By KATIE KIERSTEAD
Arts Editor
For a few weeks this past summer, two Saint Rose music students had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to attend the Daniel Ferro Vocal Program in Greve in Chianti, Italy, a three-week program where they got to work with several renowned voice instructors from around the world and perform in multiple concerts.
Claire Haile ‘16 and Rukan Khondker ‘16 were chosen by Lucille Beer, a vocal instructor at Saint Rose, to take part in the immersive experience. This year, Ms. Beer was asked to be a guest teacher at the 21st session of the program, so she could bring some of her voice students along to participate in performances and workshops.
Haile and Khondker applied for the program following recommendation from Beer and subsequently took a day trip to New York City to audition for Maestro Ferro at his apartment overlooking Central Park.
“Maestro Ferro gave us feedback right away; it was almost like a lesson,” said Haile. They were both accepted to the program.
Traveling to Italy for three weeks is not cheap, so the students partook in significant fundraising efforts prior to the trip to cover most of their expenses. Beer took the reins of the fundraising and organized a GoFundMe page, which saw several donations. In addition, a concert was held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Albany to raise money.
Khondker enthused, “It was a fantastic turnout and one of the highlights of the entire process. Friends, family and even some professors came to the concert to support us in our journey.” The benefit concert alone raised over $600.
Upon arriving in Italy on July 14, Khondker and Haile were taken aback by the heat; it must be very different from upstate New York. “We stepped off the airplane on Florence and it was at least 105 degrees in the sun. It was like this the entire trip too! It didn’t rain at all when we were there and stayed in the 90s every day,” remarked Haile.
Culture shock, predictably, struck both students as well. They mentioned how Italy is extremely laid back. “Italy forced me to slow down,” said Khondker. Likewise, Haile commented, “It was strange to linger over a meal for over an hour, with no end in sight.”
The vocal program ran from July 15 to Aug. 5, where each participant had daily private voice lessons and two to three masterclasses per week. They could also sign up for diction lessons, Italian lessons, and other vocal coaching.
“The masterclasses were very informative. Maestro Ferro taught for many years at The Juilliard School and gave amazing feedback to everyone. . . [He] seemed to always know exactly what to say to someone to make them sound better and listening to him teach was extremely educational,” said Haile.
There were approximately 22 members in the program, half of whom were from China. The vocal teachers were from multiple countries: Lithuania, France, Germany, China, the United States, and of course Italy.
“The highlight of the program was definitely working with so many different people,” said Khondker.
The students performed in two of the program’s events: one took place in a 13th century church in Panzano, and the other an outdoor concert in the main square of Greve, the Piazza di San Croce. Haile performed repertoire she had been preparing intensively, including “Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maisons,” an art song by Debussy, and “S’altro che lacrime,” from Mozart’s opera “La Clemenza di Tito.”
When they had free time, the participants traveled around Italy. “Three weeks is a great amount of time. Although it was long, we were able to truly absorb the culture instead of having to rush around from sight to sight,” said Khondker.
Florence was the first weekend’s destination. Haile and Khondker enjoyed visiting Il Duomo (the Florence Cathedral), the Ponte Vecchio, and the Galleria Academia to see Michelangelo’s “David.” They returned to Florence several times during the trip.
The next weekend they drove about 250 kilometers to visit Rome. “Rome was an incredible day and a half. I have never had such tired legs,” said Khondker.
Among the endless sights to see, they spent most of their time at the Vatican. “The Vatican was an incredible display of history and art. I absolutely loved it,” remarked Khondker. Haile said, “I could have spent all three weeks there and still not have seen everything I wanted to!”
As a Catholic, Haile said she particularly enjoyed St. Peter’s Basilica. She was blessed by Pope Francis, which she said “was one of the most incredible feelings in the world.”
The Colosseum, the Spanish Steps, the Bridge of Angels, and the Triton Fountain were other favorite attractions in Rome.
The final weekend of the program, Haile and her mother visited Assisi, the home of Saints Francis and Clare. “The most incredible thing that happened on this adventure was our visit to the tomb of Saint Francis. His tomb is only open for viewing for a few hours in the entire year, so it was a true blessing that we arrived at just the right time.”
“To experience all of these world-renowned treasures in such a small amount of time is overwhelming but so rewarding,” noted Haile.
Khondker enthused about the dining experience. (You can’t go to Italy for three weeks without eating amazing food, I presume.) “My favorite activity was going to restaurants and drinking a different wine every night. It was definitely expensive, but I figured that I may as well go in not limiting myself in trying good food since it was such a once in a lifetime trip!”
Both students said they learned a lot from the program, from vocal technique to mental mindsets that will aid them in their singing.
Khondker explained, “Most importantly, I learned that in studying music, you will be faced with so many conflicting opinions. One person may tell you to do one thing, and another person may tell you to do the exact opposite, while both sides are telling you why the other side is wrong… I grew in that I was forced to believe in my own singing. This allowed me to differentiate between advice I’d like to take, and advice that was not for me.”
Haile noted that the vocal coaching, with input from several instructors and help from an accompanist, illuminated her experience in ways that had not been previously explored. “I gained a deeper understanding of my own voice and how to more intricately control it… At the beginning, this was a huge reality check and terrified me, as I had no serious plans to become a professional singer like everyone else there did. But over the three weeks I learned about everyone’s insecurities with their voices and we got to grow as a group.”
Going to Italy for three weeks had an unexpected side effect on Khondker: “An interesting thing that I took with me though was how my wine and coffee taste changed! I love plain espresso and cappuccinos now as well as dry red wine, which I never thought I’d like.”
Haile noted how her understanding of the Italian language has grown: “Although I knew some rudimentary Italian, saying, ‘Hello, my name is Claire. How are you?’ wasn’t going to get me very far with shopping, asking the time, and asking directions. Over the three weeks this got much easier and we all became more fluent in Italian.”
I would like to thank Claire and Rukan for talking with me and sharing their experiences and Ms. Beer for corresponding with me to share this with the rest of the community.
