ABOUT FRAN
Experience. Expertise. Excellence
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I have enjoyed sharing my passion for performing and teaching voice for over 35 years. Highlights of my ten year professional classical singing career include four seasons with New York City Opera, winning the Liederkranz Vocal Competition, debuting Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus with the Little Orchestra Society of NYC at Alice Tully Hall, and playing the Mother in their annual production of Amahl and the Night Visitors at Avery Fisher Hall. Some of my most musically fulfilling experiences have been as a soloist with area choral groups: Albany Pro Musica in their performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion; Burnt Hills Oratorio Society in Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity, Capitol Hill Choral Society’s Messiah and The Mendelssohn Club’s Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody. My work with the local grass roots opera company, Opera Excelsior, helped to launch my operatic career and also allowed me to connect with the local singing community, a collaboration that remains meaningful to this day.
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Throughout my singing career I have always pursued my passion for teaching and sharing my knowledge about the voice and about performance. My graduate degree from Indiana University included the study of vocal pedagogy and performance. Rather than simply teach as I was taught, I have continued post graduate study in vocal pedagogy with renowned master teachers so that I can offer cutting-edge information and skills to my students. I find that students of all ages and levels of development benefit greatly from my deep knowledge of the inner workings of the voice -- the underlying principles that apply to all genres of repertoire, including both classical (opera, oratorio, art song) and contemporary (music theatre, jazz, pop, rock and folk).
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The combination of my expertise and my students’ commitment and drive are the formula for the success of those working with me. Professional opera and music theatre singers needing a constructive, critical viewer and listener; students preparing for college and theatre auditions; and those at the beginning of their vocal journey can all find a trusted mentor in me and a home in my studio.