Latest Articles
Does Learning Have an Age Limit?
I can say for my own experience that my voice and the voice of many singers I know got better after 40. From that age on, the voice, the body, and the technique are mature. Moreover, we have much more life experience that we can bring to the performances—experience that allows us to relate with the subjects that we sing about; therefore we communicate much better with the audience. We are also much more confident, and this confidence reflects in our performances. The voice and the experience of singing only get better.
Car and Dupuis : Cooking Up Opera, Life, and Love
Nicole Car and Etienne Dupuis recently sang for the whole world from their home in Paris at the Metropolitan Opera’s At-Home Gala. They brought the same joyful energy to that
Having a Career in Musical Theatre : Q&A with Wicked Music Director Dan Micciche
CS Music recently had the opportunity to host a masterclass featuring Dan Micciche, the current music director/conductor for Wicked on Broadway. He offered some wonderful advice that readers can learn
The How (and Why) of a Singer’s Throat Clearing
One of the most frequent questions I get from patients is about the somewhat mundane topic of throat clearing. Singers in particular are concerned about damaging their vocal folds and why do some people need to clear their throat constantly? Most importantly, is there a right way to do it?
Tech Advice : Practicing & Performing with Pre-Recorded Tracks
I have been practicing to my own synthesized tracks for about 30 years. Singing back to recordings was a way to get a sense of what the orchestra would sound like, but I longed to be able to build my OWN creations right from the composer’s pen to my voice. My solution, no matter how long it took, was to find the most user friendly notation software I could come up with, and to build my songs, arias, or entire roles from scratch with that software.
Five Things a Conductor Wants from Your Next Audition
How tall you are, whether your voice will fit well with the ensemble, if and how you gesture while you sing—these are some of the aspects of your opera
CS Spotlight: Marianne Cornetti with Pittsburgh Festival Opera
Marianne Cornetti, internationally renowned operatic Mezzo-Soprano, is the new Artistic Director of Pittsburgh Festival Opera. As an artist who is still in the middle of her career, Cornetti’s leadership is to increase
Wishes and Dreams or Goals and Plans?
The start of a new semester is a logical time to set goals for the upcoming school year. On fire with energy, momentum, and inspiration, students often set lofty goals each fall that are designed to help them achieve their dreams. Unfortunately, as the rigors of the semester settle in, many of these goals are cast aside as quickly as most New Year’s resolutions. Actually, the goals themselves may remain unchanged, but without a systematic plan to work toward achieving those goals, the motivation that was initially so high may gradually fade away.
Live Opera is Back: Soprano Aušrinė Stundytė and the Salzburg Festival
The world of opera, broken down by the coronavirus, got back on its feet throughout the last month of the summer – the Salzburg festival celebrated its 100th anniversary in August. Elektra by R. Strauss was embodied on the big stage by Aušrinė Stundytė. In this interview, the soloist shares her thoughts on the professional experiences that built her up, the creation of the character of Elektra, and the anxiety she felt before her debut at the Salzburg Festival.
Voice Students Win During Covid
We are now more than six months into the global pandemic, and we can see various patterns emerging. Some are frightening, some are positive and some may be setting trends for our future beyond this crisis.
The Singer’s Library : The Brain on Music
The human brain is notoriously complex. After all, the phrase "It's not brain surgery!" came from somewhere for a reason. It would be understandable, then, if singers feel intimidated by the title of the new book The Musician's Mind: Teaching, Learning, and Performance in the Age of Brain Science. Author Lynn Helding points out in the preface, however, that the focus of the book is not neuroscience, which is concerned with the anatomy of physiology of brain structure.
We All Watch Opera with our Ears: Tanja Ariane Baumgartner
Named as one of the leading dramatic mezzo-sopranos of today, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner has an international standing, performing in Bayreuth Festival, Edinburgh Festival, London Royal Opera House, Deutsche Oper Berlin,
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