What are your favourite memories from the summer school?

April: There were so many memorable and glorious moments but I think my favourite has to be the concert at the end of the week. The experience of singing for an Italian audience was so incredible, and a fantastic way of putting into practice the skills we had gained throughout the week.

Susanna: I loved every minute of it – from the masterclasses and concerts, to discovering Bassano del Grappa’s rich history. The course felt like a holiday too!

How has attending the course helped you in your singing career?

April: The masterclasses helped so much in terms of how to approach new Italian repertoire. The coaching really helped make my Italian clear and crisp, which has allowed me to focus on the interpretation and characterisation of my Italian roles.

Susanna: It has really helped me with my sung Italian and also helped me secure a place in the chorus for Verdi’s Falstaff, performing with Sir Bryn Terfel and the European Opera Centre last year.

What advice would you give others who are considering applying for the summer school?

April: This course is an amazing opportunity for all levels of singers, it was one of the most enlightening Italian courses I’ve been on. All the staff were so helpful and encouraging which made for a very comfortable and friendly learning environment. The break mid-week to visit the Prosecco Valley and the surrounding areas was also a great way to bond with everyone as well as enjoy and appreciate the local culture.

To get the most out of the experience, I would advise singers to prepare fully, for example, learning pieces off copy, getting translations of repertoire and fully understanding the plot of the opera that each piece is from. This will help singers give a well-rounded performance at the end of the week.

Susanna: If you’re looking to improve your sung Italian and have a holiday in Veneto, this is the course for you!

What are your current singing projects and what’s on the horizon?

April: I’ve just graduated from The Royal Academy of Music in London with a Bachelor of Music degree and in September I’ll be starting my postgraduate studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Susanna: I’m looking forward to attending the Studio Program with the Berlin Opera Academy this August.

Find out more about this year’s Veneto Opera Summer School and how to apply.

Read more about the Melofonetica Method.

What are your favourite memories from the summer school?

Eleanor: Performing under the stars in the courtyard for an audience of Italians was an experience that will always stay with me. It was so thrilling to put what we had learnt into practice, and hope that our language passed the test for the Italian audience! Also, the prosecco. All the prosecco. 🙂

Óli: I have many great memories, but my favourite is probably the moment when everything that was being taught through the Melofonetica Method suddenly clicked with everything I’d previously learned. For the first day or two, I was starting to think that what I had learned before was somehow wrong, but by the end of day two it all clicked into place, and I realised that I was building on my previous knowledge.

How has attending the course helped you in your singing careers?

Eleanor: I use the skills that I learnt on the course on a daily basis in my singing. It informs the way I sing Italian, and my overall technique generally. It was also a great opportunity to meet like-minded singers and form friendships and networks that I will keep throughout my career.

Óli: It has helped me a lot both in my teaching and singing. The way the Melofonetica Method was presented was very clear. To work on my sung Italian like that for an intensive week was very helpful, it somehow got the messages into the muscle memory. I’m now applying the method to my old repertoire and it’s remarkable how everything sounds better and is easier to sing and perform. I have also used the same approach successfully in other languages and it works even in Icelandic too!

What advice would you give others who are considering applying for the summer school?

Eleanor: Don’t hesitate. Matteo, Jamila and the team have put so much thought into crafting an experience that is musically and artistically enriching, but also one that gives a great insight into Italian culture. This was made all the better by Matteo’s insider knowledge of Bassano, including where to get the best gelato!

Óli: Go for it, this was hands down worth every single penny. You can only benefit from this course, it should be mandatory for all young professionals who are seriously thinking of going into the profession. I even think my career would have been different if this course had been on offer 15 years ago!

What are your current singing projects and what’s on the horizon?

Eleanor: I’m currently singing as part of the chorus in Thaïs at Cadogan Hall, and have several concerts around London coming up over the summer.

Óli: At the moment, as well as my teaching work, I’m rehearsing a new opera called Brothers by Daniel Bjarnason and have just finished conducting my two choirs in five concerts. Next winter, La traviata is my biggest project, alongside a series of Christmas concerts and working as a conductor and vocal coach on a production of the musical Man from La Mancha.

Find out more about this year’s Veneto Opera Summer School and how to apply.

Read more about the Melofonetica Method.

We chat to Bernard Tan, award-winning collaborative pianist, vocal coach and répétiteur. Bernard joins us as a coach on this year’s Veneto Opera Summer School.

How important is it for you as an accompanist to have a good knowledge of diction?

Just as flour is the foundation of pasta, text is the foundation of vocal music. Delivering the text well in vocal music is fundamental, also for the accompanist. A good knowledge of diction is really important for accompanists – perhaps as important as understanding the meaning of the text itself. Understanding the sounds and rhythm of a language and how it works phonetically enables the accompanist to listen to and collaborate much more effectively with the singer, and also to play according to the style and character of the piece.

Can you give some examples of this from Italian repertoire you’ve worked on?

An example that immediately comes to mind is the beginning of Tosca’s aria Vissi d’arte, where the orchestra’s part is so simple that the accompanist will need an understanding of Italian diction to know when to place the chords precisely with the singer. There is also the ending of the beautiful song O del mio amato ben by Donaudy where the final chord would be the warmest one when the accompanist understands that the word ben has a beautiful stopped b at the beginning.

From your perspective, why does the singer need good diction?

Just as a knowledge of diction helps the accompanist collaborate better with the singer, a good level of diction from the singer will help the accompanist to be more sensitive and musical. Good diction not only produces clearer text, but is also an expressive tool for more beautiful singing. This directly influences the accompanist because when a singer knows how to use diction in expression, the accompanist will naturally follow the expression created by the singer. In some cases, in the instrumental introduction of a piece, the accompanist will create the expression for the piece based on the text, and then the singer will continue this, making it a heart-warming collaboration.

In your experience, what are the aspects of Italian diction that singers most need to focus on? 

The thing that I see many singers struggle with is pronouncing the stop consonants. This is true for native speakers of many languages because stop consonants are not in our nature. For English speakers, producing a correct t consonant in Italian is also often difficult, but it is important to address this because t is one of the key consonants for a more authentic Italian sound.

We talk to Emma Dogliani, soprano and Tom Niesser, baritone, who attended the advanced and professional level week of last year’s Veneto Opera Summer School.

What’s your favourite memory from the summer school?

Emma: I have two favourite memories: the day that Matteo delivered fantastic and totally liberating news about vowel modification and the amazing hot day when we ate a delicious lunch and went wine tasting in the Prosecco vineyards.

Tom: It’s really difficult to pick a favourite memory as there were so many, but performing for a knowledgeable Italian audience in their native language and in such a wonderful setting was a very special experience. You really felt that the music of Donizetti and Puccini made even more sense.

How has attending the course helped you in your singing career?

Emma: The course has further developed my singing of Italian opera and songs and solidified my whole technique just in time for my first Verdi role of Luisa Miller, which I returned to Matteo for help with. I have also sung Donna Anna again in Italian since taking the course, and have used everything I learned last summer, over and over again. I have also incorporated much into my own teaching.

Tom: I am very lucky that I will be starting a Master’s course in Vocal Studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in September. I performed a couple of the pieces I had worked on with Matteo in my audition and also felt that I was able to apply his rules to other Italian pieces. The panel was very impressed with my sung Italian!

What advice would you give others who are considering applying for the summer school?

Emma: I would advise anyone who has the opportunity to take this course. Matteo is a fantastic teacher. He is always clear, always helpful, a perfect balance of encouraging as well as demanding, and absolutely committed to the spreading of excellent Italian singing. His method encourages everyone to sing not only with more clarity of diction but with better, more engaged vocal technique. Matteo and Jamila are also wonderful hosts. They know the area inside out and go out of their way to look after you. Even when I created a big problem by leaving my phone in a bar, they were immediately on the phone and sorting it all out!

Tom: I would tell anybody who is thinking about taking the course to embrace it – I was sceptical at first, as I hadn’t heard of the Melofonetica Method before, but the whole group could feel an improvement having spent the week listening and working closely with Matteo and the other coaches. It would be wrong not to also mention just how good the food and atmosphere was for the whole week, and every aspect was well thought out and properly planned (and that coming from a German!).

What are your current singing projects and what’s on the horizon?

Emma: I have lots of concerts with my chamber music trio coming up as well as oratorio next year and a production of Die Fledermaus. Even when I sing in languages other than Italian, Matteo’s approach to consonants has been so useful. I am an absolute fan and am almost tempted to retake the course! 🙂

Tom: Aside from starting my Master’s course at the Guildhall School in September, I will be playing the role of Littore with the Berlin Opera Academy in August, as well as performing regularly in concerts across North Wales.

Click here to find out more about this year’s Veneto Opera Summer School and how to apply.

Click here to read more about the Melofonetica Method.