News

Costs: €150 ex. tax (incl. tax €181.50).

Giravoce Opera Summer School organised an intensive role-training course from 23–29 July 2018 at the Landesmusikakademie in Heek, Germany. The Landesmusikakademie provided excellent facilities for an intensive opera programme, working with internationally renowned and experienced singing teachers, a stage director, conductor and pianists.

Hans Nieuwenhuis: stage director
Amand Hekkers (tenor) & Claudia Patacca (soprano): professors of voice
Hans Schellevis: conductor, pianist and bel canto specialist
Wouter Munsterman: pianist

The course fee of €900 included all lessons and coaching, classes and performances, accommodation for six nights, breakfast, lunch and dinner (based on a double room for two students; a single room carried a €90 supplement for the six nights). The school closed with a concert on July 29th.

Soprano Claudia Patacca was profiled by broadcaster RTV Oost for the programme “OverUIT de Kunst”, aired 24 September 2017. Claudia studied cum laude at the conservatory in Enschede before continuing at the International Opera Center Amsterdam, and made her operatic debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Claudia is head vocal teacher at the ArtEZ Conservatorium and gives masterclasses both in the Netherlands and abroad. One of her students, soprano Irene Hoogveld, completed her Bachelor’s degree cum laude under Claudia in June 2017 and was selected for the Master of Voice programme at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Original article (Dutch): operamagazine.nl

Soprano Claudia Patacca and tenor Amand Hekkers share a deep fascination with the voice. After years of passing that passion to a new generation of opera singers, they joined forces to found opera studio Giravoce, aiming to help young singers with “the whole package”: technical skill, repertoire, audition training, and stage presence.

The studio grew out of the pair’s observation that little was organised for young singers over the summer months in the Netherlands, unlike in France or Italy. Their plan: a week-long intensive summer course with role coaching across every aspect of the opera profession, alongside masterclasses and coaching throughout the year.

The name Giravoce — literally “voice that goes around” — reflects their belief that everything in their teaching revolves around the voice, respecting the individuality and vulnerability of every singer.

We are proud to announce that our masterclass “No C too high”, held Sunday 24 April 2016, was a big success. We worked all day with three sopranos and two tenors at Akoesticum in Ede, Holland.

Amand Hekkers gives masterclasses in:

Copenhagen — November 2015, The Royal Conservatoire of Copenhagen, Denmark
Naples — June 2016, Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella, Italy
France — 11–12 August 2016, Orfeo Foundation

Claudia Patacca gives masterclasses in:

Riga — 27–29 January 2016, Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music
Tallinn — 25–27 February 2016, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
Malmö — 2–4 May 2016, Malmö Academy of Music, Sweden