“Everybody says don’t it isn’t right, don’t it isn’t nice . . . don’t get out of line . . .” Ever wondered if, as a classical singer, it might be fun to sing music theatre repertoire? Have you wondered if there was a difference in how you would sing it? Ever asked yourself, “Will it ruin my voice . . . can I do both?” Well, how do you know unless you give it a try? Come sing your favorite piece of music theatre or classical repertoire for teachers Michael Ricciardone and Dianna Heldman from NYU Steinhardt’s program in vocal performance and find out. “. . . don’t be afraid!” *Stephen Sondheim (Anyone Can Whistle)

Mezzo-soprano Dianna Heldman is currently the Associate Director for the Program in Vocal Performance, The Steinhardt School, New York University, where she teaches voice, opera workshop, and vocal pedagogy. Her performing career extends throughout the United States performing principle roles with Birmingham Opera Theater, Indianapolis Opera, Lyric Opera of Dallas, Opera Festival of New Jersey, The Florentine Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Memphis, Kentucky Opera, Lyric Opera of San Antonio, and Opera North.

Michael Ricciardone has worked extensively in musical theatre and classical music both as a singer/performer and as a pianist/coach/conductor and master teacher. He joined the national tour of Sunset Boulevard in 1999, performing the role of Max. In the summer of 1998 he starred as Georges in the Theatrefest production of La Cage aux Folles at Montclair State University.

Join Professor Swanson from The University of Iowa in a masterclass designed to help you succeed as a professional performer. “So much work on breath management is focused on the breathing mechanism rather than the results of efficient use of breath. We will focus on how to really use your breath to optimize your sound, your diction, your dynamic control, and your phrasing.”

Stephen Swanson has appeared in 91 roles in operas, operettas, and musicals. Mr. Swanson has sung on German, Dutch, and Austrian radio broadcasts and has been a featured soloist in the Berliner Festwochen, Assisi Festa Musica Pro, and Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik. He has an extensive concert repertoire ranging from Baroque to avant-garde and has performed with many renowned conductors including Sir Georg Solti and others. Born in Minneapolis, Mr. Swanson earned his M.M. from Northwestern University. In 1975 he received a scholarship to study at the International Opera Studio in Zurich, Switzerland, and remained in Europe performing in opera houses there until 1994.

Do you feel like you're pushing the voice at times? Would you like to create a bigger sound but with less laryngeal effort? Professor Babidge will demonstrate with his own students, as well as audience members, how they can equalize vowels in a healthy, yet fun and memorable way. Singing is sometimes easier than we think!

Darrell Babidge is an assistant professor at Brigham Young University. He graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in the U.K. with his bachelor's degree in vocal performance, and after completing his master's degree at BYU, he then went on to do a professional degree at the Manhattan School of Music. He has performed at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Carnegie Hall, and the Metropolitan Opera amongst other venues. A number of his students sing professionally and have been recently accepted into Young Artist Programs (Metropolitan Opera and Houston Grand Opera).

Val Underwood’s uncomplicated, straightforward and sensible system of singing technique will be presented in a group participation setting to auditors and class performers. Topics covered include: production of a natural, individual sound; freeing the breath; improving range; eliminating register problems; understanding support; learning vocal balance. Part one of the class will involve auditor (audience) participation. In part two Mr. Underwood will work with individual performers in a masterclass setting. Individual performers must attend part one and two. 

Val Underwood is distinctive for his equal skill in the vocal arts and as a pianist. A renowned vocal instructor, he maintains a busy teaching and masterclass schedule traveling between New York, London, and California. His students continually take top honors in major vocal competitions and can be heard in opera houses worldwide. He studied voice with William Horner, Ernest St. John (Jack) Metz, for seven years with the legendary French baritone Martial Singher, and served as accompanist in the studios of some of the great singers of our time, including Rose Bampton, Martial Singher, George London, and Lotte Lehman. Mr. Underwood is Artistic Director of Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, an acclaimed summer vocal program on the Big Island of Hawaii for aspiring professional singers.

Jan Bickel, D.M.A., is Director of Vocal Studies/Professor of Music at Saint Xavier University (SXU) in Chicago, and teaches undergraduate singers. She authored Vocal Technique, A Physiologic Approach, published by Plural Publishing in 2008, and recorded An Art Song Excursion available on her website; www.janbickel.com. Carolyn Brady Riley, M.M., is a faculty member in the voice department at SXU, and is a singer, actress, choral and theatrical director in the Chicago area. At SXU, she directs the choral ensembles, and teaches voice.

This class will help answer questions about what and how to prepare for your college or conservatory audition. How can you be the most vocally AND dramatically ready? What pieces best represent where you are "now?” How should you present yourself in front of the panel and what, exactly, are professors looking for at the collegiate level?

A Professor of Voice at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, American mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook has excelled in a wide range of roles with leading companies throughout the United States, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, and the Houston Grand Opera. Ms. Cook was a former Merola participant and Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera and continues to be a frequent presence at the SF Opera each season (next year she will play the roles of Frugola, The Monitor, and La Ciesca in Puccini’s Il Trittico). Most recently, Ms. Cook played a cameo role in the Academy Award-nominated film Milk, directed by Gus Van Sant.  

In this session you will learn what professors of singing listen for in college admission auditions. Laura Brooks Rice, professor of voice at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, will work with singers and specifically target areas vocally, musically and presentation wise.

Mezzo-soprano Laura Brooks Rice has won acclaim on the opera and concert stage for her rich, warm voice, musicality, charm and sensitive acting ability. Since 1985, Miss Rice has been teaching private voice and courses in opera at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey where she is Professor of Voice. Along with her teaching at Westminster, Miss Rice has a private studio and is a vocal consultant to the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Program as well as the Domingo-Cafritz Program with the Washington Opera. For a complete biography visit the Faculty section of Westminster's web site at www.rider.edu/westminster.

This masterclass will focus on choosing songs and arias to promote and maintain vocal health for developing voices. With emphasis on Mozart opera arias, the presenter will discuss pedagogical reasons for the repertoire selections. Handouts will be given and operatic excerpts will be played.

Jung Eun Oh is a member of the voice faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has performed in such works as Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and Robert Beaser's The Heavenly Feast. Operatic roles include Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Mademoiselle Silverpeal in Der Schauspieldirector and the title roles of Igor Stravinsky's Le Rossignol and Mozart's La finta giardiniera. Ms. Oh holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard, a master's degree and an artist diploma from CIM.

This class will focus on the classical training of the young male voice. There will be a short historical outline on how the male voice has been technically guided since Rossini when composers began to ask for a full-voiced extension into the top register. There will be an explanation of the developmental and technical issues challenging the young male singer. There will also be a clear approach presented to help voice teachers and students understand how the male voice works and how classical male singers successfully access the upper third of their range through very specific exercises. There will be video examples and live vocal demonstrations.

Robert Swensen is on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music. He has appeared with opera companies that include Wexford Festival Ireland,Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Bavarian State Opera- Munich, Grand Theatre Gevena, and the Vienna State Opera. He has appeared in concert with the Mostly Mozart Festival and made his Carnegie Hall debut in La Dame Blanche with the Opera Orchestra of New York. He recently sang the lead in Ned Rorem's Our Town for Lake George Opera. He is a devoted lieder specialist and made his NYC recital debut as the winner of the Concert Artist Guild Prize. He has over 15 recordings in his discography including the St. John Passion for RCA and appeared in Oedipus Rex for PBS Great Performances series.

Master clinician Patrice Michaels listens to your audition material, shares her observations on the strengths you present today, and makes suggestions for the strengths you can develop now, through clear decision making and effective practice strategies. She’ll share her bag of tricks for engaging your imagination, integrating your mind and body, dealing with distractions, prioritizing practice methods, and much more.

"Like the Romantic ideal of art, Patrice Michaels’ voice is both natural and passionate” (Classical CD Digest), “a formidable interpretative talent” (The New Yorker) with “a voice that is light, rich and flexible” (Opera News), Michaels has sung with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cleveland Opera, the Shanghai, Czech National, St. Louis, Atlanta, and Minnesota Orchestras, the Maryland Handel Festival, New York’s Concert Royal, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque and the Maverick Festival. She has two dozen critically acclaimed recordings on Cedille, Albany, and other labels. Michaels teaches masterclasses at schools such as the University of Tel Aviv, ISA Havana (Cuba), The Hartt School of Music, Dreyfoos High School for the Performing Arts, and Loyola University. Learn more at www.patricemichaels.com and www.divasofmozartsday.com.

Vocal composers begin with a text in expressing themselves, and as re-creative artists, so should we singers. This class provides sure-fire tools and helpful hints from a master communicator for wringing the most expressive power possible from the words you are singing, beginning with diction and extending to the farthest extremes of vocal coloration. Participants should be prepared to present one or more short songs/arias in class (English, Italian, French, German, or Spanish). An accompanist will be provided.

Multiple international "Grammy" award-winner Juliana Gondek has enjoyed a busy 30-year career throughout North America, Europe, and Asia as an operatic, symphonic, recital, and recording soloist at the Met, San Francisco, Houston, Seattle, New York City Opera, Netherlands, La Scala, Salzburg and Edinburgh Festivals, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the National Orchestra of Spain, among others. Visit her online at www.julianagondek.org.

If you think that improvisation is only for jazz musicians and actors, come join us for an exploration of classical improvisation. Enjoy the fun and challenge of creating original songs, arias and ensembles on the spot. Freeing the imagination and voice, investing fully in text and dramatic actions, and in-the-moment listening and responding are only a few of the skills enhanced by improvisation. Dare to tap into your own innate and intuitive musicality and creativity.

Dr. Fritz Robertson is Chair of the Voice Area and the Music Director for the Boze Lyric Theatre at Anderson University, as well as a coveted tenor soloist in concert and oratorio in the Midwest.

Prof. Laurel Goetzinger is the Director of The Boze Lyric Theatre and an Associate Professor of Voice at Anderson University in Indiana, as well as a professional actor and singer in musical theatre and opera in Indianapolis.

The vocal training that singers receive during college is crucial to career preparation and maintenance. Under the tutelage of a private voice teacher, the human voice goes through much development and change between the approximate ages of 17-23. As young singers get ready for college-level voice study, many wonder how their voice will change during this important time. This session will look at typical developmental changes encountered by singers during the college years.

Jacqueline Leary-Warsaw, Assoc. Professor of Music at Birmingham-Southern College, has been heard as a classical soloist throughout the U.S., Europe, and South America. She is best known to audiences around the world as the host of the television series In Concert on EWTN network. Dr. Warsaw has received national recognition for her work on American music history, and in 2002 she was one of only 12 voice teachers chosen to participate in the prestigious NATS Internship Program. She holds the doctoral of musical arts degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University.

Singers, who is your number one ally? Who is the one person who can make you or break you during a recital or an audition? Your accompanist! This class will focus on the many aspects of the singer/accompanist relationship, such as finding a quality accompanist, preparing music for your accompanist, understanding the accompaniment, interacting with an accompanist during an audition, and presenting an artistic collaborative performance. An accompanist will be provided for the class (of course!) so bring an aria or art song to try out!

Louise Lofquist mezzo-soprano and pianist, has had an unorthodox musical career.  She made her pianistic debut with the National Symphony at the age of 18 but opted for a liberal arts education in college and received degrees in European history from Duke and Stanford.  After finally deciding she belonged in music, Ms. Lofquist was pursuing a master’s degree in voice when a severe injury to her vocal cord cut short her singing career. Since joining the Pepperdine music faculty in 2001 as accompanist, vocal coach, and eventually voice teacher, Ms. Lofquist’s injured voice gradually healed itself.  She has now returned to performing as a mezzo-soprano and will be heard as alto soloist in Haydn’s Harmonie Mass in May 2009.

A career as a vocal artist means more than simply having a great voice. It also means having a healthy and reliable technique, excellent language skills, and, yes, you have to know music theory. Renowned mezzo Susanne Mentzer, Professor of Voice at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, will work first with singers on technical improvement, but will also allow time to address how best to plan your undergraduate years in order to help achieve your goals.

Susanne Mentzer joined the Shepherd School of Music faculty in 2006. Current and former students have gone on to Houston Grand Opera Studio, The Juilliard School, Aspen Opera Theater Center, San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, Opera Theatre of St. Louis Young Artists, Chicago Opera Theater Young Artists and more. Her opera career, which includes 20 years at the Metropolitan Opera, led to a specialization in the music of Mozart, Berlioz, and Richard Strauss. Ms. Mentzer enjoys a significant concert and recital career, with a particular interest in chamber music, and is known as an interpreter of the vocal works of Mahler and as a proponent of women’s music.