently took a break from his busy rehearsal and performance schedule of conducting regional shows in Atlanta to answer a few questions and give us some insight into the life of professional music.
Alumni update with Miles Plant
Since graduating from UWEC, what have you been up to?
After graduating from UWEC I went straight to my master’s program at Arizona State University. There I received my master’s of music in music direction for musical theatre and opera.
For a while I freelanced in Phoenix, working at Arizona Broadway Theatre and Phoenix Theatre. I then became the associate conductor on The Sound of Music National Tour. From there, I became the music director of the first national tour of Bandstand.
Sadly, the pandemic shut the tour down and I became the assistant to the music department at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. Eventually I started to do Broadway work at The J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Co. There, I supervised music and conducted a dozen revivals of shows, including “A Class Act,” “The Baker’s Wife, “Woman of the Year,” “The Goodbye Girl,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Smile,” “Zorba” and “Drat! The Cat!”
I have also worked on new shows in the city, where I arranged and orchestrated the new musical “The Jerusalem Syndrome” (Apple Music and Spotify). When not in New York, I’ve been working on regional tours.
What career accomplishments are you most proud of at this point in the journey?
I’m really proud of the orchestrations and arranging I did on Jerusalem Syndrome. I was given lead sheets and had to create worlds from that. It was a true artistic challenge that I oversaw from beginning to end.
Of all the things you have been able to do so far in your career, what has lined up most with that you saw yourself doing when you were a student? What has been the most surprising or unexpected?
My music supervision credits at J2 Spotlight. It is a real honor and privilege to get to work alongside original authors and their estates to revisit some real lost gems of musical theater. It exercises every part of what I learned at UWEC — all my skills from theory, orchestration, listening, teaching, playing, etc.
Most surprising was using my electronic music education in creating soundscapes for shows.
Who is one person you met at UWEC who you stay in touch with. Tell us about their impact on you.
Dr. Ken Pereira. He has been a real champion when it comes to keeping in contact, supporting my work and supporting me. He is a real role model for me in terms of living a good life with artistic integrity.
What is something you’ve done that 20-year-old you wouldn’t believe?
If you asked me when I was 20 if I would be working with some of the greatest composers and lyricists of the musical theater canon, I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s been a real honor and privilege.
Conversely, what do you wish you had known at 20?
This is something that you can’t really teach at school, but it is how to keep a show exciting after your 200th, 400th or 1000th performance. At school, you only do four to eight performances, and it feels exciting and new every time. When you get a job that asks you to do more than that, it’s more difficult than you’d imagine, keeping a narrative fresh after going through the motions hundreds of times. I think the only way to learn that is through experience.
What advice would you give to current and future Blugolds interested in a music industry career?
My two pieces of advice are always: Do the work — practice, prepare, listen. And: Be kind to yourself and others. If you do these things you’ll keep working.
