After the Metropolitan Opera was forced to close last March, Rachelle Jonck, a pianist, conductor, and vocal coach, and Derrick Goff, a vocal coach and choirmaster, launched an online practice diary to provide community and inspiration for the singers they worked with in New York.
As their community grew to more than 1,400 singers, voice coaches, conductors, and opera lovers, they established Bel Canto Boot Camp, or BCBC, which is dedicated to inspiring singers and opera lovers to refine their listening skills and learn about the human voice and opera.
An introduction to the project prepared specially for Guild Hall will take place online Thursday at 6 p.m. and be followed, on four consecutive Sundays starting this week, by sessions organized around specific themes.
Ms. Jonck and Mr. Goff have created the introduction for Guild Hall to explain some of the specialized aspects and terminology used in BCBC’s approach and will be joined by Steven Tharp, a vocalist who has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, and many others, for guided listening.
Participants in the Sunday Zoom salons will learn what to listen for in historical recordings, discuss opera history and the bel canto technique, and learn where the technology “needs our ears and minds to ‘fill in’ what might be there,” according to a release.
Sunday’s program, “All Together Now,” will consider duets, ensembles, and finales. Subsequent sessions will include a Valentine’s Day tribute to opera’s favorite subject, love (Feb. 14); classic vocal virtues in 20th and 21st-century vernacular song (Feb 21), and favorite selections chosen by the BCBC Audiophile Society (Feb 28).
The introduction is $35, free for Guild Hall opera donors, and the Sunday series is $35 per session, $140 for all four ($105 for Guild Hall members), and free for opera donors. Registration is accessible through Guild Hall’s website.
