Hi, thanks for checking out my project!
I'm Alison Tynes, a New York City based soprano working towards attending the Bel Canto Institute in Florence, Italy this summer. I moved to NYC after finishing my Masters in Voice Performance and have since discovered that I want to focus primarily on bel canto repertoire. There's just something about that legato line...
I received a Bachelor of Music degree from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC in 2010 and a Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in 2012. I have been living in New York City since August of 2012 and am currently studying with tenor, Eduardo Valdes. Most recently, I performed the role of Gretel in Hansel and Gretel with Brooklyn-based company, Opera Oggi. Roles at Peabody included the title role in Ariel’s Tempest, a new opera by Douglas Buchanan, as well as the Shepherdess and Bat in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Prior to attending Peabody, I sang the title role in The Little Prince, and the First Witch/Spirit in Dido and Aeneas at Guilford College.
MM Voice Recital, Peabody Conservatory
At the Bel Canto Institute I would be able to learn the role of "Lucia" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor under the instruction of remarkable faculty, many of whom also happen to be on the roster at the Metropolitan Opera. The director of the program, Maestra Jane Klaviter, started the institute in 1987 in order to pass on the largely verbal history of bel canto to the next generation of classical musicians. Her knowledge comes from her friend and mentor the late Maestro Luigi Ricci who learned about the bel canto style from both Puccini and the famous baritone Antonio Cotogni, who took direction from Verdi himself!
Florence, Italy. image courtesy of cescassawin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
It is common for aspiring singers to attend programs with an intensive focus on performance during the summer months, and most of them come with a hefty price tag. Because of this, I have attended only one summer program, needing to spend my summers working full-time to support myself instead. Although it would have been nice to have been able to attend more summer programs, I don't wish things were different for me financially, and am grateful for the life experience and work ethic that I have gained over the years.
So why is it important to me to attend the Bel Canto Institute's program this summer?
Right now, I feel as if I'm perched on the edge of a new horizon when it comes to my singing. I am learning and growing rapidly and am aching for a challenging environment where I can focus solely on honing my craft in a performance-intensive setting... where I can put all the puzzle pieces together and sit with them, absorbing them, without the demands of everyday life to break my concentration. Spending a month immersed in the Italian bel canto tradition with truly incredible instructors would push me to reach out and soar over that horizon. I would emerge from the program a solid and confident singer ready to tackle the next steps in my career when I return to New York City.
Breakdown of funds–
Cost of program: $6,000
Includes: One month of intensive Italian language and diction study, three lessons per week, three coachings per week, lectures, performance opportunities, participation in a competition near the end of the program, and room and board in an Italian household.
I am asking for $6,450 because I will have to pay 7% in fees (roughly $450) if I meet my goal. This is the bare minimum needed for me to attend the program.
If I am lucky enough to raise over my goal, any extra funding will be used towards my stretch goal of $8,200. The stretch goal includes:
Cost of program: $6,000
Cost of rent for the month I will be gone and not working: $700
Cost of airfare: roughly $1500