Pannon Philharmonic

- Ayane is here, because I gave master classes in Japan, on the island of Hokkaido, in Sapporo; and there I recognised her, a girl with special vocal abilities. Otherwise, there is no opera house on the island of Hokkaido; Ayane was at an opera performance at the first time in Hungary. And then, she has gained here a lot of information about the stage - tells the teacher instead of the Japanese singer – since Ayane still exercises just the basic scale of the Hungarian and the English languages.
- With Melinda Szente, my relationship began earlier; we have been working together the fourth year now; she came to us as a barely 18-year-old student - reports about her other disciples Andrea Meláth. She is also a fantastic talent; and is developing very smoothly. It is essential to highlight that thanks to the Pannon Philharmonic for this extraordinary evening, because they provide the musical accompaniment, and the Kodály Centre for our aria exam.
- What I had expected, I get from the MSc curricula; we focus less on the technique, but rather on the stage presence - summarizes about the highest level of the opera department Melinda Szente, who also reports about their joint programme. – We will outline the musical periods to the end of the Romantic era, with several scenes from the opera world, selected from such famous pieces as Don Giovanni, Eugene Onegin, or Romeo and Juliet.
We also asked that: how to fit three sopranos “in one tavern”?
- We really get well with each other; and we will always watch each other's lives and successes.
Andrea Meláth outlines their further professional way, too:
- I am sure that the time will come when Melinda Szente becomes a dramatic soprano. She is sometimes a bit naive, sometimes very viable, so the role of Tatyana, which is in the programme, suits her well. And Ayanoe is a coloratura soprano, with totally amazing abilities: excellent sound in the high register, while she is, unlike in the Far East practice, not only technically outstanding, but her singing has a soul, and her stage presence an aura.
And Sheer Livia is a lyric soprano, as we learn it from Ingrid Kertesi, who is also a world-renowned opera singer, for Livia is her pupil.
- It started with singing musicals at the student theatre of my primary school - reports Livia on the beginnings. It turned out that my voice is worth for more work, thoroughly. At first, I studied to be a musical actress, but my teacher let me realize that I have to go further. On the other hand, I have been dealing with sounds since I was a schoolgirl, in some way or in other. I attended an English class of a school at the Lakeshore of the Balaton, and then, I studied to become a speech therapist; but the singing has always been the first on the list, and I went to drama academy as well. In the meantime, I have put the musicals aside; there is different voice training, I do not want to confuse myself.
- As an opera teacher, I debut with Lívia in Pécs, and anyway - says Ingrid Kertesi. And what can we add to their basic training? The voice program is the same, but they are technically on a very high level already, so the performing solutions will get a major role, to which I can add my own experiences with opera.
Livia Sheer thinks that her main strengths on the stage is the tone of her voice. It is her teacher, who adds that it has "light" when she is singing; her lyric soprano voice sounds especially clearly; it is so unique that it can be immediately detected among hundred others, as well.
And then, both teachers summarize the characteristics of the aria competition in Pécs:
- It's not easy to succeed in this genre. One is very musical, but not outwardly attractive. One has a nice voice but is not very musical. The three opera students of Pécs, however, have everything together: they are beautiful, musical, and their singings have individual sounds; what more, they are not afraid of stage performances and plays, to show some feelings. From now, they only need a little luck to make some larger steps up to the international podium.