About the Vocal Academy

The Vocal Academy at CPI aims to prepare singers to become equal creative partners in the music process. Many year-long or summer educational opportunities place the singer squarely at the receiving end, a vessel without agency or opinion into which knowledge is only poured.

The Vocal Academy has created a curriculum and invited teaching and performing faculty which challenge this paradigm by fostering curiosity, action, and engagement to produce a fulfilling, successful musical partnership whether in song, chamber music, or operatic settings.

Through daily lectures, lessons, coachings and rehearsals with the CPI and String Academy faculty & participants, each singer at the Vocal Academy has the opportunity to encounter, research and collaborate on a variety of repertoire as an equal partner, a vital thread in the tapestry of musical performance.

THE VOCAL ACADEMY OFFERS LECTURES AND GROUP CLASSES IN:

  • Diction classes in Italian, French, & German
  • Art Song & Aria Masterclasses
  • Performance Anxiety
  • Creating an Aria Package 
  • Score preparation & Time management
  • Technique Issues & Vocal Health
  • Recital programming
  • Poetry
  • Musical style and interpretation
  • Approaches to contemporary song
  • Entrepreneurship & Community Building
  • Audition preparation for graduate school, summer festivals, and YAPs
  • Q&A sessions with faculty 
  • See more about the curriculum here!

Past faculty and master artists (for 2024 Vocal Faculty, click here):

VOCAL ARTISTS:

  • Jamie Barton -mezzo-soprano, MET, HGO, SFO, LOC, Bayerischee Staatsoper 
  • Elizabeth Bishop – mezzo-soprano, MET, SFO, WNO, LOC, The Juilliard School
  • Stephanie Blythe – mezzo-soprano, MET, HGO, Tanglewood, Bard Conservatory
  • Jean Bernard Cerin – baritone, founder of Kwento Muzik duo, Cornell University
  • Michelle DeYoung -mezzo-soprano, MET, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony 
  • Paul Groves – tenor, MET, SFO, La Scala, Artist-in-Residence, Louisiana State University
  • Martha Guth – soprano, founder of Sparks & Wiry Cries, Ithaca College
  • Megan Ihnen – mezzo-soprano, International Contemporary Ensemble, Fifth House Ensemble, Great Noise Ensemble
  • Timothy Jones – bass-baritone, frequent recital and orchestra soloist, University of Houston
  • Sandra Moon – Lyric Opera of Chicago, MET, Badisches Staatstheater, Louisiana State University
  • Lisette Oropesa– soprano, MET, La Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Real
  • Korliss Uecker – soprano, MET, Kennedy Center, Feminine Musique Duo
  • Lorraine Sims -mezzo-soprano, Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick Professor of Voice at Louisiana State Univeristy

VOCAL COACHES & COLLABORATIVE PIANO ARTISTS:

  • Martin Katz – Earl V. Moore Collegiate Professor in Music at the University of Michigan, SongFest, Merola Opera Program, Music Academy of the West)
  • Kathleen Kelly – Associate Professor, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, former Director of Musical Studies at the Vienna Staatsoper, and former Head of Music/Music Director at Houston Grand Opera
  • Warren Jones -Merola Opera program, Toronto Summer Music, Manchester Music Festival, Source Song Festival
  • Marie-France LeFebvre – Professor of Opera/Voice Coaching, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, guest pianist and conductor Cincinnati Opera, Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Wolf Trap, Santa Fe Opera
  • Elvia Puccinelli – Founder and President of the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts, University of North Texas
  • Christopher Turbessi – HGO, Wolf Trap Opera, Utah Opera, Temple University
  • Howard Watkins – Assistant Conductor, Metropolitan Opera; WNO, LOA, Juilliard School, Mannes School of Music, NCSA, Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival 
  • Grant Wenaus – Glimmerglass Opera Festival, Mirror Visions Ensemble, NYU Steinhard