The story of our Academy begins in 2011. But, why have a Belcanto academy in Finland? Isn't Belcanto an Italian tradition?
Italian soprano and vocologist, Francesca Micarelli was in Finland with Massimo Lambertini. Lambertini was serving as guest conductor of the operetta Mariza for the Mikkeli City Orchestra at the Poleeni Cultural Center. The couple fell in love with Pieksämäki and wanted to to get a second home in Finland.
The opera school was founded in September 2013 on the initiative of Francesca. Soon our school began to expand abroad. In April 2016, the Academy performed The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart at Poleeni with two international casts.
Now the academy also has a school in Trentino, the Northern Italy's Alp region, where Massimo on Francesca live most of the year with their two youngsters. Many students from Finland have been guests at the school in Italy. There they have had the possibility to develop their Italian and to audition for Italian managers.
In 2016 Giovanna Lomazzi, who is a regularly visiting teacher in the Italian Belcanto Academy, joined Francesca and Massimo to teach a master class at the Finnish Sibelius Academy. Lomazzi worked as the legendary Maria Callas' personal secretary and is still the casting manager for an opera concert association, AsLiCo in the Milan region, that helps singers in the beginning of their career.
The Academy has had approximately six yearly master classes in Finland. At the moment we operating without external funding. Our long term goal is to one day be able to offer a tuition free full year opera study program in Finland, similar to the one in Trentino. We are looking for partners for cooperation to make this dream come true.
Starting in 2021 Belcanto Academy Finland is taking a leap forward under the direction of its new executive director, Finnish-American soprano, Maria Svan. She has a been a dedicated student of Massimo and Francesca, both in Finland and in Italy, where she has taken part in the full year opera study program in 2019, and 2020.
Hope to see where your role stands in our gradually developing story! We believe, that you regret the things you leave undone more, than the things you did.
So, when you ask yourself if you would enjoy learning Italian opera repertoire and studying with us at the master classes in Finland, get in touch with us and sign up!
Lessons are held in English, but we encourage you to take the advantage of the unique opportunity to learn and practice your Italian with our teachers.