The Liberated Voice - Carol Baggott-Forte

Last week I flew to Lyon, France for a couple of lessons with Carol Baggott-Forte. She is Cornelius' successor and she is just a fabulous voice teacher. I was only able to stay for 2 days and take 2 lessons, but they were very worth it. I wish I could've had more...The level of singing at this seminar was very high. There were several teachers from the Centre de la Voix (Center for the Voice) where the seminar was held. And I think she might have been able to "convert" a couple of them over to functional voice training. I also saw my old friend and fellow Academy Alumna Imma in Lyon. It was wonderful to see her again and spend some time with her. Meeting Thomas Maxeiner, a tenor from Hamburg and getting to know Ignacio Jarquin, the organiser of the seminars in Lyon, Paris and Brighton were other highlights of the trip.

At the seminar in Brighton in February I met another student of Carol's who lives in London - Sarah. She had asked if I teach as well and we made tentative plans for her to come by for a lesson. For whatever reason, we didn't manage until yesterday!!! But, it went very well, I think we will work well together, and that I can help her become more comfortable with her powerful singing voice.

Nothing Much

So, now I've been back from traveling for a while. After Brussels we went to Vienna which was lovely - the highlights being lunch on one day and a special Fugu (Japanese Blowfish) dinner at our favorite restaurant "Kokoro" and seeing the Magic Flute at the Volksoper for M's birthday. From Vienna we went to Bussolengo and visited family for a long weekend. Friends of M came for lunch with their kids on Saturday, which we had at a great country restaurant. It was quiet (we were also the only ones there!) and there is a large field where the children could roam. M and I were home for about 4 days, but first he was ill and then I was a couple of days later with some strange stomach bug or food poisoning. We headed back to Italy for a long weekend, stayed with friends in Milan for a night and then headed to Turin where M had business on Monday. We stayed with Michele and Eva and their 3 young children. It was very lively! We ate way too much fantastic food over the course of the weekend. We skipped a couple meals even, but should have skipped more! I flew home and M stayed on traveling around Italy doing business and giving lectures in Turin, Genua, Pisa and Rome.

That's all folks!