Our Core Team

My style of teaching and directing is based on that of my teacher Franco Bertacci who studied with both famous tenor Franco Corelli and master pedagogue Cornelius Reid. The methodology as I have inherited it focuses on uncovering the unique sound of each student’s instrument through exercises that optimize vocal strength and agility. In working with vocalists, I make no assumptions about their instruments based on how they look or act, where or how they’ve sung before, or even the surface impression of their sound in the moment. Instead, I listen for the potential of the voice within, and aim to help singers discover that potential for themselves. By featuring voices trained in this traditional bel canto style – either long-term, or through their involvement in our company – I hope to share rich, complex, varied, and highly emotive voices with our audiences that are distinct from those you would hear in more mainstream companies. 

Most opera performances in America today are highly influenced by the sights and sounds of music theater, but opera is in actuality a very different art form. For example, one of the primary values of bel canto is “ciaro-scuro” – the balance of the bright with the dark qualities of vocal sound, which contrasts the primarily bright vocal sounds of music theater. Another misunderstood facet of operatic singing is vibrato. When done correctly, this is a steady and subtle spinning of sound that helps to project a complex and full-bodied voice, not an unstable and affected flutter. While both music theatre and opera tell stories through a combination of text and music, opera focuses less on linear storytelling and more on symbolism and emotions. Although there is an old Italian saying that one “should sing as one speaks,” this does not literally mean that one sings with the same voice as one speaks, but that an experienced opera singer should be able to emote with directness and ease of speaking. In opera, the voice is first and foremost an instrument that produces a powerful and rich sound. Thus, vocal expression becomes less about the articulation of a text and more about the artist’s emotional understanding of it.

The understanding that each voice is unique, and – through operatic training – in a constant process of growth and discovery must also lead interpretation of opera away from stock characters, type-casting, and a general reliance on the familiar and the safe. Personally, I think the inherent vulnerability of operatic singing calls us to populate stages with beautifully complicated and vulnerable individuals and to interpret works old and new in ways that bring out the subtlety and humanity in whatever story is being told. Thus the staging and curation of operatic events is compositional work; nothing can be taken for granted and every aspect is creative. Just as when I compose, when I produce and/or direct a show, I am looking to create an immersive experience that reaches into people’s souls and opens up their minds. I truly believe that opera can do all that, but only when the sounds particular to it as an art form are preserved and when the vehicles for its presentation are reimagined.

Finally, I believe that toxic industry priorities and work environments often prevent artists and productions from being all they can be, and so I aim to foster safe, communal spaces for musicians to learn, grow, and share their full brilliance with each other and their audiences. 

JULIA ANNE CORDANI

Founding Member / Music Direction + Vocal Performance

As a working artist, my motivation is simple: to share my craft with as large an audience as possible in a way that makes it accessible, moving, and most importantly, enjoyable. 

I find my approach to this is two-pronged. First, I aim to continue to hone my own skills as a musician, singer, and conductor alongside my presence and versatility on the stage. Second, I aim to invite more fresh, young members of the musical and theatrical communities into the fold through developing my teaching and outreach. 

One of my main complaints as a young working artist is that there are not enough opportunities for less experiences singers to gain the experience they so desperately need to succeed in a resume-based industry. This is the same complaint often found in more casual and traditional job-seeking environments – the age-old “this position required five years of experience but is listed as entry-level!” In my work, I aim not only to develop into my own sense of youthful artistry, but also to create platforms and learning opportunities for others coming down the pipes to do the same. I believe that the best way to solve a problem one sees is to enact their own solution, after all. 

Opera, particularly creative presentations of this storied artform, is perhaps the perfect medium through which to realize this vision. Requiring the collaboration of so many different types of artistry and craftspersonship at various levels of production, it also allows for singers, artists, stage workers, directors, and others of varying experience levels to all have a chance to make a meaningful contribution. Through the innovative presentation of multimedia and multifaceted productions as a part of the new Sotto Voce, it is my hope that I can continue to foster my commitment to enjoyable, inclusive artistry in a rapidly changing world. 

ALEX HUDDLESTON

Management / Stage Direction + Filming

Although I am a classically trained composer, I have always derived a great deal of joy and fulfillment from film, dramatic arts, visual art and graphic design. When I began working up some ideas for Sotto Voce’s new logo, I arrived upon this image: 

In a box of emptiness and white, Sotto Voce is a bright, bold, celebratory and proud entity. This is exactly how I view our ethos. Newer opera companies will often frame their mission around opportunity: for young artists, or for local artists, an opportunity is provided to them. But a pesky question rankles me – the opportunity to do what? We can do better than “the opportunity to perform opera” and this is what I aim to do with Sotto Voce’s productions. My goal is to utilize my background as a composer, as a DIY performance artist, and as an artist who takes pride in evoking magic and spectacle on a budget of $0, to properly support our artists. A director’s job is never just ‘stand here, do this with your body, that with your face.’ A director provides the structure and therefore support for a singer’s performance to be more than just itself, to be contextualized and have its impact multiplied through all the countless tiny framing devices that make up the totality of a show. And so, yes, we at Sotto Voce provide opportunities to our artists, but more than that, we make art. A Sotto Voce production is a work of art, not just another production of another canonical opera.