Julie Newell |
Julie Newell, coordinator of opera and soprano voice professor at the Fredonia School of Music, presented three days of masterclasses on American Art Song at the State Conservatory of Music in Pescara, Italy, recently. As a guest this month of the "Luisa d'Annunzio" conservatory, she also performed as a recitalist.
"This Amercian art song literature is entirely new to the curriculum of the Italian students," Professor Newell said. The visit was arranged by the conservatory's faculty member, soprano Stefania Donzelli, who has offered masterclasses in Italian song and operatic literature at SUNY Fredonia in the past.
Ms. Newell has also been invited back to offer masterclasses in American operatic literature in 2012.
Lyric Arts International
Her guest residency was part of an ongoing exchange program built through SUNY Fredonia's Lyric Arts International. She and colleague Paul Mockovak of the Theatre and Dance Department have led groups of Fredonia students three times to the Marche region of Italy where students presented operatice scenes from the Italian repertoire and Vivaldi's "Gloria," all in collboration with the professional orchestral musicians of the Orchestra da Camera delle Marche. While in Italy, Fredonia students have also participated in masterclasses with world renowned tenor Giuseppe Sabbatini who is also a Professor of Voice at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome.