After 35 years of experience as a performer in opera, oratorio and art song, I now enjoy helping young singers to master the craft of classical singing. I also help older singers who come up against vocal problems as their career continues. I train and coach individual singers, amateurs as well as professionals, in my studio at home in Haarlemmermeer, near Amsterdam, and in my house in France.

You want to sing but don’t know how?
We work on the technique of voice production in all its various stages (breath control, support, diction, etc.), repertoire (opera, oratorio, Lied) and performance (interpretation, expression, stage presence, dealing with stress). I teach professionals as well as amateurs. Each voice and each singer is different, unique in fact, like a fingerprint. It is the only instrument we cannot see and therefore it is so important to listen and hear and trust the right teacher. We need to find the singer’s true voice by discarding all unnecessary muscle movements and of course keeping the necessary ones. How often have I heard a student say “but this is much easier” when it also sounds better? Gaining confidence is also part of a teacher’s duty. We all need to be praised but we also want to hear the truth about our voice. How the singer hears his own voice is quite different to what the public hears and it is the teacher’s job to help the singer to recognise the good from the mediocre or even the bad vocal production. I have the advantage of having started my professional career as an instrumentalist, an orchestral harpist. This was very useful when I started as a solo singer at the opera as I knew how to count empty bars and come in at the right moment without waiting for the conductor to point at me! I have accompanied myself and other singers in concerts for many years.

Training
I read Music at the University of Bristol, England. Subsequently I went to The Netherlands where I studied harp and voice at the Royal Conservatoire of Music in The Hague.

Nederlandse Opera Stichting
My opera career started at the Opera Studio of De Nederlandse Opera Stichting. I have sung many roles with the Netherlands Opera and other opera companies. Throughout the years I have given numerous song recitals for the Vereniging Vrienden van het Lied accompanied by Tan Crone, as well as elsewhere accompanied by Rudolf Jansen, David Selig, Frans van Ruth, Marjès Benoist and Edward Witsenburg. I was awarded the Silver Garland (Zilveren Vriendenkrans) by the Vereniging Vrienden van het Concertgebouw for lied performance. I have sung as a soloist in many oratorios from Bach to Schoenberg.

for more details >Biography and career

Singing courses and education
I have followed courses on the voice by the ENT and vocal specialist Dr. Pahn, Alexander technique, and EVTS (Estill Voice Training Systems). I am a mezzo-soprano and my main teachers were Sophia van Sante, Meinard Kraak, David Harper (London) and Ré Koster. I taught voice as a major subject (Hoofdvakzang) at the Conservatoire of Maastricht.

for prices > Guesthouse la Tour d’Herbain

Contact me for more information about voice lessons
If you are interested in taking voice lessons with me, then please contact me.
Email:  rachelann.morgan@orange.fr
Telephone : +33(0)681239470