Alumni Deborah Voigt Returns To California State University - Fullerton

CSUF Star Alumni: The School of Music turned opera stars
like Deborah Voigt, Rodney Gilfrey, Charles Castranovo,
and most recently Renée Tatum.

"Opera star and alumna Deborah Voigt will offer a 7 p.m. master class Monday, June 8, at Clayes Performing Arts Center's Meng Concert Hall. Participating School of Music students include: Trinidad Cano, Juliet Kidwell, James Lesu'i, Megan Ralston, Amanda Salmen and Joslyn Sarshad. A brief Q&A session with the soprano will follow. Cal State Fullerton students, faculty and staff can stop by the School of Music office in the CPAC 220 Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a complimentary ticket. Tickets are also available for purchase online or at the door....After her June 8 master class at Cal State Fullerton, alumna Deborah Voigt will perform at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa June 11-13." [Source, Source]

Rockwell Blake Administers Honest Advice To Young Singers

"Ignore almost everything you were taught when you were in school and move yourself toward an ethic of aesthetic....The ethic is simple. You want to take your audience. You want to pick up your audience. You want to shape your audience. And, you want them to thank you for doing so." [Source] Watch a video of the tenor singing "Ah! Dov'e il cimento" from Rossini's Semiramide, after the jump.

Meryl Streep Will Portray Maria Callas In "Master Class" For HBO

Goddesses Of Their Crafts: Maria Callas (left) and Meryl Streep (right)

Callas at Juilliard

"Meryl Streep — the Oscar winner who’s transformed herself into Margaret Thatcher, Anna Wintour and Julia Child — will play opera legend Maria Callas in a film version of Terrence McNally’s play Master Class for HBO, Page Six can exclusively reveal. Mike Nichols will direct the adaptation of the Tony-winning play about iconic diva Callas teaching students at Juilliard in 1971. Hollywood sources say filming will begin in January after Streep tackles another juicy musical project — director Jonathan Demme and screenwriter Diablo Cody’s Ricky and the Flash, in which Streep plays a fading rock star who tries

mc²: Maria Callas + Master Class

to reconnect with her estranged kids. 'Meryl is learning the tricks of the guitar trade from none other than legendary Neil Young' for that movie, a source tells us. Master Class debuted on Broadway in 1995 starring Australian actress Zoe Caldwell as Callas and co-starring Audra McDonald. Others who’ve tackled the role include Patti LuPone and Tyne Daly. In the play, Callas reminisces about her storied career and personal life, which included being dumped by Aristotle Onassis for Jacqueline Kennedy." [Source] Listen to the complete master classes of Maria Callas at Juilliard by clicking here.

Marilyn Horne Chats With Vatican Radio In Italy For Master Classes

La Dolce Vita: Marilyn Horne ponders the knowledge she has acquired as a singer
and tries to pass it on to the future of young artists through master classes.

"Since retiring from the operatic stage, Ms Horne has dedicated herself to teaching promising singers of the future. Just over twenty years ago she launched the Marilyn Horne Foundation which provides opportunities for young singers to give recitals. The renowned Mezzo Soprano was recently in Rome to give a series of Masterclasses at the American University of Rome. The classes were part of the University’s inaugural Summer Vocal Institute and saw singers come from all over the world to take part. But for Marilyn Horne, how does being a teacher differ from performing as an opera singer? She told Vatican Radio’s Lydia O’Kane, 'first of all I have to try to remember all the things I have learned as a singer, so it’s really very much giving giving giving and pulling pulling pulling!' Looking back at her extraordinary singing career she says, 'it was my life, I knew practically nothing else except singing since the time I could talk, so it’s my soul, my life, my everything, tied to the music of course, not just singing but the great great music that I’ve had the pleasure to perform.' Ms Horne also says that she feels blessed to have had the career she has had. 'As we say I’ve had a great go and I feel that I’ve been very privilege to have the kind of life that I did.'" [Source] Listen to the full interview by clicking here. For more about the American University of Rome, click here.

Nicole Cabell Leads Master Class For OpTIC In Evanston

The latest recording from soprano Nicole Cabell
features songs composed by Ricky Ian
 Gordon. Click here to purchase the CD.

"Presbyterian Homes’ Westminster Place retirement community will host the Fourth Annual Young Artist Opera Workshop, a month-long opera training program for junior and senior college students, graduate students and young professionals. The workshop will take place from June 17 through July 12, 2013, and is produced by the Opera Training Institute of Chicago (OpTIC) located in Evanston, IL. Workshop classes will be held in the performance spaces at Westminster Place, where its residents are invited to attend. Classes include private voice and coaching lessons, master classes taught by guest artists, acting, aria presentation and audition technique. Additional courses will include yoga and the Alexander Technique of proper posture and stress elimination for optimal vocal delivery, and scenes performance in full costume with piano accompaniment. A special night of arias and songs in concert will take place in Elliott Chapel on the Westminster Place campus on Sunday, June 30, 2013. An opera scenes performance will be held in the same venue on Tuesday evening, July 9, 2013. Among the guest artists leading master classes is Soprano Nicole Cabell, 2005 winner of the BBC Singer of the World competition and Decca recording artist." [Source]

Catherine Malfitano Delivers Master Class For Opera Preservation

"The American Lyric Theater was founded in 2005 to foster the creation of operas by matching composers to librettists and offering them training and workshops to help them develop new works. Last year it also commissioned three operas from participants. Those operas are at the center of the InsightALT festival being presented at the JCC in Manhattan. The festival, where audiences can get a glimpse of the craft that underpins the art of opera, opened on Tuesday with a public master class led by Catherine Malfitano. A venerated soprano, Ms. Malfitano has, over the course of three decades, created roles in nearly a dozen new operas. In recent years she has also built up a portfolio of directing credits. 'The ultimate test of whether a piece is going to last is whether you can make an emotional connection with the audience and make them come back for more,' she told the participating singers, urging them to take the creation of new operas seriously. 'What we are doing is of the utmost importance for the future of this art form. Because at some point people will get sick of the museum.'" Read more at the New York Times Blog by clicking here.

Faye Dunaway and Danielle de Niese in "Master Class" Preview

The above photo was tweeted by Faye Dunaway today. "Just edited scene with Liam Dunaway O'Neill and Danielle de Niese. They are electric." For more information, click here and here.

David Daniels Kicks Off 2011 Jessye Norman Masterclass Series

The countertenor presented a master class at the University of Michigan's School of Music as part of the Jessye Norman Masterclass Series. The event took place at Britton Recital Hall on September 23, 2011. David Daniels studied music at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and attended the University of Michigan to receive his graduate degree. It was during this time that he transitioned from singing tenor to countertenor roles while studying with American tenor George Shirley and British soprano Lorna Haywood. This season Mr. Daniels can be seen at the San Francisco Opera in Händel's Xerxes, the Metropolitan Opera in The Enchanted Island (a pastiche of Baroque composers) and the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Händel's Rinaldo.
The program and singers from the master class with Mr. Daniels in Michigan:
"Svegliatevi nel core" Giulio Cesare (Händel)
Stephanie Schoenhofer, Mezzo soprano
"Un'aura amorosa" Così fan tutte (Mozart)
Justin Berkowitz, tenor
"Lord Jesus Christ" Prayers of Kierkegaard (Barber)
Kimwana Doner, soprano
"Vecchia Zimarra" La Bohème (Puccini)
Benjamin Sieverding, Bass
"Nacqui all'affanno...Non più mesta" La Cenerentola (Rossini)
Sarah David, Mezzo-soprano

JESSYE NORMAN AND MUSIC EDUCATION

Ms. Norman at 1989 Michigan commencement.

The soprano's interest in music education is widely known and greatly praised. The Jessye Norman School of the Arts in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia, was founded as an after-school program for talented middle school students. There has also been a fellowship set up at the University of Michigan School of Music as well as funding of the Jessye Norman Masterclass Series at her alma mater. "At the age of 16, Norman entered the Marian Anderson Vocal Competition in Philadelphia which, although she did not win, led to her being offered a full scholarship to Howard University, in Washington, D.C. While at Howard, Norman sang in the university chorus and as a professional soloist at the Lincoln Temple United Church of Christ, while studying voice with Carolyn Grant. In 1965, along with 32 other female students and 4 female faculty, she became a founding member of the Delta

The soprano with Gustav Meier in 1978 after one
of their many concerts at the University of Michigan.

Nu Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota. In 1966, she won the National Society of Arts and Letters singing competition.[7] After graduating in 1967 with a degree in music, she began graduate-level studies at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and later at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from which she earned a Masters Degree in 1968. During this time Norman studied voice with Elizabeth Mannion and Pierre Bernac" [Source, Source, Source, Source, Source]
Watch a recent interview of Jessye Norman on The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS:

Listen to music clips of the Michigan voice teachers and alumni mentioned in this posting after the jump.

Aprile Millo Plans For October Master Class in Canada

La Millo (Photo: Johannes Ifkovits)

"A master class by the iconic Verdi spinto soprano of the world’s greatest opera houses. Aprile Millo holds the distinction of being considered today's true Verdi soprano. Critics worldwide have confirmed this unique position comparing her to such legendary artists as Renata Tebaldi, Claudia Muzio, Zinka Milanov, and Maria Callas for her seamless legato, Italianate color and beauty of voice wed to dramatic commitment." [Source] 

Details are after the jump.

Marilyn Horne & Stephanie Blythe In Residence

"SUNY Potsdam is proud to welcome internationally-celebrated mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe '92 back to campus as a guest artist-in-residence at The Crane School of Music this coming week. The Metropolitan Opera star, who has been hailed as a 'once-in-a-generation opera singer' by the New York Times, will share her amazing talent and professional experience with Crane vocal students from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4. Select singers will receive individual coaching sessions with Blythe, while others will get the rare opportunity to take part in a masterclass with the acclaimed artist. She has served as a guest artist-in-residence several times, and starred in the world premiere of 'The