Topic HISTORY
BOSSE-VIDAL Jean-Yves
Jean-Yves Bosse-Vidal - Singing Teacher, Musicologist, Phonetician. Paris, France
Jean-Yves was initiated into music at a very early age, got a degree in Spanish and discovered singing whilst completing a Spanish Musicology Master’s degree at the Sorbonne in Paris.
He sang for 25 years on stage - mainly in opera choruses - working with prestigious conductors and stage directors, observing and conversing with famous singers and young beginners. He helped them with their French lyric diction, and developed his skills by taking a Master's degree in phonetics of Song.
He specialized in the accentuation of texts set to music, main focus of his current teaching.
Text Accentuation as a major aspect of diction, vocal technique and musicality
Although IPA is a precious tool for lyric diction, its exclusive information misses out the main musical aspect of the language: its prosody. When the text is submitted to music, accentuation remains its major component.
It reflects in speech the constant game of tension and repose that rules all human physiological behaviours, therefore singing.
In this workshop, singers will sing a piece in Italian and one in French. I will show how proper use of the accentuation renders the full musical nature of the text, enhances musicality and can highlight artistry and technique.
French and Italian stand at opposite ends of evolution from Latin and their accentuation system is utterly different. It mostly belongs to the word in Italian. In French, it indicates the frontiers of phrases - or breath groups – and conditions the rarities of the language: colour of the many vowels, liaisons, mute [e] and syllable prominence. Italian is usually more familiar to singers and easier than French. I will show how, by integrating a complete and authentic diction, they can feel more efficient, emotional, and more comfortable.
Good diction means intelligibility, and a thorough respect of the poetry in its musical nature and style. Proper accentuation reveals the musical essence of the text and renders the complete design of the composer. It reawakens the real sense of movement of the text that singers - and teachers - tend to erase for the benefit of the composer’s music only.
I never separate interpretation from technique and diction. A singer needs to be touched deeply by the words in his own mouth that touches his heart. The best technique should give the listener the sensation the singer is talking to him spontaneously and following IPA without a real sense of accentuation tends to solidify and stiffen music, text and breath. The singer then misses out the solar elegance of the Italian language and the lightness and flexibility of French.
The brain will use the same path as in conversation if it believes we are singing our thought. This requires an ultimate use of speech: phonemes and accentuation.
BUHAICIUC Mihaela
Mihaela Buhaiciuc is currently a full-time voice faculty at Transilvania University of Brasov, where she coordinates the vocal performance area.
Her operatic repertoire includes roles such as Haendel’s Nerone, Britten’s Miles, Mrs. Hayes in Floyd’s Suzannah, Mozart’s Susanna, Despina,
Zerlina; Bizet’s Micaela; Donizetti’s Norina, Seur Constance from Poulenc’s Dialogue of Carmelites, La Princess from Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges. Her repertoire also includes oratorios, cantatas, art songs and chamber music among which is Thierry Beçanson’s Strigoaicaria,
premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2011. Buhaiciuc was awarded the Ackerman Award by New York Foundation (2003), the Neumiller Voice Scholarship Award by the Stony Brook University, New York (2007); the Megginson Research Award from the University of Mobile (2010), where she served as a full-time voice faculty, and received a Research Grant from UniTBv (2018).
Vocal Output Analysis of Unexposed European Baroque Repertoire
The following article discusses six unfamiliar cantatas from the Italian and English Baroque repertoire of G.B. Bassani, F. Cavalli, B. Marcello, J. Cr. Pepush and Ch. J. Stanley, and the arias from Telemann's lost operas kept in his collection Der Getreue Music-Meister. The purpose of these analyses is outreach in the academic singing community. The presentation is an invitation to inhabit less performed repertoire of the past, offering two published collections of the analyzed repertoire.
DILLARD David
Baritone David Dillard, in his seventeenth year at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, has taught applied voice, lyric diction, opera history, opera workshop, song literature, voice pedagogy, music theory, and directed the opera. Professionally, he has appeared at Florida Grand Opera, The Tanglewood Music Center, Lake George Opera, the San Diego Opera Ensemble, and Di Capo Opera Theater. At Union Avenue Opera (St. Louis, MO) he has sung roles in 15 productions. His eclectic repertoire includes both comprimario and leading roles such as Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Escamillo in Carmen, Sulpice in La fille du Régiment, Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea, Owen Hart in Dead Man Walking, and the Vicar in Albert Herring (with Christine Brewer as Lady Billows), just to name a few.
David is a passionate proponent of art song repertoires. At the Franz Schubert-Institut in Baden-bei-Wein, Austria he performed in master classes with Elly Ameling, Helmut Deutch, Wolfgang Holzmair, and Jorma Hynninen, among many others. As a doctoral student at The University of Michigan, he studied and performed Schubert's Winterreise with world renowned collaborative pianist, Martin Katz, and went on to perform the piece numerous times after earning his doctorate, including a performance at the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music, again with Martin Katz. As a enthusiastic proponent of contemporary music, he has coached the music of Lori Laitman, Alan Smith, and Jake Heggie with the composers.
David participated in the NATS Intern Program in 2008, taught at Opera Theater of St. Louis' Spring Training Vocal Camp in 2016, and started the Young Artist Program at the Southern Illinois Music Festival in 2018. He holds degrees in music from Principia College, The University of Texas at Austin, and The University of Michigan.
I'm a baritone. What do I care about the tempo di mezzo? Understanding the musical and dramatic structure of bel canto arias
Historically, classical voice pedagogy has been rooted in the principles of bel canto technique. As teachers and performers of this repertoire, we primarily focus on the singing technique itself or the dramatic interpretation of an aria or role. However, we often overlook the critical aspect of the musical and dramatic structure of the repertoire which demanded this technique. This presentation will explore the musico-dramatic form which embodies the principles of bel canto style: la solita forma.
The aria in la solita forma showcases the two most important aspects of bel canto vocalism, what Richard Miller called, “The Two Poles of Bel Canto”. First, in the adagio (or cavatina) the singer displays her sostenuto deployed with expert breath control. And second, in the cabaletta she presents dazzling coloratura. An aria in la solita forma is constructed to display these two indispensable and inextricable facets of bel canto singing.
To appreciate the significance of the la solita forma convention, an apt analogy might be to consider the importance of a pianist’s comprehension of sonata form when working on the first movement of a Beethoven sonata. Certainly, he could identify and understand the structural importance of the first theme or development section. Likewise, singers and teachers of bel canto repertoire should have at their command terms such as tempo di mezzo and versi sciolti. Highlighting textbook examples as well as departures from the standard form will enable attendees to sleuth for clues as to what dramatic stimuli may have motivated the composer to break from the mold. For instance, in Lucia’s mad scene, Donizetti adapts the form to the dramatic situation by ingeniously disguising sections and blurring the distinctions between them in order to dramatize Lucia’s traumatized state of mind.
Attendees will gain insights into the musical and dramatic details of arias in la solita forma, and practical applications for preparing students who include these arias in their audition packages. Additionally, beyond appreciating this repertoire as opportunities to display vocal prowess, understanding la solita forma fuels and deepens our admiration for the operas composed by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi.
HURST-WAJSZCZUK Kristine
Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk’s solo CD of music for soprano and clarinet was released in 2020 by Naxos. Featuring the world premiere recording of THE SECRET EXIT, the CD includes three song cycles by Lori Laitman and a world recording of a song by Diane Rosenblum. Her solo CD of Dowland lute songs was released by Centaur in 2008.
An avid proponent of early music as well as the work of living composers, Kristine appeared in the title role of Dido and Aeneas with Bourbon Baroque, as well as the title role in Cavalli’s Erismena with Amherst Early Music Festival. She created the role of Mary Rose in Jody Landers’s new opera, Now Let Us Praise Famous Men with Opera Birmingham. Other solo performances include the Alabama Symphony, the Tuscaloosa Symphony, and the Boulder Bach Festival.
Kristine served as the Education Chair for Southeastern Regional NATS and completed two terms as NATS Vice President for Workshops. She currently serves as the Webinar Committee Chair for the Association of Body Mapping Educators.
Twenty years of research into managing performance anxiety has expanded to wellness for musicians and students of all majors. Her seminars in Wellbeing for Musicians and The Mindful Student in the Honors College at UAB have met with resounding success. She gives workshops at colleges around the country, as well as national and international conferences such as National Collegiate Honors Council, NATS, ICVT, and College Music Society. She is currently the only certified Koru meditation teacher in Alabama, a type of mindfulness meditation developed by Duke University for emerging adults. She has volunteered with organizations serving at-risk children in urban Birmingham by teaching them meditation techniques to manage stress. In 2013-14, she was a Fulbright finalist, and has taught workshops at the Vienna Conservatory and in Szeged, Hungary.
An accomplished stage director, Dr. Hurst-Wajszczuk’s opera productions have won three national awards through the National Opera Association. She is Professor of Voice and Associate Dean for the Honors College at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Please visit www.kristinehurst.com
The Secret Exit: Austrian premiere
THE SECRET EXIT is a song cycle composed for Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk, soprano and Denise Gainey, clarinet. The composer writes:
Kristine had approached me about composing a “sequel” for my Holocaust-themed song cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly. She was particularly interested in the poetry of Nelly Sachs, a German Jewish poet who escaped the Nazis by fleeing to Sweden in 1940. Sachs became widely known for her poems about the Holocaust, and in 1966, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
I chose three poems that reflect on life and death. “What rose out of the white leaves of your body” examines the poet’s enormous grief following the death of her mother. This poem is a contemplation of the finality of death, the true separation — but includes memories of a lifetime spent together.
“When In Early Summer” contrasts the wonders of nature with the inhumanity of man. The song opens with a lively tempo, happier harmonies and joyful jumping gestures in the clarinet, which are later imitated by the voice. An extended clarinet cadenza leads to an anguished cry to the heavens, asking how the world could ignore the existing tragedy while “little children were thrown like butterflies…into the flames.” The song winds down, with dirge-like music, as the poet realizes there is no justice, and the world will continue on as always, without caring. The song ends with a whisper.
“Child” is a heartbreaking poem, focusing on the fate of the many children who perished in the Holocaust. This child, “already without a voice” seeks “the secret exit of death,” which I depict by wide upward leaps in the clarinet, as if searching for the “exit”. The cycle ends with a clear reference to the concentration camp ovens, as I repeat the words “Child, Already without a voice, breathing out smoke.”
INSELMAN Rachel (Co: Marcus McCONICO)
Rachel INSELMAN, soprano is a Professor of Voice at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Ms. Inselman has performed extensively throughout the United States as well as internationally with symphony orchestras including the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, Paris Sinfonetta, and the Cleveland Orchestra.
As a recitalist, Rachel has appeared in Palermo, Italy; San Jose, Costa Rica; Istanbul and Izmir Turkey; Tatui, Brazil; and Brisbane, Australia.
Ms. Inselman sang a recital of music by American composer, Richard Hundley at the 2013 International Congress of Voice Teachers in Brisbane Australia. She returned to the 2017 ICVT conference in Stockholm, Sweden to present on a panel about teaching transgender singers, as well as the 2018 NATS Conference, and the 2019 College Music Society Conference.
As an accomplished pianist, she has played for several musical theatre productions and was invited in 2010 to Istanbul, Turkey to teach the art of accompanying musical theatre in a weeklong workshop.
Marcus McCONICO, tenor is currently an Adjunct Instructor of Voice at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Marcus McConico’s signature roles include Il Duca in Rigoletto, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Alfredo in La Traviata, Manrico in Il Trovatore, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Ruggiero in La Rondine, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Calaf in Turandot, the title roles in Faust, Albert Herring, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, as well as Don José in La tragédie de Carmen.
Mr. McConico has appeared with numerous opera companies and symphonies throughout the U.S. including Austin Lyric Opera, Opera Columbus, Augusta Opera, Baltimore Opera, Opera Roanoke, Asheville Lyric Opera, Knoxville Opera, Virginia Opera, Opera Carolina, DuPage Opera Theatre, Des Moines Metro Opera, Central City Opera, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.
Marcus’ international credits include concert performances in Izmir and Ankara,Turkey; Palermo, Italy; Tel Aviv, Israel and Tatuí, Brazil.
In 2015, Marcus released his first full-length album, Mio Cuore Italiano, A Collection of Italian and Neapolitan Songs, available through CDBaby.com and iTunes.
The Great Caruso’s repertoire through Mario Lanza: How one of the most celebrated tenors of the early 20th century was emulated and honored by one of the most beloved tenors of the golden age of opera
In celebration of the centennial anniversary of Enrico Caruso’s death in 1921 and Mario Lanza’s birth in the same year, my colleague Marcus McConico, tenor and voice teacher at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and I have prepared a short program of songs and arias. This lecture recital will explore the cultural and artistic influences of Enrico Caruso, the world renowned tenor from the turn of the 20th century, on Mario Lanza, an American born tenor from the Golden Age of Opera. Conversely, the impressions and influences that Mario Lanza had on a generation of opera singers that would take the art form through the technology age, and onward into the 21st century.
With the dawn of phonograph recordings, Enrico Caruso was able to reach an audience more broad than artists of the 19th century, making the name “Enrico Caruso” a household name. The acoustic recordings were the foundation laid for the next generation of singer and artist; a generation that included Mario Lanza.
With the advent of technology came advances in radio and television broadcasting, which was the platform Mario Lanza needed to penetrate every home in America through his expansive recordings, radio shows, MGM movie musicals, and television appearances, making operatic repertoire accessible to every American.
Through the use of audio and video recordings, supplemented by live performance with Professor of Voice, Rachel Inselman at the piano, and Marcus McConico, we can acquaint a new generation of singers with two pioneers of the operatic art form.
KANO Mark
Dr. Mark Kano is Assistant Professor of Music, Vocal Music Area Coordinator, and Director of Chapel Music at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. He received a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Middle Tennessee State University and both the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Vocal Performance from the University of Kentucky. Kano’s research focuses on Francesco Paolo Tosti songs and their pedagogical benefits for the undergraduate lyric tenor voice. He has presented on this topic at the National Association for Teachers (NATS) of Singing National Conference in 2018 and published “Songs for Lyric Tenor: An Analysis of Five Francesco Paolo Tosti Songs” with the Journal of Arts & Humanities. Dr. Kano was awarded a Faculty Pedagogical Stipend by Bellarmine University College of Arts & Sciences and has published with the official publication for the Kentucky Music Educators Association, the Bluegrass Music News.
Mark has performed nationally with opera companies and orchestras and made his international debut singing the role of Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus in Rome, Italy. He is a member of the American Spiritual Ensemble, as well as the National Chorale, and is a frequent recitalist. Kano has garnered performances in some of our nation’s leading concert venues, such as the Kennedy Center for the Arts, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. Dr. Kano recently founded the Louisville Song Alliance, a group of teaching artists that celebrate art song and its’ underrepresented composers, and collaborate to perform this repertoire for the Louisville, Kentuckiana, and Central Kentucky areas.
A dedicated voice teacher, Dr. Kano’s students have been winners in various vocal competitions, participated in summer music festivals in the states and abroad, and have gone on to pursue music studies at University of Michigan Musical Theatre Program, Indiana University, Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, The Julliard School and many prestigious programs. Mark was selected to participate in the NATS Intern Program at the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2018 and served as the NATS Kentucky District Governor (2017- 2019). Dr. Kano is an active master class clinician and adjudicator and has served as Visiting Instructor of Voice at the University of Kentucky, as well as on the voice faculties of Centre College, Transylvania University, Kentucky Center Governor’s School for the Arts, Operafestival di Roma, and Brancaleoni International Music Festival. He currently serves as Kentucky Music Teachers Association Voice Chair and Mid-South Region Governor for National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Exploring Repertoire for the Undergraduate Lyric Tenor: A Guide to the Performance of Ten Francesco Paolo Tosti Songs
Selecting diverse repertoire for the undergraduate lyric tenor can be a challenging process for instructors of this voice type. Francesco Paolo Tosti, a lyric tenor and composer, wrote songs that exemplify technical concepts that should be cultivated in the undergraduate lyric tenor voice. This guide will present ten Tosti songs that address technical issues, which the lyric tenor must overcome to progress into more advanced repertoire.
KOPECKY Judith
The Vienna-born soprano studied singing, music drama, song and oratorio, vocal pedagogy and music education (majoring in piano as well as flute and singing) at the University of Music and Performing Arts in her hometown as well as English/American Studies at the University of Vienna. Appreciation Award of the Federal Minister of Education and the Arts.
Since completing her studies, she has impersonated numerous opera and operetta roles of the light lyrical soprano at theaters and at festivals at home and abroad. With great interest in the music theatre of the 20th century, Judith Kopecky created three roles in the course of her career: Ärmeli in Dolores by Dieter Kaufmann, the soprano role in Der Venusmond by Burkhard Stangl and the role of Bärbl in Riese, Zwerge, Menschenfresser by Gerhard Schedl. Another focus is on her concert activities in collaboration with renowned orchestras and conductors with a broad repertoire from baroque music to contemporary music. The regular participation in performances of church music works, a series of radio and TV broadcasts as well as multiple participation in CD productions document the versatility of the artist. To this day Art Songs are of particular interest, concert tours have led through Europe, Japan, Canada and the USA. In recent years the soprano has increasingly devoted herself to the artistic reappraisal of musical estates. One result of this confrontation is the Cd exiles, on which, in addition to songs by Alexander Zemlinsky and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, compositions by Franz Mittler, Viktor Urbancic and Egon Wellesz can be heard.
- 2012 Habilitation in singing at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
- 2016 Appointment as Professor of Voice at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
- since 2018 Head of the Antonio Salieri Institute of Vocal Studies and Vocal Research in Music Education at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
- 2021 Doctorate in Musicology on Contemporary Austrian Art Songs of the Interwar Period
The repertoire of Marianne Mislap-Kapper. Austrian Art-Songs of the interwar period
According to an entry in the German Musicians' Lexicon of 1929 the mezzo-soprano Marianne Mislap-Kapper, born in Vienna in 1900, had begun her career as a concert singer after private vocal training in 1921. Looking at her repertoire, she seems to have played a special role as a mediator and interpretor of contemporary, not only Austrian, Art Songs. Overall, the artist was probably very cosmopolitan from a musical point of view and dealt with a broad spectrum of the song repertoire of her time.
In her two recitals at the Vienna Konzerthaus in 1928, for example, she performed compositions by Joseph Achron, BélaBartók, Manuel de Falla, Paul Hindemith, Alexander Krein, Joan Manén, Sergei Prokofiev, Ottorino Respighi and Pancho Vladigerov, including several Austrian premieres. In addition, songs by the contemporary Austrian composers Alfons Blümel, Carl Lafite, Franz Mittler, Fritz Egon Pamer, Paul A. Pisk, Leopold Welleba and Othmar Wetchy could be heard too. According to the daily press, the artist also campaigned for the work of living Austrian artists in concerts outside these venues, whereby she seemed to have had a special interest in the compositions of Fritz Egon Pamer and Franz Mittler, her long-time accompanist. Even after her forced emigration in 1938, the singer remained connected to this repertoire in her new home country Great Britain.
In this master class, following Marianne Mislap-Kappers programming, selected songs, many of them created by composers who like the singer herself had to leave the country by 1938 at the latest, will be presented to an interested audience not least to encourage their integration in today’s teaching and concert repertoire.
Alexander Mayr
Alexander Mayr received his first musical education as soloist of the Vienna Boys’ Choir. He studied voice at the University „Mozarteum“ in Salzburg and graduated at the University for Music and performing Arts in Vienna.
Being a specialist for high tenor roles such as the Sergeant in Shostakovich’s "The Nose" or Arkenholz in Reimann’s "Gespenstersonate", he has performed at various international venues including the Innsbruck, Basel, Lucerne, Lübeck and Oldenburg theaters, the Aalto Theater Essen, the Opera Zuid in Maastricht, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, the Cologne Opera, Frankfurt Opera, the Greek National Opera in Athens, the Aldeburgh and Almeida Festivals as well as the Salzburg and the Bregenz Festivals. He has collaborated with several renowned conductors and stage directors such as Stefan Soltesz, Peter Keuschnig, Johannes Kalitzke, Christoph Loy, Brigitte Fassbaender and Sir Peter Ustinov.
Alexander Mayr is teaching voice at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and regularly holds international masterclasses. In addition to his artistic and pedagogical obligations, he frequently conducts research projects on historical singing practices and physiological aspects of the singing voice. With distinction, he completed his artistic-scientific doctorate on a forgotten singing technique of the bel canto tenors (voce faringea) in 2014 at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. Since then, he has published various articles and papers in several journals (Journal of Voice, Vox Humana) as well as a book, entitled „Voce Faringea: Eine Kunst der Belcanto-Tenöre“ which was issued 2018 by Bärenreiter.
The Voce faringea, a forgotten Art of the Bel Canto Tenors
In several historical sources from the first half of the 19th century, including both vocal pedagogy literature and physiological and anatomical treatises, a peculiar third voice register mechanism has been mentioned that was in particular characteristic for the tenor voices of that period. This so-called voce faringea (pharyngeal voice) was often described as an intermediate register or a special mechanism connecting the falsetto and the chest register. Essentially, it is a forgotten historical singing practice used to extend the upper range of the voice whereby the falsetto, typically a soft and often “feminine” sound, is modified by the singer into a more vigorous and tenor-like vocal timbre. This resulting sound was considered homogenous with that of the lower registers, and no longer perceived in vocal quality as falsetto voice. Exceptionally high tessituras, often with pitches well above C5 and D5 in the operatic tenor repertoire of the Bellini-Rossini-Donizetti era, present strong evidence for the importance of this special vocal technique for the great tenori di grazia. In an exemplary fashion, the voce faringea also mirrors a preromantic vocal aesthetic that seems divergent from ones prevalent today.
By means of the predominant vocal sound ideals, common voice register theories and training strategies of that historical period but also findings, obtained by modern scientific research methods including electroglottography, voice spectra and formant analysis, I would like to define the specific aesthetic as well as the physiological and acoustic characteristics of this distinct vocal practice of the bel canto tenors. I will further describe how today, the voce faringea can not only be applied as an effective complementary vocal technique for historically informed performance practice of vocal literature from the primo ottocento, but also by male and female singers in various CCM styles and genres.
Timothy Renner
Dr. Timothy Renner serves as Director of Opera and Assistant Professor of Voice in the Edith Lester Harbin Department of Music at Shorter University. He is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
An active international performing artist, Timothy is a graduate of the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, PA. His recent professional engagements include Escamillo in Carmen at the New National Theatre Tokyo (2018), Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles with Opera Tampa (2019), and Marcello in La Bohème with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City (2019). As a resident artist at AVA (2016–2020), Timothy performed the title roles in Rigoletto and Rubinstein’s The Demon, as well as di Luna in Il trovatore, Germont in La traviata, Alberich in Das Rheingold, the Music Master in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Alphonse XI in La favorite, as well as a variety of song literature and sacred works.
Concert repertoire includes Carmina Burana and Fauré’s Requiem with the Eastern Symphony Orchestra, Ein Deutches Requiem and Messiah with the New Jersey Master Chorale, and St. Matthew Passion with Sinfonia da Camera. Timothy has earned awards from several competitions, such as the Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition, the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition, the Mario Lanza Scholarship Competition, the S. Livingston Mather Scholarship Competition, the Orpheus International Vocal Competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (Central Region Finalist), and the McCammon Voice Competition (finalist).
A native of Virginia, Timothy earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied with Jerold Siena. His cognate was in accompanying, studying under Dennis Helmrich and Julie Gunn. While studying at UIUC, he was also on faculty at Eastern Illinois University, where he served as Director of Opera and Musical Theatre, Director of University Mixed Chorus, and applied voice faculty. Timothy also holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education and Master of Music in Church Music from Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC. He has studied voice with Jean Greer, Stan Eby, and most recently, Bill Schuman.
Give Them Peace: The Terezín Ghetto Requiem, Czech composer Sylvie Bodorová
I would like to present a lecture recital in which I discuss and perform the Terezín Ghetto Requiem by Czech composer Sylvie Bodorová. I will speak to the historical basis for the work, salient musical and vocal characteristics of the work, and various performance practice considerations, such as how to realize the Jewish cantorial notation. Having been in contact with the composer herself, I am particularly enthused to share her own thoughts regarding the work, its performance, and how it can speak to contemporary issues in society today. As a religious work combining multiple faith traditions, I hope to illustrate the potential for harmony and unity amidst diversity. At the conclusion of the lecture, I will perform the work with string quartet.
After Sylvie Bodorová visited the World War II concentration camp in Terezín, she was moved to compose a work to honor the victims, many of whom were prominent musicians. In particular, her inspiration came from the heroic performances of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem within the ghetto during the war, even one presented for a group of Nazis hosting the Committee of the International Red Cross. As Bodorová states in her preface to the work, her desire is that it might “assist towards the goal of eternal humanity and tolerance.” Throughout the work, she juxtaposes Jewish and Christian liturgy, such as the Shema Yisrael, “Dies irae,” Libera me,” and others. The vocal writing itself also reflects this inter-faith approach: Bodorová strove for authenticity in modeling the virtuosic vocal writing of various sections after the style of synagogue cantors; in other places are almost chant-like lines of simple stepwise motion.
The Terezín Ghetto Requiem stands as a tremendously moving work, and one that is intensely rewarding for the performers as well as the audience. A primary focus of my presentation will be to address specific performance considerations, such as unique vocal challenges, and guidelines for performance practice, as the work is extremely demanding on both the singer and instrumentalists. Having created a full IPA transcription and translation, I would also offer this to anyone in attendance who is interested.
ROSINE Amy
Sorores Duo is a musical bond between soprano Amy Rosine and clarinetist Sandra Mosteller. The Duo attended undergraduate school together at Truman State University and were “Sorores” (Latin for “sisters”) in the women’s fraternity Sigma Alpha Iota. They reconnected while teaching at sister universities in Texas and began a musical journey exploring works for soprano and clarinet.
Sorores has performed together across the United States for over a decade and has been featured at regional conferences of the College Music Society and NATS, and National Conventions of Sigma Alpha Iota. Their repertoire focuses on contemporary music, as well as music related to the Holocaust. Their future includes new commissions for the genre, soprano and clarinet. Sorores also is developing interdisciplinary collaborations in art, dance as well as fields outside the arts. They released the CD Sorores Duo: Memories of Hope in March 2019 and are finalizing a recording project of works by American composer Gwyneth Walker that includes two commissioned cycles.
A Child in the Hole
The Holocaust was a devastating time in our world, yet it has inspired so many composers and performers. The Sorores Duo has performed several pieces that focus on the Holocaust, and A Child in the Hole was their first collaboration and was included on their 2018 recording, Memories of Hope. Vollinger’s “Child” is a dramatic portrayal of the true story of a Holocaust survivor, a child who was hidden in a hole until World War I ended. The soprano takes the persona of the child telling his story, his thoughts, memories, fears, and hopes. The clarinet creates a backdrop of moods—mysterious, scary, playful, ugly, terrifying, and joyous. References will be made regarding the survivor, and the conditions he experienced during this horrific event. This 12-minute work is ideal for interdisciplinary settings, both inside and beyond academe. The theatrical nature of this piece engages the listener while keeping the message of the Jewish Holocaust alive. Sorores Duo will provide insights into the composition and its performance subtleties, then perform the piece in its entirety.
SCHOCH Knut
The German tenor Knut Schoch studied singing in Hamburg with Wilfried Jochens and Alan Speer, completing his studies by attending various master-classes. He still gets coaching by Margreet Honig, his teacher since 2005, as well as continuing education in several subjects connected to singing, vocal education and background.
His huge repertoire extends from medieval works to the premières of contemporary pieces and includes oratorios, chamber music, Lieder and Baroque and Classical Operas (e.g. by Monteverdi, Keiser, Campra, Mozart etc.).
After specializing in the historical performance practice of music written before 1850, notably Bach’s Passions (in which he sings the role of the Evangelist), Bach’s Cantatas (he took part in a complete recording for BrilliantRecords a.o.) or the oratorios of Handel and his contemporaries, Knut Schoch expanded his repertoire up to the 20th and 21st century, including great romantic oeuvres as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony or Mahler’s „Lied von der Erde“.
Knut Schoch is known in the European early music scene as one of the leading tenors of his generation. His concentration on text in this genre gives him the optimal advantage for the classical and romantic song repertoire.
Knut Schoch is much in demand as a soloist both at home and abroad, performing all over Europe, in America, Asia, and Australia appearing regularly at leading festivals including the Göttingen and Halle Händel Festival, Vienna, Milano, Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tokyo and the Flandern Festival. Many radio and television recordings as well as more than 100 CDs (a.o. with Acanthus, Ambitus, Amphion, ars, BrilliantRecords, Carus, Christophorus, cpo, capriccio, DeutscheHarmoniaMundi, Naxos, Sony) reflect the range of his activities. He has worked with many important Ensembles and orchestras and has appeared with well-known conductors such as Ivor Bolton, Thomas Hengelbrock, Jos van Immerseel, Konrad Junghänel, Ton Koopman, Sigiswald Kuijken, Gustav Leonhardt and Joshua Rifkin.
Among other awards Knut Schoch received a prize at the 1999 International Musica Antiqua Competition in Brugge / Belgium.
From 1993 - 2021 Knut Schoch taught singing and historical performance practice at the Hamburger Konservatorium, during the period 1999 - 2002 he taught additionally as a Professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, from 2008 - 2014 at the Bremen Hochschule für Künste. In 2021 he secured a professorship at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg.
In addition he gives workshops and masterclasses as well in Germany as e.g. in the US, in Austria, Portugal, Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Yokohama, Nagano etc.), China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zhejiang etc.) or at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and taught as Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, Canberra.
knut-schoch@gmx.de - www.knut-schoch.de
How to perform cadenzas: background and interpretation
To interprete or even to improvise a cadenza nowadays is for many singers a miracle.This often leads to using short ready-made standard versions, which is in big contrast to the period of origin, when singers expressed their singular exception by creating individual and sometimes extensive cadenzas.
Based on a few well-chosen examples from contemporary sources Mr. Knut Schoch, since 2021 Professor for Voice with emphasis on historical performance practice at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg, will point out which essentials were important and useful features in the era from Handel to Haydn to arrange an individual cadenza suitable to affect and character of the aria.
SCHULTZE Andrew
Andrew Schultze is an active performer, music researcher and teacher. He is well known as an interpreter of the standard opera/oratorio repertoire, as a concert singer, and as a specialist in the performance of early music. Schultze was on the voice faculty of Houghton College, The American Conservatory of Music, Roosevelt University, Columbia College and the University of Chicago. He taught at the Summer Baroque Music Institute at Schloss Zell an der Pram in Austria from 2008-13. He has presented musical seminars and masterclasses for the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS OF SINGING, EARLY MUSIC AMERICA, THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY and the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. He has performed internationally with the Viennese early music ensembles the Clemencic Consort, Wien Barock and Affetti Musicali. His article “Performing Amarilli Mia Bella” was published in the NATS Journal of Singing in 2000 and his article TO TRILL OR TRILLO appeared in the NATIONAL EARLY MUSIC ASSOCIATION of the United Kingdom Autumn 2020 Newsletter.
To Trill or Trillo
The ability to perform a vocal trill is a requirement for all singers of all voice categories. It is an innate part of our vocal instrument, like vibrato is. We are most familiar with the performance of the 18th century trill and we use it as we sing the works of Bach, Handel and Mozart. However, the performance of the trill in the early 17th century is a conundrum. First, it is often referred to as a "trillo" and many of us are unsure as to how it may differ from the 18th century trill. Some may feel its execution conflicts with the bel canto principles espoused by our teachers and mentors. This Lecture/ Demonstration traces the origin of the vocal trill through 16th and 17th century sources. Among the pedagogues, performers and composers cited in this Lecture/Demonstration are Luis de Milan (ca 1500-ca 1561), Emilio del Cavaliere (ca 1550-1602), Giulio Caccini (1551-1618), Daniel Friderici (1584-1638), Francesco Rognoni (fl. ca 1608- ca 1625), Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), and John Playford (1623-86). Its goal is to demonstrate through these sources, a reconciliation of bel canto principles with the execution of the early trill.
SKOVIRA Katherine
Mezzo-soprano Katherine Skovira, D.M.A., is a nationally recognized artist-advocate from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. She is a 2021 Opera America Discovery Grantee and serves as Artistic Director of SoundLAB contemporary ensemble and Endowed Zeller Chair of Opera at Willamette University. She has performed with Lorin Maazel, Sir Simon Rattle, Leon Botstein, David Robertson, and Barbara Hannigan, at the Lucerne Festival Academy, Bard and Aspen Music Festivals and collaborated with numerous partners including the Lucerne Festival Academy, Philadelphia Orchestra, American Philosophical Society, American Composers Forum, and Alarm Will Sound. Dr. Skovira holds degrees in voice, vocal pedagogy and political science from Cornell University, Westminster Choir College, and the University of Minnesota.
Katherine Skovira focuses her performance, research, and advocacy work on contemporary music, inclusion, and social justice issues. Since 2019, Dr. Skovira has worked with members of the nonspeaking community and innovators in technology and social justice to create co-determined collaborative performance projects and education initiatives to create artistic response and community awareness of systemic areas of inequity in musical practice and performance. She is personally responsible for numerous commissions of living composers both for herself and her students and has performed more than 25 premieres in the past decade of new vocal and operatic work.
Opera America awarded Katherine Skovira a 2021 Discovery Grant for her co-creation of ?this is my Body, a new opera planned for 2022-23. Katherine has received additional grants from Opera America’s New Works Forum and New Music USA in 2021.
Of her work, The Philadelphia Inquirer says in "The future of Philadelphia music": “The diabolical enthusiasm of Katherine Skovira and [co-creator] Robert Whalen left me nearly begging for mercy...the artistic equivalent of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.”
The Forgotten Fach: Soprano Sfogato in tthe 19th century
“Oh! Mlle Falcon, with those black eyes of yours and the incisive voice you possess, there is no need to be afraid. Let your eyes flash and your voice ring out: you will be yourself.” – Hector Berlioz to Cornélie Falcon, Rénovateur 1834
Through the exploration of the new music of their day, 19th century female musicians including Pauline Viardot (1821-1910) and Clara Schumann (1819-1896) explored an entirely new voice type.
The soprano sfogato or “vented soprano” is one of several fachs that is commonly misclassified as a voice that falls between soprano and mezzo, a high mezzo-soprano who has transitioned into soprano repertoire, but without a presence in the Fach system. The industry has commonly condemned such faux pas as identifying as “zwischenfach”, a “Falcon voice” or “soprano sfogato.”
Rather than silencing these lesser understood voices, this paper embraces greater understanding through a historical survey of 19th century composers, centering on the work of Pauline Viardot, who composed numerous works and sang both Norma and Adalgisa, and Clara Schumann, the child prodigy who, while later known for her accomplishments at the piano, was a talented singer and composer.
The presentation includes additional musical and historic examples of singers and composers of the 19th century as well as quantitative pedagogy drawn from 19th century female composers’ and singers’ output (operatic roles and song analysis including range, timbre, formant use, amplitude, use of coloratura). To illustrate additional examples of the soprano sfogato’s presence in the 19th century, this paper will highlight examples from Viardot’s and Schumann’s contemporaries, Giuditta Pasta (1797-1865) [1], Maria Malibran (1808-1836), daughter of Manuel García, and Cornélie Falcon (1814-1897) [2].
In building a vocal profile of the soprano sfogati, this research enables instruction of future professional singers who identify in the categories of these forgotten fachs and female composers, as a testament to the past and as an opportunity to make room for the soprano sfogato to fly.
[1] As described by 19th century French writer Stendal and music critic Count Carlo Ritorni and Susan Rutherford (2007).
[2] Berlioz called Mlle Falcon “the ideal Donna Anna” (1834).
St. PIERRE Vicki
Canadian Contralto Vicki St. Pierre’s voice “invitingly combines clarity of expression and beauty of tone,” and is described as “rich with both a darkness and brightness.” As a specialist in early music, she has performed internationally with such groups as the Academy of Ancient Music, Tafelmusik, Les Violons du Roy, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra. She has also performed with Symphony Nova Scotia, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared on the operatic stage with Opera Atelier, Ensemble Masques de Montreal, Toronto Masque Theatre, and Early Music Vancouver, among others. She has directed choirs across Canada and in the UK, and has been an assistant conductor with Opera Atelier. Vicki has a doctorate in vocal performance from the University of Toronto, and has been a faculty member at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB since 2015. In 2020, Dr. St. Pierre was appointed Interim Dean of Arts, and in early 2021, she was offered the position of Dean of Arts for a 5-year term.
Ornamentation before 1750: A "how-to" guide
Singing teachers around the world assign early music to their students, but often run into trouble when attempting to ornament in an historically informed fashion! In this session we will explore the basic techniques for stylistic ornamentation in the Baroque era (both Early and High Baroque) using a set of principles and practices which will enable everyone to ornament stylistically and confidently! Participants will have the opportunity to suggest and sing ornaments based on the information provided in the workshop. In addition, we will break down the technical components of trills, straight-tone, coloratura singing, and ornaments not typically found in music after 1750, adding pedagogical language and approaches for teaching these skills to students.
TURNER Noelle
Prof. Noelle Turner has been teaching voice in the Musical and Voice Pedagogy program at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany since 1992.She studied classical voice with Prof. Richard Miller at the Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio (USA) and with Prof. Eileen Farrell at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana (USA). For several years she worked regularly with Cornelius Reid in New York and continued this work with Carol Forte of Toronto. She supplemented her pedagogical training with courses in Estill Voice Training with Anne-Marie Speed and Paul Farrington in London.Prof. Turner has accompanied the development of the musical in the German-speaking world since the mid-1980s. Numerous lectures, workshops, seminars in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Holland, Czech Republic, Israel and jurorship in national and international competitions are part of her remit.
Prof. Turner taught at the Musical-Studio-Munich, at the Stage School of Music and Drama in Hamburg and supervised as a vocal coach numerous productions, such as, "Cats", (Hamburg), "Phantom of the Opera" (Hamburg), "Starlight Express" (Bochum), "Joseph" (Essen), "Miami Nights" (Düsseldorf) and "We will rock you" (Cologne).
Bel Canto als Genre-Neutrale Stimmtechnik
Every singer in every genre needs a well-functioning technique in order to meet the demands of the respective repertoire. Bel Canto describes a vocal technique that enables the highest technical perfection and mastery of all means of expression for the purpose of a differentiated performance. When the voice has developed its full potential can one freely express oneself musically and interpretatively. Only in this way can one attain absolute artistic freedom.
Why the name "Bel Canto"?
When a sound is truly beautiful, it reconciles aesthetics with natural laws. A "beautiful" tone knows no boundaries. The "beautiful" tone is not a question of aesthetics, but of the natural laws of the voice. Accordingly, it is a technique that can be applied to all styles of singing.
If you study the principles of the masters of bel canto, from Tosi and Mancini, to Garcia and into the 20th century, you find that they provide a foundation that can be applied to classical singing as well as Pop and Musical Theatre styles.
The work in this workshop is practice-oriented. The passages in the songs, arias and songs that do not run optimally are analyzed and a diagnosis of the vocal condition is made. Stimuli are offered to activate the organic reflexes of the voice. The parameters of the exercises are specifically tailored to the current problem.
Bel Canto's work is a process, not a method. Increasingly, new methods are appearing, especially in Pop and Musical Theater, that promise a fast track to success. The goal is not the journey, but the immediate result. This approach is appealing because it reflects the spirit of the times. So the development does not take place, the voice, with all its functional flaws is instead "packaged".
The Bel Canto technique is a kind of Y-model. With this foundation, the choice is open as to which genre you want to sing in. It also facilitates cross-over singing, performing in two or more genres.
The subjects are asked to prepare two contrasting works.