BIOGRAPHY
The Studio specializes in the classical Bel Canto Technique of the Manuel Garcia / Mathilde Marchesi tradition.
Through use of Bel Canto exercises handed down in the Garcia / Marchesi tradition from the 1800's, we help students to free the natural voice and to understand how their physical and emotional states affect the singing voice, and rectify any negative impact.
The production of a free and clear tone, accheived through placement in maschera for proper tone projection and correct breath usage / control (without forcing or 'pushing'), will be taught through singing demonstration and technical / physiological / anatomical explanations. The use of legato, support / appoggio and placement 'in maschera' will become the foundation of the students' study.
The student will have the choice of choosing between a Principle teacher or a full-trained 'apprentice' teacher, each of whom are professional working singers.
As a fundament to good singing, all students, regardless of style, will be expected to learn classical technique and learn standard song repertoire.
I will provide periodic Master Classes and group work so that the students will have the chance to sing together. For Master Class they will learn vocal and dramatic interpretation, preparation and presentation skills.
The student will also learn the respective vocal / musical styles associated with the vocal literature performed.
I am fluent in European languages and will coach in all major operatic languages. So, the student will also learn to sing in a variety of musical languages and styles.
Each student will be expected to follow a path in which they take at least one (1) lesson per week, however multiple lessons are possible and are always offered at a reduced rate. While many students chose to take more than one lesson per week, only one lesson is required.
EDUCATION
At the age of 8, Ken began singing with school and church choirs as a boy soprano, however peculiarly, he had vibrato and began performing as soloist. He continued singing throughout high school into university, where in 1992 he began formal vocal study with Spinto Soprano Suzan Munzer. Ms. Munzer studied with Madame Gregory at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, who was in the tradition of Marcella Sembrich and Lamperti.
In 1997, Ken changed voice teachers, and began vocal study with another Lyrico Spinto Dramatico Soprano, Georgyn Geetlein from the Metropolitan Opera. Ms. Geetlein taught him how to bridge his passagio, and within a week was singing full-voiced 'Bb,' and soon thereafter the voice opened to a top ‘D.’ Ms. Geetlein studied with Madame Gregory at the Curtis Institute, then with the famed MET soprano Rose Bampton, who was trained by Queena Mario at The Curtis Institute of Music (who studied with Sembrich), then by Francis Alda and Lotte Lehmann, each in the tradition of Mathilde Marchesi (trained in the antique Spanish Garcia tradition).
The Marchesi School produced great singers such as: Nelly Melba, Estelle Liebling, Emma Navada and vicariously Marilyn Horne and Dame Joan Sutherland who was first trained by her mother who had herself been trained by a student of Marchesi. Ms. Geetlein also studied with: Carolina Segrerra (teacher of Montserrat Caballe), Rosa Ponselle (student of Enrico Caruso and teacher of Sherill Milnes and Beverly Sills), Gino Bechi and Margaret Hoswell, and was also featured in the original Maria Callas Master Class series.
In 2001, Ken moved to London to continue his operatic training through the Royal College of Music, with Heldon Tenor Kenneth Woolham. Ken has sinced coached with Joyce Fieldsend and Roberto Bertuzzi at La Fenice Opera house in Venezia, Itay and studied with famed teacher Sherman Lowe, also in Venezia.
Repertoire:
Prepared roles include Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Titus (La Clemenza di Tito), Belmonte (Die Entfuhrung), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Idreno (Semiramide), Elvino (La Sonnambula), Pollione (Norma), Arturo (I Puritani), Tonio (La fille du regiment), Percy (Anna Bolena), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Alfredo (La Traviata), Rodolfo (La Boheme), Faust (Faust), Romeo (Romeo & Juliet) and Nadir (Pearl Fishers), Curley (Of Mice and Men). Ken is currently expanding his repertoire to include: Roberto Devereaux & Maria Stuarda by Donizetti, as well as two Rossini operas: 'Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra' & 'Otello.'
He has also prepared many tenor arias, songs and oratorio from: Handel, Haydn (Lord Nelson Masse), Von Flotow (Martha), Carissini, Donaudy, Giordani, Stradella, Scarlatti, Malotte, Rossini, Bellini (Bianca e Fernando), Donizetti (Don Pasquale & La Favorita), Verdi (Luisa Miller), Puccini (Turandot), Cilea (L’Arlesianna & Adriana Lecouveur), Giordano (Fedora), Faure, Bizet (Carmen), Massenet (Herodiade, Le Cid & Manon), Strauss, Britten (Serenade for Tenor Horn & Strings), Barber, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky (Rake’s Progress) and Weill (Street Scene).
VOCAL TRAINING
* Georgyn Geetlein - Philadelphia; From '98
* Sherman Lowe - Venezia, Italia; 2007
* Ken Woolham - Royal College of Music London; '02
* Susan Munzer - Philadelphia; '92-'97
COACHES
* Joyce Fieldsend - La Fenice, Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Glyndebourne
* Roberto Bertuzzi - La Fenice, La Scala
* Lyndall Dawson - ENO, National Opera Studio
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