Teacher

I have had a career spanning over 30 years at top opera houses and symphonies all over the world, as I started singing professionally in between my junior and senior years at university. I have learned so much from all the teachers, coaches and conductors over the years, and I think it is important that I pass on the meshing together of the information from all these smart people. Among the many instrumental teachers and coaches in my development have been Norma Newton, Regine Crespin, Gerald Martin Moore, Barbara Moore, Patrick Summers, Marlena Malas, Hans Hotter, Regina Resnik, Marco Boemi, Irene Aitoff, Susanna Lemberskaya, Ethel Evans, Elena Servi-Burgess, Rita de Letteriis, Cathy Cathcart, David Miller, Jonathan Papp, Janine Reiss, and Bryndon Hassman, among countless others! Not to mention the great conductors who have taught me so much!

So I started teaching privately when I am in between engagements – and sometimes during engagements, if a student is nearby. In addition, I have started giving masterclasses when I can, either during the run of a show, or in conjunction with a recital tour.

I have also mentored a few young professionals and one very talented beginner who is now a young professional himself. I have been a mentor and consultant to the Bolshoi Young Artist program in Moscow, where I gave countless masterclasses, taught at the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy (COSI) in Sulmona, the Tito Gobbi estate in Rome, and have done a residency at University of Texas at Austin, as well as masterclasses at other opera houses’ young artist programs and in many universities (Loyola, Baylor, SMU, Texas State University, Southwestern University, Dallas Opera…)

I have a lot to offer students not only in the information I have to transmit (with a very keen ear!), but also in the human, humane and humorous manner in which I can cajole and entice them into stretching themselves and into learning new ways to listen and correct themselves. I have had some miraculous transformations of students, and I am proud that my long-term students are having professional successes, as well. I think it is important to give students tools to work on the different vocal challenges they are trying to correct, and for them to discover how to work on their own, once I am not there. I believe that the biggest talent in singing is not innate talent, but knowing how to work, and actually enjoying the work so that you put the time and effort into it that is needed for excellence. Students have to learn how to hear themselves, feel what they are doing right/wrong, and learn how to recreate the right way. This is what makes for exciting singing, because it is not happenstance – it is stable and consistent. Some students only get a fantastic sound by chance: this is not talent, and this is not enough. I can help students discover how to work, learn the intricacies of technique and how to become more consistent singers.