VOICE AND PRESENTATION — Prof. Caroline Thomas, Prof. Fabio Vettraino (University of Music Detmold) and Peter Balint

Tosca, Donna Anna and Brünnhilde are roles that belong to the repertoire of Atlanta-born Soprano Caroline Thomas. She was educated at Wesleyan College, UT-Knoxville, the Curtis Institute of Music and at the Juilliard School.

Miss Thomas has settled in Münster, Germany where she was the Leading Lady of the City Theater of Münster until 2001. Thereafter, she guested in Catania, Hannover, Kiel, Berlin, Innsbruck, Seattle and Washington, DC.  Conductors she worked with include Gerard Schwarz, Heinz Fricke, Robert Spano, Karl-Heinz Bloemeke, Mark Russell Smith and Will Humburg. Stage Directors with whom she has worked include Francesca Zambello, Stephen Wadsworth, Roland Aeschlimann, Peter Beat Wyrsch and Brigitte Fassbaender.

Fidelio, Lady Macbeth, Aida, Chrysothemis, Ariadne, Kundry, Elsa, Leonore in “La Forza del Destino” and Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelungen are all works that she has brought to the stage. Clearly, a high point of her career was singing Brünnhilde with Placido Domingo for which she was awarded the Washington Antional Opera Artist of the Year Award in 2003. In 2011, she opened the Wagner Festival in Leipzig and sang in “Siegfried” there.

Concert works include Verdi Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Pfitzner Von deutscher Seele, Strauss Four Last Songs and Mozart Requiem.Additional projects  include Verdi Requiem, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem and Brahms Requiem as well as regular concert appearances in lieder, art songs, arias and gospel.

Since 2002, Caroline Thomas has a full professorship at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, Germany. She calls it “the best job in the world!” Training young, gifted Singers for a life on the Opera Stage is demanding and exciting. Recent graduates are now soloists in Vienna, Graz, Bonn, Mannheim, Dresden, Würzberg, Bielefeld, Hamm, Wiesbaden and Wuppertal, Germany.  She has given Master Classes in Tunesia, Switzerland, Italy, Weselyan, UT-Knoxville, for Pro-Mozart, Kennesaw College, the University of Minnesota and at the Semper Oper Dresden for the Opera Studio.

Wesleyan College awarded her the “Distinguished Alumnae Award” for her achievements in the Arts and being the first woman Dean at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, Germany. Additional information is available at www.hfm-detmold.de.

Fabio Vettraino was born in Rome in 1961. After completing his studies in mathematics, he studied piano and conducting at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia, earning a degree with honors. He subsequently attended master classes in conducting led by Franco Ferrara, Pierre Dervaux, Arpad Jóo and Mosche Atzmon. In 1988, he also served as an assistant to Atzmon. In 1987, Vettraino was among the prize-winners at the International Conducting Competition in Assisi.

After working as a vocal coach for a number of years, first in Foggia and then in Stuttgart and Bremen, he served as assistant conductor at the Theater am Goetheplatz in Bremen from 1992 to 1996. He has accompanied such singers as Giuseppe Taddei, Cecilia Bartoli, Sumi Jo, Lucia Aliberti and Zoran Todorovic, and has performed at the Ludwigsburg Festival, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt and the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, among others.

Since 2000, Fabio Vettraino has been Professor for single roles and ensemble performance at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold. There he has overseen numerous annual productions, most recently Puccini’s La Bohème, Bizet’s Carmen, Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Tchaikovsky’s Eugen Onegin and Massenet’s Cendrillon.

Peter Balint is a psychologist with additional training in Gestalt Gestalt Psychotherapy (GTA). He has a degree in French, Italian, literature and sports. In the field of sports he taught at the institute of sports of the University of Münster, active in the field of training theory and sports psychology. In between, he has completed theater courses (together with the opera director Wolfram Mehring), cabaret, singing and musical courses and led a creative music studio; most recently was a teacher at Freiherr-vom-Stein Gymnasium in Münster.

He offers: work with mental and physical aspects of the singers’ personality, work on the attitude of the singer, the stage presence, the expression and handling of and with emotions and performance stress, the fitness and the mindfulness for singers.

Dates:

Arrival: Thursday, April 29, 2021 until 12 pm
Closing concert: Sunday, May 2nd, 2021 at 5 pm
Departure: Monday, May 3rd, 2021 until 12 pm

Course Description:

Preparation course for the entrance exams of German universities in the field of singing

Course contents:

• Information about contents and procedure of entrance exams
• Assessment of the existing qualifications of the singers
• Individual and group coaching on presentation (musicality/vocal skills/dramatic skills)
• Final concert with feedback

Philosophy:

Successful candidates show at the audition, in addition to a good voice, which is expandable, an artistic personality with a musical message! The teachers have many years of experience in the operatic and academic fields and will help young singers during this course to improve their chances at entrance exams.

The course will begin with an orientation: every singer will perform an aria/a song, everybody gets to know each other; then the schedule will be created, including individual and group lessons, meal time, time to practice, networking, going for a walk – “admiring” the Lorelei and enjoying the spring on the shore of the Rhine river!

Repertoire:

opera, oratorio, art song

Students are hosted on a double-room basis in a beautiful, fully remodelled, 1892 villa on the bank of the Rhine river.

Meals:
A kitchen is available for cooking; groceries can be bought in a nearby supermarket. Group shopping is advised.

Rooms:
Committed to the spirit of romanticism, all masterclasses offered by the Sankt Goar International Music Festival and Academy unite everything under one roof: living, learning, eating and sleeping. That is why active participants will be hosted on a shared double-room basis.

For further impressions, please have a look online at our venue.

Audition information and registration:

In order to be accepted, you must meet one of the following criteria:

(a) be recommended by Prof. Thomas, Prof. Vettraino or Mr. Balint or
(b) submit an unedited video audition (YouTube link) for review by Prof. Thomas, Prof. Vettraino and Mr. Balint.

In addition, you must complete and submit our application form and pay a €40,- application fee.

Registration deadline: April 15, 2021

Tuition (including accommodation): €395,-

NB: The tuition is non-refundable, but transferable to a substitute participant.