The Art of Song: 14-Day Summer Vocal Music Intensive
July 12-26, 2024
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until the program is full.
PROGRAM Overview
Italy — the birthplace of opera. There may be no better environment in which to pursue a program of vocal study than right in the heart of Umbria! Enjoy daily instruction with an emphasis on Italian language and repertoire with soprano/voice teacher Prof. Susannah Stewart, and conductor Dr. Caleb Hopkins. Individualized voice lessons will focus on matters of vocal technique such as posture, breath management, and registration, while coaching sessions will address musical style, diction, and interpretation. Daily group instruction in small ensembles will engage with music from a vast historical range, from madrigals to opera and beyond.
Participants will also receive training in acting, movement, and stage comportment—all skills that will be developed in masterclasses with instructors and peers and showcased in a culminating final concert. Bring or request music of particular interest, and set individual goals to work toward for the duration of the program, such as preparing for the upcoming high school musical, an honors chorus, or college auditions.
The rich cultural, historical, musical, sacred, and artistic traditions of Italy will inspire you toward new heights in your own work. Your artistic journey will be enhanced by new friends making discoveries right alongside you. It will be the experience of a lifetime!
Core Program Components:
- Daily voice lessons or coaching sessions
- Masterclasses
- Movement
- Daily Italian language lessons
- Performance experience
- Italian diction and vocal coaching
- Acting for singers
- Breath management
- Postural/alignment awareness
- Vocal Style
- Interpretation
- College audition prep
Faculty (subject to change)
Susannah Stewart, vocal faculty
Susannah Stewart, is a freelance singer and an instructor of voice at Bucknell University.
She has performed the roles of Euridice (Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice), Aveline Mortimer (Puts’ Elizabeth Cree), The Lady with the Cake Box (Argento’s Postcard from Morocco), Alcina (Handel’s Alcina), Dido (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), and Zerlina (Mozart’s Don Giovanni).
Her cantata and oratorio credits include Fauré’s Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer (Bucknell University Choir), Mariana Martines’ Il primo amore and Handel’s Crudel tiranno amor (Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle), Handel’s Utrecht te Deum (Eastman Rochester Chorus), among others. In 2020, Susannah was invited by Eastman’s Dean Marie Rolf to perform in her Debussy Premieres lecture recital, presented in Hatch Hall at Eastman, and at the J.P. Morgan Library in NYC, alongside tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, baritone Randall Scarlata, and pianist Timothy Long.
Susannah’s future engagements include the soprano solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra and the soprano solo in Handel’s Messiah with the Cary Community Choir.
caleb hopkins, Conductor
Caleb Hopkins enjoys a varied career as a conductor, baritone, and educator. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Bucknell University. There he conducts multiple choirs, has music directed the lyric theater, and taught studio voice and numerous lecture courses. Previous academic positions include posts on the faculties of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Messiah University, and Anderson University.
As a baritone, Hopkins has performed in both opera and oratorio with credits including Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Pärt’s St. Luke Passion, and the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah. He has also appeared with professional choirs across the eastern United States.
Hopkins holds a Bachelor’s degree from Furman University and advanced degrees in conducting from the University of Georgia and the Eastman School. Outside of his passion for helping amateurs discover the magic of corporate music-making, he enjoys cooking, running, and playing with his dogs.
SAMPLE DAILY SCHEDULE
Our class schedule follows a typical Italian pace of life. The sample schedule below may vary slightly to accommodate the interests of the group and the work each student would like to do in Spoleto.
8:00am - Breakfast at the Convent
9:00am-10:00am - Movement
10:00am-11:00am - Italian Lessons
11:00am-1:00pm - Lessons/Coaching
1:15pm- 2:30pm - Independent Lunch
2:30pm-4:00pm - Free Time
4:00pm - 6:00pm - Lessons/Coaching
6:00pm - 8:00pm - Masterclasses/Acting for Singers
8:00pm - Family-Style Dinner
AcCOMMODATIONS
All students live together in European collegial style at the Residence di SantíAngelo, a gorgeous 15th century convent in the medieval section of Spoleto. The convent has been beautifully renovated with modern conveniences and has spacious courtyards and colorful gardens. It is only a short walk from the residence to classes, the main piazzas of town, and the restaurants where meals are served.
Students are supervised by faculty, staff, and resident advisors who live at the convent with the students. Classes take place in beautiful buildings throughout the historic medieval section of town with abundant, luminous spaces for photographic exploration.
TUITION
Program Dates: July 12-26, 2024
Total Cost: $4975
What’s Included
Tuition for courses
Two meals per day
Lodging in a gorgeous 15th-century convent
Course materials
Entrance fees for group activities
Fieldtrip-related transportation within Italy
What’s Not Included
Airfare
Passport fees
Travel or Medical Insurance
Personal expenses
A $95 non-refundable fee is due upon application. Within 2 weeks of your acceptance into the program a non-refundable 50% deposit is due. The remaining 50% balance is by May 1, 2024.
Program Contact Info
Calley Mangum
Marketing and Communications Coordinator
summerprograms@spoletostudyabroad.org
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until the program is full.