French Language Coach For Opera & Classical singers
Individual & group COACHING
TO BOOK A SESSION ONLINE:
herve@hervegoffings.com
MY EXPERIENCE
I am a native French speaker living in London. I specialise in providing French language coaching to singers. I studied classical singing at the Royal Northern College of Music, followed by an MA in Musical Theatre (Performance) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. I am a French language coach for the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, BBC Singers and a Samling Artist Programme leader. I work as a French coach at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and I am a visiting tutor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the Royal Academy of Music. I have also provided French coaching for the Welsh National Opera, Royal Danish Opera and Opera Holland Park. My future engagements include Carmen at the Royal Opera House in April 2024.
I am a versatile French actor (I worked internationally with Peter Brook) and a drama teacher. My longstanding experience as a language coach gives me a solid understanding of the challenges that non-native speakers face while singing in French. With a strong emphasis on the use of the phonetic alphabet, and drawing upon my skills as a singer and an actor, I support students to gain mastery in their pronunciation of the language, and in their theatrical interpretation of a piece.
INDIVIDUAL & GROUP COACHING
My French coaching is aimed at:
professional and semi-professional singers with a prior knowledge of French and an interest in the French repertoire. Sessions are ideal for those who have an upcoming audition, competition, concert or opera performance.
vocal and operatic students who wish to build up their French repertoire. For those who are new to the French language I teach the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to achieve correct pronunciation.
During French language coaching we will:
Focus on your pronunciation, diction and the patterns of stress and intonation in the language
Consider the language in relationship to your voice, the music and the meaning of the text (my background as a classical singer and actor is extremely useful for this)
Work on your interpretation of your piece (character coaching)
Build your confidence to sing in French
MASTERCLASSES
Photo credit: Mark Pinder
My masterclasses on French repertoire are intended for singers of National Opera Studios and Young Artists Programs. They are also ideal for students of music colleges and academies. The Masterclass is an intensive French coaching experience which aims to deepen the personal interpretation of songs and arias.
My most recent masterclasses took place at Samling Institute School of Music, The Royal College of Music, Cardiff University School of Music and Mexico City.
For more info please contact me: herve@hervegoffings.com
OPERA PRODUCTIONS
I have worked on a number of opera productions as a French language coach:
LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN - Offenbach - Lithuanian National Opera - 2024
LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES, Bizet - (excerpt) - Royal Opera House - 2023
WERTHER - Massenet (excerpt) - Royal Opera House - 2023
HAMLET - A. Thomas (excerpt) - Royal Opera House - 2023
CARMEN - Bizet - Royal Danish Opera - 2022
MANON - Massenet (excerpts) - Royal Opera House - A. Pappano - 2022
MARGOT LA ROUGE, Delius - Opera Holland Park - 2022
LA DESCENTE D’ORPHÉE AUX ENFERS, Charpentier - Vache Baroque - 2022
CARMEN, Bizet - Welsh National Opera - 2020
TESTIMONIALS