The Acclaim Awards work with many of Italy’s leading singing teachers. There are two ways that Australian singers might be able to have lessons with one or more of these great singers and teachers.
If you would like to arrange your study trip to Italy for training with an Italian singing teacher or at an Accademia, etc, you can work with the Acclaim Awards. We can assist with introductions and help make arrangements with appropriate teachers and facilities.
Acclaim supports young Australian Artists in various ways, and we can leverage our broad and diverse range of partners in a way we feel is most appropriate to each artist, based on their needs, requirements, timing and availability.
Acclaim provides two prizes, an Italian Opera Award and Alumni Grants. Both are available to artists who can then apply for either prize if they meet the criteria. Applications are reviewed at the end of April and August every year. The Alumni Grants are open and available all year while funds are available.
Please contact Acclaim to discuss and to understand the requirements for making an application.
The following are examples of Italian singing teachers currently available to the Acclaim Awards.
Prof. Valeria Esposito
Valeria Esposito is a Coloratura Soprano. Born in Naples, Valeria graduated in voice at the Conservatory of Salerno and in languages at the University of Naples (English, Russian, French). Later she studied Spanish and obtained the Proficiency Degree in English Studies, Grosses Deutsches Diplom and the Diplome approfondi de Langue Française.
Valeria has won many important competitions, including the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World (1987), and the As.Li.Co. (1987). Valeria has performed, among others, the following roles:
Queen of the Night - Zauberflöte - Staatsoper in Berlin, Hamburg, Wien, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Oper der
Stadt in Bonn, Teatro Comunale in Florence, Liceu in Barcelona, Baltimore Opera, Maestranza of Sevilla
Konstanze - Entführung aus dem Serail - Vienna Staatsoper, Opéra de Toulon, Verdi in Trieste
Rosina - Barbiere di Siviglia by Paisiello-Petruzzelli in Bari
Fiorilla - Turco in Italia - Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Bellini in Catania
Giulia - Scala di Seta – La Fenice in Venezia
Madama Cortese - Viaggio a Reims -Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro
Amina - Sonnambula - Welsh National Opera, Macerata Opera, Rome Opera, Massimo in Palermo,
Baltimore Opera
Alaide - Straniera – Le Capitole in Toulouse
Elvira – I Puritani - Liceu in Barcelona, Bellini of Catania
Linda - Linda di Chamonix - Comunale in Bologna, Carnegie Hall in New York, Vienna Staatsoper
Lucia - Lucia di Lammermoor-Macerata Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Capitole in Toulouse, Tokyo, Baltimore
Opera Marie - La Fille du Régiment-Teatro alla Scala, Comunale of Bologna
Adina - Elisir d’Amore - S. Carlo in Naples, Vienna Staatsoper, Macerata Opera, Filarmonico de Verona
Norina - Don Pasquale – Radio France
Rita - Rita -Radio France
Gilda - Rigoletto - Capitole in Toulouse, Colon in Buenos Aires, Vienna Staatsoper, Tel Aviv Opera
Nannetta - Falstaff - Capitole in Toulouse, Teatro Regio of Parma, Comunale in Ferrara
Manon Lescaut - Manon by Massenet Opéra in Toulon, Verdi in Trieste
Violetta - Traviata - Festival of Carcassonne, Budapest Opera, Bombay and New Dehli
Lakme - Lakmé - Opéra in Toulouse
Olympia - Les Contes d’Hoffmann - Opéra Bastille in Paris, La Fenice in Venice, La Scala in Milan, S.Carlo in Naples, Bellini in Catania, Vienna Staatsoper, Baltimore Opéra
Adele - Fledermaus - Bellini di Catania
Other roles in Valeria’s repertoire include Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena, Beatrice di Tenda, Comte Ory, Oscar
Ballo in Maschera, Folleville nel Viaggio a Reims, Capuleti e Montecchi, Romeo et Juliette, Barbiere di
Siviglia, Pecheurs des Perles, Dinorah, Mignon, Fledermaus - Rosalinde, Contessa - Comte Ory, Donna’Anna
Don Giovanni, Contessa - Nozze di Figaro.
In concerts she has sung: The Creation by Haydn, Exultate, Jubilate, the Mass in ut minor and Konzertarien by Mozart, Stabat Mater by Pergolesi und Rossini, Carmina Burana by Orff, the Concert for Coloratura soprano and Orchestre by Glière, Magnificat by Petrassi, lieder by Spontini, Cjajkovskij, Rachmaninov and Debussy.
Valeria has sung under the direction of conductors: Claudio Abbado, Spiros Argiris, Daniel Baremboim, Daniele Callegari, Bruno Campanella, Giuliano Carrella, Riccardo Chailly, Ascher Fish, Daniele Gatti, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Leopold Hager, Lù Ja, Gustav Kuhn, Alain Lombard, Kery Lynn-Wilson, Enrique Mazzola, Peter Maag, Jun Markl, Riccardo Muti, Daniel Oren, Zoltan Pesko, Eve Queler, Stefano Ranzani, Donato Renzetti, Sviatoslav Sutej, Marcello Viotti, and Simone Young.
Valeria has worked with the following stage directors: Pupi Avati, Henning Brockhaus, Filippo Crivelli, Hugo de Ana, Roberto de Simone, Beppe de Tommasi, Costa Gavras, Renzo Giacchieri, Werner Herzog, Jonathan Miller, Roman Polanskj, Luca Ronconi, Jerome Savarj, Maurizio Scaparro, Fabio Sparvoli, Mattia Testi, Flavio Trevisan, and Stefano Vizioli.
Salvatore Fisichella
Salvatore Fisichella is a tenor and was called the most outstanding interpreter of Bellini of his day. He is recognised for the ease and vocal brilliance of his singing, and he has specialised in performing in bel canto operas, especially those of Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini. Fisichella began working under Maria Gentile, a soprano from Catania who had become a singing teacher. He listened to the singing of Mario del Monaco, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Franco Corelli, Carlo Bergonzi and Gianni Raimondi and occasionally took part in small concerts. His breakthrough came when he won a prestigious singing competition in Spoleto.
In 1971, he was engaged by the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma for two performances of Rigoletto and seven performances of I puritani with Mirella Freni. A year later he was back at the theatre to appear with Mirella Freni in Gounoud’s Faust. In 1973 he made his debut at the Teatro Bellini in his hometown of Catania in La bohème.
Fisichella subsequently performed all over the world in the top theatres and concert halls and enjoyed enthusiastic receptions and glowing reviews.
In Pesaro in 1975 he became one of the few tenors to rise to the challenge of Rossini’s Messa di Gloria, a score avoided by many bel canto tenors. In 1985, Theatre magazine said he was ‘a tenor to rival Domingo and Pavarotti’. The following year he performed for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York alongside Joan Sutherland and was a resounding success.
In 1992 in Paris, he received a 22-minute standing ovation following his performance at the Concerto Belliniano at the Champs Élysées Opera House. The French press declared him the most outstanding interpreter of Bellini of his day. In 1994 he was awarded the Bellini D’Oro prize by the Sicilian Tourist Authority. Fisichella continued to perform on the international stage well into this millennium and now passes on his technique and experience by giving masterclasses to up and coming young tenors.
Salvatore Fisichella lives near Catania with his wife.
Sara Mingardo
Sara Mingardo is an Italian classical contralto currently based in Rome. She is regarded by many as one of the most famous contraltos of our time and is a highly sought-after interpreter and greatly appreciated for her vast repertoire. Sara has performed since the 1980’s and has had an outstanding international career in concerts and operas.
Sara was born in Venice and studied singing with Paolo Ghitti at the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia. She won first prize at the Toti dal Monte international singing competition and the Prize Giulietta Simionato at the 23rd Vienna Competition. Saras made her professional opera debut in 1987 as Fidalma in Domenico Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto in Avezzano. By 1989 Sara had made appearances at La Scala, La Fenice, the Salzburg Festival, the Teatro Regio di Torino, and the Teatro di San Carlo among other major theatres.
Sara made her first recording in 1995 with Christophe Rousset, in which she sang the role in Riccardo by G.F. Handel. Additional recordings include Cantate, Gloria and Magnificat by Antonio Vivaldi with Rinaldo Alessandrini and Falstaff (role of Quickly) with Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
Ms Mingardo is also an acclaimed voice teacher. Among the singers who have studied with her and/or attended her masterclasses: Pascale Jonczyk (Mezzo-soprano), Sara Tommasini (Contralto/Mezzo-soprano).
Patrizia Pace
Patrizia is a soprano. She was born in Turin. She took part in numerous international competitions, including the “Aureliano Pertile” which she won in 1983, as well as the “Viotti” and the “Maria Callas”. In 1987, she was awarded the international “Maschera d’argento” prize (previously awarded to Pavarotti, Cappuccilli, Scotto etc) and in 1996 the “Mascagni d’Oro” prize. After having taken part, as a child, in various works such as Giordano’s Mese Mariano, Il diavolo in giardino by Mannino, she made her stage debut in Genoa, when she was only 16, in Pelleas et Melisande, directed by Menotti, followed by Gilda in Rigoletto in Florence.
She had to play Pelleas in the famous Antoine Vitez production conducted by Caludio Abbado at La Scala, Vienna and Covent Garden that was also recorded by Deutsche Grammophone. At the age of 19, she made her debut at La Scala in the role of Clelia in Lucio Silla directed by Patrice Chereau. She then returned at La Scala regularly every year as Micaela in Carmen conducted by Claudio Abbado in the famous Piero Faggioni’s production and other operas. In 1985 she played Rosina in Paisiello’s Barbiere staged, at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, by Maurizio Scaparro and then taken in tour in Norway, Russia, Spain and Spoleto. Her career has taken her to the worlds’s most important theatres – Vienna, Munich, Bonn, Chicago, London Hamburg, Zurich, Bologna Venice etc. She returned to La Scala, with Muti as conductor, for Susanna in Nozze di Figaro and Zerlina in Don Giovanni both produced by Strehler.
With Mo. Muti she has recorded Mozart’s Requiem with the Berliner Philarmonic. In 1996 she sang Le martyre de Saint Sebastien with the Berliner Philarmoniker conducted by Claudio Abbado. Always with Abbado she sang Zerlina in Don Giovanni in Ferrara that was also recorded for Deutsche Grammophone and broadcasted by Rai Italian television.
She has worked with conductors as Abbado, Muti, Gavazzeni, von Karajan, Bartoletti, Sawallish, Cambreling, Sinopoli, Conlon, Santi, Lombard, Oren, Campanella, Viotti, Soudant, Weikert, Soustrot and directors as Chereau, Vitez, Strehler, Olmi, Faggioni, Cavani, De Simone, Pasqual, Kokkos, Cox, Joel, De Ana, Del Monaco, Miller, D’Anna.
Patricia has made recordings with Abbado, Muti, Jaervi, Lombard, Colusso and all Carissimi’s oratorium.
After having debuted Mimì in Boheme in the open-air arena of Avenche, she has sang the same role in Puccini Festival in Torre del lago in luly 1999, “Turandot” in Santander and Cordoba, “Carmen” in Santiago Cile and Bellinzona.
She has debuted 62 roles in operas plus various concerts and barock repertoire. Between the most performed roles, are Nannetta, Susanna, Oscar, Zerlina, Gilda, Liu, Micaela.
She has recorded various operas and concerts and she combines opera with an intensive program of concerts, with particular emphasis on the baroque repertoire.
In 2008 she held a masterclass on Italian singing at the opera house in Yerevan in Armenia. She
has been a member of the jury in various singing competitions such as the international “Jaime Aragall”competition in Spain, the “Vincenzo Bellini” Competition etc. She has been Professor of singing at the Politecnico Internazionale “Scientia et Ars “in Vibo Valentia. Since 2005 she was a voice teacher in the Conservatory “V. Belllini” of Palermo and currently a professor at the Conservatory “A. Scontrino” in Trapani.
Ms Pace has been a guest professor at the Conservatory in Tianjin and at Beijing University and she has held various master classes in China Universities and conservatories such as Xuchang University, Zhengzhou University, and at the Beijing University Academy of Opera in China.
Jessica Pratt
Jessica is a soprano. She is British-born and raised in Australia, and currently resides in Italy.
Jessica was hailed by the New York Times as a soprano of "gleaming sound, free and easy high notes, agile coloratura runs and lyrical grace", and is considered one of today's foremost interpreters of some of Belcanto's most challenging repertoire.
After completing her vocal studies in Italy with Renata Scotto and Maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti at Rome Opera, she now prepares her roles with Lella Cuberli.
Since her European debut in 2007 as Lucia di Lammermoor, Jessica’s schedule has included performances at opera theatres and festivals around the world, such as Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Arena di Verona, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Opera Australia, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Staatsoper Hamburg, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro San Carlo, Teatro alla Scala, The Metropolitan Opera and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.
She has collaborated with conductors such as Carlo Rizzi, Daniel Oren, Daniele Gatti, David Parry, Francesco Ivan Ciampa, Gianandrea Noseda, Gustavo Dudamel, Ivor Bolton, Kent Nagano, Marc Minkowski, Nello Santi, Riccardo Frizza, Roberto Abbado, Sir Colin Davis and Zubin Mehta.
In 2023 she has appeared as Lucia Ashton, in Donizetti's Il dolce suono mi colpì di sua voce...Ardon gli incensi... Spargi d'amaro pianto for Opera Queensland in Brisbane, in “Jessica Pratt in Concert” for Opera Queensland in Brisbane, as Costanza, in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem serail for Teatro alla Scala in Milan and in her debut as Costanza, and in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem serail for ABAO in Bilbao. In the near future we will see her in “Mozart - Abend in Goldenen Saal” for Musikverein in Vienna.
As one of the most active singers in her field over the last 17 years, Jessica has taken to the stage in 143 productions for 93 different organizers, in 80 cities over 13 countries. She has interpreted 48 different roles of which the most popular is Lucia Ashton from Gaetano Donizetti's “Lucia di Lammermoor” with over 117 shows in 40 productions, followed by Amina from Vincenzo Bellini's “La Sonnambula” and Elvira from Vincenzo Bellini's “I Puritani”.
Her discography includes CD recordings of Rossini's “Otello”, Vaccai's “La sposa di Messina” and DVD/Blu-Ray recordings of “Giovanna d'Arco” from the Festival Valle d'Itria, “Adelaide di Borgogna”, “Ciro in Babilonia” and “Aureliano in Palmira” from the Rossini Opera Festival, the 2012 “New Year's Gala Concert” and Bellini's “La sonnambula” from Teatro La Fenice in Venice and Donizetti's "Le Convenienze ed Inconvenienze Teatrali" from Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In 2016 her first solo album “Serenade” was released by Opus Arte. Upcoming releases include a DVD of Ronconi's “Lucia di Lammermoor” with Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, conducted by Roberto Abbado and a DVD of Donizetti's “Rosmonda d'Inghilterra” with Festival Donizetti of Bergamo.
Ms. Pratt is the winner of numerous international vocal competitions, including the ”Australian Singing Competition” and the ”Vienna State Opera Award”. In May 2013 she was awarded the prestigious international prize for coloratura sopranos La Siola d'Oro “Lina Pagliughi”. In September 2016 she was awarded the “Oscar della Lirica”, International Opera Award as Best Soprano of the year.
Sherman Lowe
Sherman Lowe is a voice teacher and vocal pedagogue. He is one of the most sought after experts of operatic singing in Europe. He is a scholar and voice researcher by nature, and he received a grant from the renowned Fulbright Foundation to research and study singing techniques in Italy.
Sherman is a frequent lecturer at voice conferences and is often invited to hold masterclasses both privately as well as for important institutions, including Maggio Musicale di Firenze, Teatro Communale di Bologna, la Fenice di Venezia, Opernhaus Zurich, Geneva, Hamburg, Barcelona, Budapest, Cluj, Ticino Festival in Lugano. University of Bologna, l’Accademia della Voce di Torino, Junges Ensemble at Theater an der Wien in Vienna and the students of the Accademia del Bel Canto “Rodolfo Celletti” Festival della Valle D’Itria in Martina Franca.
Sherman lives and teaches privately in Italy. His studio is an international melting pot of singers from every corner of the globe, who regularly win prizes in the most prestigious voice competitions and perform leading roles in most of the world’s leading opera houses.
Sherman is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, University of North Carolina in the United States. He completed his formal education at Accademia Chigiana in Siena and the Hochschule Mozarteum in Salzburg. He studied with some of the finest teachers in New York, including Daniel Ferro, Armen Boyajian, Shirlee Emons, Leyna Gabriele and Randolph Mickelson and prepared roles in Europe with Walter Berry, Hans Hotter, Simon Estes, Kim Borg, Licia Albanese, Graham Johnson and Geoffrey Parsons.