We will be closely monitoring how the COVID situation in Helsinki develops, and take all the measures needed in order to make the master class as safe as possible. As for now private operators are not forbidden to arrange one on one teaching.

The teachers will double test themselves by taking a test in Italy 48 hours before departing and taking a new test when arriving to Helsinki. The voice teacher will wear a screen, and the répétiteur teacher will wear a mask. We highly recommend that each student wears a mask whenever not singing.

There will be hand sanitizer available to use before touching the pianos used at the course. We also suggest you to take care of your hand and coughing hygiene. Please do not come to the master class, if you have any symptoms matching a possible COVID-19 infection.

We welcome all classical singers, those who have just started their career or singers who are still finishing their studies. If you are an amateur with a solid background we will also welcome you to participate in our courses. Please don't hesitate to ask us if you feel uncertain about your capability to attend!

For pianists we expect you to have good prima vista skills and that you have finished formal training in piano / are at the end of your studies. For example a pianist, répétiteur, church musician or a piano teacher's degree would be a good background for developing your répétiteur skills with our Academy. We inform the pianists two weeks a head of time about the singers repertoire for each master class. You choose from the list and let us know what you want to learn for the course. 

We mainly work on complete opera roles, but especially at the beginning of our work together, it is possible to start for example with arias or repertoire you are most comfortable with. You can ask us which repertoire we recommend for you (and your characteristics) to study for the future master classes, once we get to know and hear you. 

Always bring two sets of sheet music. One for you and one for the répétiteur. A general rule to follow is: for Italian opera always use Ricordi, for Mozart usually Bärenreiter. Naturally, there are some exceptions. For example with Die Entführung aus dem Serail use Peters. Vocal scores with multiple languages are hard to read, and there might be extra notes added to make the translation fit. We recommend buying one score for yourself and borrowing the other copy from a library or from another student. 

First of all, there are no age limitations for participating in the teaching. Also, even if it has been a while since your last lesson, you are more than welcome to our master class. You are here to study for your own benefit, not to compare yourself with other singers or pianists.

Yes, you can study the important roles for your voice type in other languages such as German or French. Also if you have a specific event coming and you need to study sacred or Lied music, we are happy to help you. There are not that many options for studying Italian repertoire in Finland with native Italians, so we recommend you take the best of what we can offer and mainly work on Italian repertoire. 

Usually our master classes are 4-day courses. With the current COVID recommendations most of the teaching is one on one. In January singers will get 4 lessons in vocal technique + 4 lessons in repertoire. The lessons are 45 minutes each. On the first and last day, they may be a little shorter if there are a lot of students attending (30-45 min).  

The pianists will get a short lesson with Massimo every morning and additional guidance, when assisting Massimo during the repertoire lessons.

Singers (and pianists who have a chance to participate) will also get small group (2-3 people) sessions of somatic work.

In normal conditions, out side of these COVID restrictions, we would do stage work on the last day instead of one on one private lessons like we will have in January. Sometimes we also have a concert as a part of the master class.

The lessons are held in English, so no worries! If you want to take the opportunity to learn Italian while studying with us, we will do our best to help by gradually using some Italian in addition to English.

There is no risk in signing up. If the course would be cancelled by the Academy, we will refund your registering fee in full 100 %. The master class will normally be organized when the minimum of 8-10 students have signed up. The master class will be confirmed 14 days prior to the master class. We believe it the course will be filled with students fast, so it is very unlikely, that the course would be cancelled. The same refund policy applies if the COVID situation changed fast, and restrictions would forbid the arranging. For more information, please also read through our terms and conditions before registering. 

Pregnancy and giving birth can have a big impact on your body and therefore also on your vocal technique. If you have recently given birth, there is no reason not to participate, if you feel you have the energy and motivation to start working again. Our voice teacher, Francesca also has a degree in medical vocology, so she is a perfect person to help you get to know your voice again and to take control of your possibly changing technique.

If you need to take your baby along to the class, please don't hesitate. The teachers themselves have two kids, and are very supportive to new parents. If you know that having your baby along will keep you too distracted, it might be a good idea to have someone come along to entertain the baby while you are singing. 

If you have a vocal dysfunction, please contact us at [email protected] before registering. With a stable medical condition such as asthma or acid reflux you can register without prior notice. If you suspect your vocal chords are infected, council a phoniatric or ENT doctor before signing up. Our voice teacher, Francesca has a degree in medical vocology, so she can help the rehabilitation of your voice in cooperation with your doctor.

Currently our Academy runs without any external funding. Nonetheless, we try to keep the prices low. We recommend that you apply for a scholarship / grant to fund your studies for example from the Finnish Cultural foundation. In the long run we wish to be able to offer also courses with free tuition. If you notice any interesting ways for us to get funding, please give us a hint! Another option to taking a full master class would be to take single lessons from our teachers. Ask more about this option by writing us at [email protected]

If you run late for your lesson, please contact us immediately. We can try to exchange your lesson with a nother participant.