On Sunday 19 August, singers on the second week of our Veneto Opera Summer School gave a wonderful final concert to a packed Italian audience at Bassano’s historic Chiesa San Vito.

The evening was presented by Matteo Dalle Fratte, Melofonetica’s Founder, who gave insight into each singer’s background and the pieces performed, including arias by Handel, Mozart, Donizetti and Verdi.

Excitement started to build early with audience members arriving up to an hour before the concert to get the best seats. Throughout the evening the audience was warm and engaged, giving resounding applause after each aria performed. It was clear that they not only understood the lyrics but they were also moved by the emotions expressed in each piece, a true test of clear and expressive sung Italian!

Verdi’s Va pensiero provided a rousing finale and ended with a standing ovation – testament to the hard work put in by all singers and coaches during an intensive week of coaching in sung Italian diction, expression and musicality.

At the post-concert celebratory dinner in the historic centre of Bassano, soprano Amie described the experience, “It was so beautiful that the audience were so uplifted, even though I was nervous, when I was walking on stage they were all smiling at me and that put me at ease – I really enjoyed it!”

Fellow soprano Bouchra also commented, “I wouldn’t have imagined such a reaction from the audience when I sang, it was marvellous!”

Graham, baritone, added, “The experience here in such a beautiful town at the foot of the mountains, and in such a beautiful church with such an appreciative audience, it’s tingling!”

Well done to all the singers, conductor and music coach Peter Ford, and music coaches and pianists Julie Aherne and Bernard Tan.

On Saturday 11 August 2018, participants on the advanced and professional level week of Veneto Opera Summer School gave their final performance at Asolo’s historic royal opera house, the Teatro Eleonora Duse – inside the castle that once belonged to Queen Caterina Cornaro.

Serata lirica al Castello was the culmination of a week of Italian opera coaching for our group of international singers and pianists from countries including Canada, China, Ireland, Malta, Sweden and the UK. They performed a magical selection of Italian arias and ensembles for an Italian audience, including pieces by Mozart, Gluck, Handel, Puccini and Donizetti, and a moving performance of Verdi’s Va pensiero as a finale.

Asolo’s Head of Culture took to the stage at the end of the evening to thank the performers, highlighting the clarity of the singers’ Italian diction in particular. One member of the audience commented, “Even though it was a very warm evening, I didn’t need anything to keep me cool as I had goosebumps throughout the concert!”

The evening was presented by Melofonetica Founder, Matteo Dalle Fratte, who gave background and context to the pieces performed and explained the preparation that the performers had undertaken to perfect their skills in sung Italian diction.

Shortly after the finale, one of the singers described the experience: “It went really well, the crowd was amazing, they were very appreciative, they seemed to really enjoy being here and listening to the music and that brought a lot of energy for all of us, so we had a lot of fun.”

Well done to all the performers, conductor and music coach Peter Ford, and music coaches Julie Aherne and Bernard Tan.

On 7 April 2018, 25 singers joined us for a fun and inspiring day at the beautiful St. Marylebone Parish Church in central London. The day included language and music coaching from Matteo Dalle Fratte, Peter Ford and Julie Aherne, and concluded with a final informal performance. We were delighted to be joined also by Lynsey Docherty, soprano, who sang the role of Santuzza.
Feedback from participants included “it was a really special and informative day” and “a totally immersing and exhilarating experience – I learned so much in such a short time!”

Watch the highlights video

An interview with Matteo Dalle Fratte, Melofonetica Founder, appeared in the January 2018 edition of Opera, the world’s leading opera magazine. Matteo talks to Henrietta Bredin about his background and career as an Italian Coach, and how he developed the Melofonetica Method.

Read the full article on the Opera website

We were delighted to meet so many vocal students and staff at our recent coaching masterclass at the RNCM in Manchester. With over 30 observers in the room, Matteo Dalle Fratte gave a presentation on the background to the method before working directly with 7 singers and 4 pianists on a wide range of Italian repertoire. Singers’ comments included “I thoroughly enjoyed the masterclass and have learnt a lot of new and interesting techniques and ideas” and “I really enjoyed this and would love to do it again – it’s given me confidence in singing in Italian”.

The Monteverdi 450 Trilogy by Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra has been named the best classical show of the year by The Guardian’s Andrew Clements. Matteo Dalle Fratte worked alongside Sir John Eliot Gardiner as Italian Coach on the production, receiving praise from the critics for his work on the diction with both Italian and non-Italian singers. Andrew Clements comments in his article: “Musically it was an enthralling experience… the texts were projected to make every phrase intelligible.”