A CLASSROOM WITH A VIEW.(Daniel Ferro creates a program for new singers in Tuscania, Italy)(Brief Article)

A unique voice program in the heart of Tuscan wine country

Several decades ago, fresh from studies at the Juilliard School and armed with a Fulbright fellowship, Daniel Ferro discovered that Tuscany, so full of culture and history, could nurture not only sangiovese grapes and leccino olives but also his budding vocal career. Having come full circle, he is now a Juilliard faculty member who -- mindful of his own Italian sojourn, especially in Siena at the Accademia Chigiana -- created the summertime Daniel Ferro Vocal Program (this year July 18 through August 8), now in its seventh year, for young singers.

Singers apply to the program, which is designed to give them intense professional training and experience, either by submitting an audio-videotape or by auditioning live. Ferro places them at the advanced or intermediate level. Generally, participants are less than thirty years old; some may still be in conservatories and a few, mostly at the intermediate level, are as young as eighteen.

Ferro has thought of everything: master classes, along with daily private lessons, coaching, intensive language lessons -- even an audience. To make true captives of that audience, appreciators of vocal music who fancy spending three weeks immersed in the Chianti Classico countryside, he designed a concurrent program, Insider's View of Tuscany (this year July 14 through August 11). Insiders have the rare opportunity to follow these nascent professionals closely as they learn and perform music of Mozart, Schubert, Puccini, Mahler, Bernstein and others, in an atmosphere that has fostered many a friendship. Besides attending concerts and post-concert receptions, Insiders are encouraged to audit Ferro's advanced-level morning master classes, or those of Janice Harper-Smith for the intermediate level, and to participate in daily Italian-language study in small groups with the singers. Each day, singers, coaches and Insiders gather for a typical Tuscan family-style meal at La Torre delle Civette in Greve in Chianti -- fresh mozzarella with olive oil and basil leaves, prosciutto with melon, risotto with artichokes, pasta al pomodoro fresco, roast chicken or veal, or pizza.

Concert repertory, some of which is set by Ferro, Harper-Smith and the other coaches well before everyone arrives in Tuscany, is chosen with particular voices in mind and also according to music the individual singers will be working on in their lessons and master classes. More familiar opera excerpts, performed by veterans of the program, usually are heard at the gala opening concert, which is always attended by the mayor of Greve in Chianti, consular and embassy officials and dignitaries from nearby Siena and Florence. Concerts held later in the summer might delve into songs of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Mahler. Intermediate students are presented in their own concert.

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