American baritone Daniel Ferro enjoyed an international career and taught some of opera’s most legendary voices, including Kathleen Battle, Barbara Hendricks, Evelyn Lear, Ruggero Raimondi, Régine Crespin, Anna Moffo, Neil Shicoff, Lucille Beer, Alan Titus, Susanne Mentzer, Mayda Prado, Ning Liang, Kevin Short, among many others. He dedicated his life to sharing his knowledge of singing at top institutions throughout the world, particularly The Juilliard School, where he was on faculty from 1972 until 2006, when he received the distinction of becoming vocal faculty emeritus. He also continued his affiliation with the school by providing regular masterclasses. Daniel Ferro was proud of this long and successful connection with Juilliard. During those busy years, he also founded the Spoleto Vocal Institute, and the Daniel Ferro Vocal Program. Since his passing in 2015, a scholarship in his name has been established as a tribute to his contribution to vocal arts education at the school.
The Daniel Ferro Vocal Program is now celebrating its 30th anniversary season from July 8th to July 19th, 2024 in Greve in Chianti, Italy. This anniversary season is presented as “a celebration of Daniel Ferro and his lifelong passion of passing the torch of beautiful and healthy singing to the next generation.” Each year the program assembles a group of high-caliber instructors who share Daniel Ferro’s passion for sharing the art of beautiful and healthy singing to participants.
In 2024 the Vocal Instruction and Coaching team includes: Florence Katz (Artistic Director, France), Agnès Watson (Musical Director, France), Jorge Chaminé (Europe), Soyeon Kim (USA & Korea), Irene Kudela (Czech Republic & France), Maria Silvana Pavan (Italy), Ira Siff (USA), Mark Watson (Guest Artist, USA).
The 2024 program will present two concert performances, on July 14 at Pieve di San Leolino in Panzano in Chianti and July 21 at Piazzetta S. Croce in Greve in Chianti. The goal of the two week vocal training program is to continue Daniel Ferro’s legacy by providing “a congenial, supportive, and intimate environment.” The administrative team adds that they “have created an ideal program for singers at various ages and stages in their career and for promising vocal students to have an incredible two-week experience in the heart of Tuscany.”
The program offers two modes of participation: Active (open to professional singers of various ages and promising students who are working towards the goal of becoming professional performers), and Auditor (open to singers, voice teachers, coaches, conductors and choral singers who would benefit from observing all masterclasses and participate in program activities, as well as music lovers wishing to experience and support the development of young artists, while enjoying time in beautiful Tuscany). The weekly curriculum includes masterclasses, private lessons, coaching sessions, workshops and participation in performances. Singers are expected to arrive with a repertoire of arias and art songs they wish to perfect during these two weeks.
One of the many singers who went on to have successful career after attending the program is soprano and Broadway star Rachel Zatcoff, who studied at the Ferro program 17 years ago, while she was an undergraduate Vocal Performance major at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. “It was an incredibly inspiring month of learning, beautiful music, and great food. At the time, it gave me a deep appreciation for the marriage of it all: language, technique, story-telling, physicality, and style. I wrote in my journal from that summer that Daniel Ferro said to me, ‘Nobody cares if your voice is a big beefsteak! Make them laugh. Make them cry.’ It is single-handedly the most important thing any teacher has ever told me. I still repeat it to myself and to my own students. The fire of passion, determination, and admiration for the craft I received that summer is why I went to graduate school and why I kept on going. I found my ‘why’ in Greve in Chianti that summer.”
The application for the The Daniel Ferro Vocal Program is due on April 1st, 2024. For more information about the program, tuition costs and application process, please visit www.danielferrovocalprogram.org.
