Come and hear a talk by renowned Wagnerian Helen Lawson: Ob falsch man oder richtig singt!
"Jawohl! Ich merk'! 's ist ein ander Ding, ob falsch man oder richtig singt" - "Yes, indeed! I see it makes a difference if one sings it wrong or right" Meistersinger Act 3
Wagner said that he wanted his music to be sung with bel canto technique. The dictionary defines bel canto as 'singing with beauty of tone rather than dramatic power'. But Wagner's vocal writing can be highly dramatic, so how can we marry dramatic intensity with vocal beauty? And how can we sustain the voice healthfully when singing at such a highly dramatic level? In this talk we will consider how the vocal teacher prepares potentially Wagnerian voices at conservatoire level for these challenges.
Helen Lawson was born in Northumberland and studied singing at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio in London. A Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarship enabled her to pursue her singing studies in Germany with Prof. Erik Werba at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, and Prof. Konrad Richter at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart.
Helen has appeared as soloist in opera houses both at home and abroad, including English National Opera; City of Birmingham Touring Opera; English Touring Opera and De Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen. Amongst the opera roles she has performed are: Butterfly, Countess Almaviva, Pamina; Governess; Tatiana and Senta. She has also appeared as soloist in recitals and oratorio in the UK and abroad.
Helen taught for 10 years in German universities (Bayreuth and Bamberg) and trained as a breathing pedagogue at the Atemschule (Osenberg/Parow) in Düsseldorf. She moved to Glasgow in 2002 to take up the post of Lecturer in Vocal Studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (then the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama) and continues to teach there at undergraduate and post-graduate level.
Besides attending Richard Miller's Institute of Vocal Performance Pedagogy at Oberlin College, Ohio, Helen visited several institutions in the States as part of a research project funded by a Walter Hines Page Scholarship, looking at the American approach to vocal training.
Meetings generally start at 7.30pm. Non-members are welcome; a charge of £15 is made (£7 members) or pitch up and join. See the Society website http://www.wagnerscotland.net/
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