JULY 16 - AUGUST 6, 2008

Celebrating Our Fourteenth Year in Greve in Chianti, Italy

"My goal is to share the benefit of my years of research and experience with artists in this inspiring countryside, an area so abundant in history and culture."  Daniel Ferro

PARTICIPANTS
WEEKLY CURRICULUM
FACULTY
ACCOMMODATIONS
FEES
APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Active
Active participants are professional singers of various ages and promising students who are working toward the goal of becoming professional performers. The active participants are divided into two levels:

Advanced
The advanced singers participate in Daniel Ferro’s master classes and receive private instruction with Mr. Ferro. They receive individual coachings, language instruction and performance opportunities, and attend faculty master classes.  Space is limited to ensure personal attention.

Intermediate
The intermediate singers observe all and participate in several of Daniel Ferro's master class. They receive private lessons and master classes with Janice Harper-Smith, individual coachings and language instruction, and attend faculty master classes. Space is limited to ensure personal attention.

Auditor
The auditors observe all master classes and participate in language study. Singers, voice teachers, coaches, conductors and choral singers are welcome. This category is also ideal for lovers of music wishing to experience the development of young artists and enjoy Tuscany with all it has to offer.

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Singers should arrive in Greve prepared with arias and art songs they wish to perfect.

Master Classes
The Daniel Ferro Vocal Program centers on the time-tested medium of the Master Class, where the instructor works with each singer on a rotating basis. Those observing learn by example and can relate new concepts of technique and interpretation to their own preparation. Over the years many legendary teachers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have imparted their wisdom in this setting.

Master classes led by Daniel Ferro constitute the core of the program and provide intensive study of vocal technique as applied to the literature. Under the direction of Mr. Ferro, master classes for intermediate active participants are held with Janice Harper-Smith, focusing on vocal technique, musical application and basic performance values.

Private Lessons
In addition to frequent individual work in the master classes, advanced active participants are scheduled for private lessons with Daniel Ferro. Intermediate active participants are scheduled for private lessons with Janice Harper-Smith.

Coaching Sessions
Individual coachings are scheduled for all active participants, focusing on musical preparation with respect to style, tradition and accuracy of presentation.

Performances
Advanced and Intermediate active singers have the opportunity to perform, at the discretion of the Artistic Director, in one or more public recitals in Greve and the surrounding region.

Workshops
Each member of our international faculty will present a master class devoted to the repertoire in a particular linguistic tradition or area of interest. Singers will participate at the discretion of the Artistic Director and faculty.

Workshops
Italian conversation and diction, integrated into the weekly schedule, is offered to all attendees.

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Vocal Instruction

DANIEL FERRO, Founder and Artistic Director, was graduated from The Juilliard School and Columbia University. As a Fulbright Fellow, he studied in Europe at the Accademia Chigiana, Siena; the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome, and at Mozarteum of Salzburg. Subsequently, Mr. Ferro performed opera and concert engagements throughout Europe. Upon returning to the United States, he chaired the voice department at Butler University, and at the Manhattan School of Music. Since 1972, Mr. Ferro has been on the vocal faculty at The Juilliard School. In 2006, he received the distinction of becoming vocal faculty Emeritus and will continue his affliation by providing master classes and workshops. Mr. Ferro maintains a private studio and has worked with international artists including Kathleen Battle, Barbara Hendricks, Evelyn Lear , Ruggero Raimondi, Régine Crespin, Anna Moffo, Neil Shicoff, Lucille Beer , Alan Titus, Neil Rosenshein, Richard Stilwell, Joann Grillo, Thomas Stewart, Sándor Kónya, Ruth Welting, Berit Lindholm, Judith Raskin, Florence Quivar , Spiro Malas, Michael Devlin, Susanne Mentzer , Ning Liang, Kevin Short, Gail Dobish, Hei-Kyung Hong, Young OK Shin, Frederick Burchinal, In Hye Kim, Arthur Woodley, Robert Smith, Carolyn Sebron, Theresa Santiago, Martin Bruns, Ricardo Herrera, Mŕire O.Brien, Don Frazure, and Peter Castaldi. Mr. Ferro's singers continue to distinguish themselves in opera houses worldwide and in major competitions such as the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Walter W . Naumburg Competition and Licia Albanese-Puccini International Vocal Competition. Mr . Ferro also counts among his students many successful teachers at leading conservatories and universities.

Mr. Ferro continues to dedicate himself to sharing his knowledge at institutions throughout the world, including: Conservatoire de Musique, Montréal; Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto; Rubin Academy , Jerusalem; Aspen Music Festival; Shanghai Conservatory of Music; The Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm, Sweden; Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies; Accademia Chigiana; Opéra de Paris; Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris; Fondation Royaumont of France; Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico; Holland Music Sessions; Yeong Pyong Festival, South Korea; Australian National Academy of Music; and San Francisco Opera Center. Mr. Ferro also founded the Spoleto Vocal Institute. In 1988, he was decorated by the French government with "Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres." In 2001, he was made of Honorary Citizen of Greve in Chianti. In 2002, Mr. Ferro received an Award of Appreciation from the Republic of Korea for his years of teaching and dedication.

JANICE HARPER-SMITH has worked with Daniel Ferro and shares many of his approaches to voice training. Ms. Harper-Smith studied at the University of Murray, Kentucky, and the University of Illinois, after which she received a national fellowship for postgraduate study in Europe. Following her debut at the Konzerthaus in Vienna in Haydn's Die Schöpfung, Ms. Harper-Smith performed a wide variety of opera and concert repertoire throughout Europe. Her repertoire includes many of Mozart's heroines, as well as those of R. Strauss and Verdi. In addition, she was in demand as an interpreter of contemporary music and performed and recorded a number of world premieres. She frequently appeared in Vienna at the Musikverein and Konzerthaus, as well as in the Berliner Festwochen, the Mozartwochen in Salzburg and the Schubertiade in Vienna. She performed and recorded with the Vienna Symphony, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Residence Orchestra Den Haag, the Austrian Radio Orchestra, Vienna Ensemble Kontrapunkt, Vienna Ensemble of the 20th Century, the National Orchestra France, the Frankfurter Ensemble Moderne and the Alban Berg String Quartet. From 1991-2001, Ms. Harper-Smith was a professor of voice and vocal pedagogy at the Heidelberg-Mannheim Hochschule für Musik, Mannheim, Germany. She has continued her teaching career by working with professional singers and giving master classes. In 2005, Ms. Harper-Smith published .Atemtechnik als Roter Faden. on vocal technique and is currently working on the English translation.

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Coaching

ROBERT KOPELSON has appeared as piano soloist, collaborator, chamber musician and conductor on four continents over three decades. He has worked with such distinguished musicians as Itzhak Perlman, Dorothy DeLay, Janos Starker, Cho-liang Lin, Robert McDuffie, Joel Smirnoff, Kim Kashkashian, Paul Doktor, Lillian Fuchs, Felix Galimir, Renata Scotto, Christa Ludwig, Mignon Dunn, Anna Moffo, Roberta Peters, John Aler, Heidi Grant Murphy, Paul Sperry, Hugues Cuénod, Evelyn Lear, Jan de Gaetani, Alexander Kipnis, Lotte Lenya, Eleanor Steber, Jennie Tourel, Pierre Bernac and Tito Gobbi. His work with singers has covered the full gamut of opera, oratorio, and concert repertoire, but most especially French, German and English-language art song. He has recorded for the BMG-Pläne and MusAcom labels and has been an assisting artist with the Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, the Aspen Music Festival, the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Spoleto Vocal Institute, Carnegie Hall Presentations and the Walter Naumburg International Competition. His chamber music affiliations include Associated Solo Artists, the Society for New Music, ChamberSong and The Ambrosia Trio. He has also served as assistant conductor with the Syracuse Opera Company, the Virginia Opera Association, The Juilliard Opera Center and the Goldovsky Opera Institute, and Music Director of the Broque Opera Company, the Gotham Gilbert and Sullivan Society and the American Bolero Dance Company. Mr. Kopelson has been on the faculties of New York and Syracuse Universities and has given master classes at Yale, Loyola-New Orleans, Susquehanna, Seoul National, Sook-Myung, and Seoul City Universities, The Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam, the Mannes College of Music and The Juilliard School of Music. He is currently on staff at Juilliard and on faculty at Mannes and the Manhattan School of Music. He has been an associate of Daniel Ferro for three decades.

BRUNO RIGACCI, who made his first professional appearance as a pianist at the age of 8, has had an impressive career as a pianist, conductor, and composer in Italy and abroad. After finishing his studies in conducting with Antonio Guarnieri, he founded and became permanent conductor of the Chamber Orchestra in Florence and was awarded the "Orfeo d'Argento" for conductors. Subsequently, he was appointed conductor at the Royal Opera House of Stockholm and the Academia Chigiana in Siena, where he served as Music Director of the Festival Settimane Musicali Senesi. In addition, he served as Principal Conductor of the San Diego Opera, Music Director of the Philadelphia Music Theatre and Artistic Director of the Festival Opera Barga. Mr. Rigacci has conducted concerts and operas with major symphony orchestras in Europe and the USA including: Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Opera di Roma; La Fenice, Venezia; Teatro alla Scala, Milano; New York City Opera; Teatro Comunale, Bologna; Festival Las Palmas; Philadelphia Orchestra; and in the following cities; Phoenix, Fort Worth, Cairo, Pittsburg, Bilbao, San Juan, Berlin, and Toronto. Mr. Rigacci has taught for over 40 years at the Conservatorio Cherubini in Florence and is currently teaching Italian opera tradition at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Formazione. In addition, Mr. Rigacci has been a guest professor at the Operahogskolan, Stockholm; the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia; Philadelphia College of Performing Arts; James Madison University; and the Mozart Foundation, Warsaw. His compositions include chamber music, symphonies, concerts and five operas, of which "Ecuba" won the first prize at the Teatro dell'Opera, Rome, and "Prof. King" which was performed at the Festival delle Novita, Bergamo, under his own direction. Mr. Rigacci has dedicated his teaching during these past years to perfecting the dramatic interpretation and musical style of the Italian opera tradition.