Day 68: Progetto Voce

A few of my Facebook and blog posts have alluded to the fact that I have found a perfect group to study lyric singing with in Verona, Progetto Voce. This has been one of my favorite things about living in The Veneto, and when people ask me what I will miss the most about my life here, Progetto Voce is at the top of my list.

As a singer, I’ve been blessed to have amazing teachers and feel that as I’ve studied, each teacher has built upon another, especially as I’ve grown and matured and lived in several different countries.  I’ve managed to study during my masters in music education at Boston Conservatory, with an opera singer in Kiev, and found my way to Progetto Voce soon after moving to Vicenza. All of these connections happened organically and were a breath of fresh air infused into my life, and Chiara and all of my fellow singers at Progetto Voce are included in that group.

In a typical concert, I’ll generally sing 1-2 pieces, and when I’m not singing, I’m listening to the other singers’ interpretations of Puccini, Verdi, and Schubert, to name a few. It’s like attending a concert for free, and no where else on earth would there be so much Puccini sung. I like to close my eyes and just inhale Puccini when the right aria comes along.

I hope to leave you with a little taste of what I’ve been working towards in this group over the last few years, but I also want to point out one very important thing. Although it seems as though my voice just decided to change into a soprano one day 5 years ago, it is not some random act of nature that brought me to where I am today. I follow two main principles: listen to the teacher (called maestro here), and put into practice what the teacher says. Occasionally I will run into someone who teaches poor practice, and I will acknowledge them on their path, yet move on in my own way as is appropriate. So, while being here in Italy and studying with Progetto Voce has helped me to improve greatly, I would not be where I am today without the guidance of some very amazing teachers who have helped me get to where I am today: Linda diva, Karen, Sara, Lesya and finally my current maestro, Chiara.  One of the unifying teaching characteristics that these teachers all have is that they have viewed potential and believed I could do things that I did not believe of myself.  I hope I can bring this characteristic into my teaching as I begin again in the fall.

I hope to bring my ideology of 1, Listen and 2, Practice/do into not only my singing and musicianship when we move to Tashkent, but also into how I live the rest of my life.