Italian Sound and Text Workshops
For singers, teachers, and collaborative artists who want to go further into Italian repertoire than pronunciation and translation alone can take them.
Italian opera text works through grammar, syntax, poetic structure, rhetoric, and theatrical convention. These workshops give you a direct, practical way into that material: two focused live experiences, each one building a specific set of skills you can apply immediately to any repertoire you are preparing.
Ready to enroll? Jump straight to the workshops.
Not sure which is right for you? Keep reading.
Workshop 1: The Sounds of Italian
Pronunciation and diction for anyone working with Italian vocal repertoire
Live online · 6 hours total · 2 sessions · Cap of 25 participants
Italian has a sound system that rewards careful study. For non-native speakers, certain sounds, patterns, and distinctions are consistently difficult: open and closed vowels, double consonants, specific consonant pairs, and the stress patterns that shape how a phrase moves. Most diction training touches these areas briefly. This workshop goes deeper.
The Sounds of Italian is an in-depth study of Italian phonetics as it relates to pronunciation, diction, and performance. The work is historically informed and repertoire-rooted, drawing on the Italian of opera, oratorio, madrigal, and art song rather than contemporary spoken Italian. It is designed for singers who want to understand not just how Italian sounds, but why it sounds that way and what that means for the sung line.
You will leave with a clearer, more confident relationship to Italian sound: pronunciation that helps the audience understand what you are singing, and a connection to the language that feels authentic rather than approximated.
$399 · Live online via Zoom
Workshop 2: The Italian Text in Performance
Text preparation and libretto literacy for anyone working with Italian vocal repertoire
Live online · 6 hours total · 2 sessions · Cap of 25 participants
Italian opera text is not just words set to music. It draws on a rich tradition of poetry, rhetoric, and theatrical writing that shapes how every phrase is constructed, where the weight of a line falls, and what a singer needs to understand before they can interpret it with genuine specificity.
A translation is one interpretation of the text. It reflects the choices of a particular translator, not the full weight of the original language. To understand what the text is actually saying, and what it meant in the theatrical and poetic tradition it was written for, you need to go back to the Italian itself.
The Italian Text in Performance is an in-depth study of Italian opera text as performance material. The work is historically informed and repertoire-rooted. It draws on the literary and theatrical traditions behind the Italian vocal repertoire and connects that understanding directly to the interpretive choices singers and musicians make in preparation and performance.
You will leave with a deeper, more informed relationship to the texts you work with: the kind of understanding that makes interpretation more specific, more confident, and more grounded in the literary and theatrical intentions behind the text.
$499 · Live online via Zoom
What to expect and how to prepare
These workshops are live, participatory experiences. They are not webinars and they are not lectures. Every session is interactive and activity-driven. You will practice, engage with the material directly, and have dedicated time to ask questions and interact with the instructor and other participants.
In the pronunciation workshop, for example, participants work actively on Italian sounds in real time. In the text workshop, participants engage directly with specific texts and their theatrical and poetic dimensions. You are welcome to bring examples from your own repertoire — arias, oratorio excerpts, madrigals, or other texts you are currently working on. The workshops are most useful when the material connects directly to what you are preparing.
All study materials are provided. No additional textbook purchase necessary.
To get the most out of every session, please have the following ready before you join:
A quiet, distraction-free environment. Background noise affects pronunciation work and active listening significantly.
A good quality microphone. The built-in microphone on most laptops is adequate, but a dedicated USB or headset microphone makes a noticeable difference.
Headphones. Headphones reduce audio feedback and help you focus without distraction.
A notebook and pen. Writing things down by hand supports retention and gives you notes to refer back to between sessions.
A computer rather than a tablet or phone. The workshops are interactive and involve document sharing and active participation. A computer gives you the best experience. A tablet or phone is not recommended.
FAQ
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No prior Italian is required for either workshop. The Sounds of Italian builds from the ground up and assumes no prior knowledge of Italian phonetics or diction. The Italian Text in Performance works directly from the original texts with enough context provided that participants at any level can engage fully with the material.
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Most diction classes focus on correct pronunciation and IPA transcription. These workshops go further. The Sounds of Italian is rooted in Italian linguistics and addresses the phonetic system of the language as it appears in the historical vocal repertoire, not just a checklist of rules. The Italian Text in Performance addresses something diction classes rarely touch at all: the literary, theatrical, and historical traditions behind the text and what they mean for interpretation and performance.
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No. These workshops are designed to complement your existing voice lessons, coachings, and rehearsal work, not to replace or contradict them. The focus is specifically on Italian phonetics, language, and text preparation. What you learn here supports the work you are already doing with your teacher and coach.
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Sessions are recorded for internal training and quality purposes, and may be used for marketing. Recordings are not shared with participants as a standard part of enrollment. If you have a specific accommodation need, please reach out before the workshop begins and we can discuss your situation directly. All requests are handled with care and on a case-by-case basis.
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Yes. Both workshops are designed for anyone who works with or loves Italian vocal repertoire, not only singers. Voice teachers, collaborative pianists, repetiteurs, conductors, and serious opera lovers who want to understand Italian opera text more deeply have all found this preparation directly applicable to their work, their study, and their engagement with the repertoire. You do not need to be a performer to get genuine value from either workshop.
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Not ready to enroll yet?
If you want to get a sense of what this work is about before committing to a workshop, the free guide is a good place to start. It introduces the five-lens method for reading Italian opera text and gives you a clear picture of the approach behind both workshops.