Study with Maestro Goldberg
Jeffrey Goldberg teaches in his private studio in New York City. He focuses on experienced opera singers who hope to achieve increased technical and interpretive refinement, as well as young singers who are gifted and motivated. Because the inherent demands of opera singing are undeniably exacting, it is essential to establish a nurturing atmosphere of encouragement, honesty and trust.
The Technique
Technical mastery is indispensable, because it produces beautiful sound, polished execution and long-lasting vocal health. When properly developed, a secure technique will unleash the artistic imagination and enhance the ability to inhabit the character, the text and the drama.
Maestro Goldberg’s technique aims to recapture the glory of Italianate opera singing in the “Golden Age” of the middle of the twentieth century. After a lifetime in major opera houses analyzing the changes taking place in vocal performance, he teaches singers to return to the technical values that made the sound of great opera singing so captivating at that time.
Operatic singing has evolved significantly from the bel canto of the early nineteenth-century to adjust to changes in composition, orchestration and even the construction of opera houses. By the middle of the twentieth century, Italianate singing had succeeded in adjusting to these developments by evolving to a peak of power, intensity, flexibility and expressivity, based on a highly concentrated mixing of vocal registers.
Recapturing the technical practices of that time has many vital advantages for today’s singers. The sound is the most versatile, convincing in every operatic and art song genre, including Russian, German and French. It has the most beautiful timbre, the smoothest technical function, and is physically the most conductive to vocal health. In addition, it promotes the communication of tremendous passion and dramatic intensity. With the cultivation of this technique, singing of great resonance, tremendous range, variety of expressive color, agility and power is still attainable today.
Maestro Goldberg focuses on several technical elements that must balance organically in order for all the demands of the repertory to be met. With a sound technique, singers can expect to be in command of the basic virtues of fine singing: ample resonance, even vibrato, accurate intonation, broad vocal range, an even scale, full control of expressive colors and dynamics, agility, power, and elegant comprehensible diction.
The following elements of singing will be examined in depth:
- Posture
- Breathing
- Support
- Registration
- Vibrato
- Legato
- Diction
- Passaggio
Repertory
Maestro Goldberg coaches singers in French, German and Italian text, as well as style, phrasing and interpretation. He knows virtually the entire standard repertory and much else in addition. Since he is an accomplished pianist there is never any need to incur the expense of bringing an accompanist to a lesson.