A multidisciplinary opera professional with extensive international experience. Inspiring and helping opera singers for more than 20 years.
Diction coach for opera singers in Italian, German and Russian.
My philosophy
An excellent coach is a singer's mirror
As a former opera singer myself, I try to be the pianist that I had hoped to find during my singing career. What does this mean? I expected the pianist to be professional and knowledgeable but also empathic, supportive and patient.
The singer who comes to my studio probably needs a mirror. In my studio there is a three-dimensional mirror: musical, linguistic and vocal. I strongly believe that working on these three aspects contemporaneously yields much quicker, more natural and longer lasting results.
Music, language and vocal technique exist in symbiosis
If your breathing stops moving, the musical phrase also loses its pulse. If there is some pitch uncertainty, it could be a syllable that is not pronounced properly. If the sense of the text and prosody is not clear to the singer, the music's flow is interrupted.
Respect the individuality
Every singer is unique and has her/his own artistic and vocal personality. When I collaborate with singers, I always have a maximum respect for everyone's individuality, refraining from commenting on vocal technique unless asked. In the music, there are always multiple possibilities and solutions. I know well, after 15 years of singing studies, that a pianist who does not know where and when to move on a technical problem can be damaging and counterproductive for the singer and it means a loss of time and money for all those involved
Breathing is essential
As I see it, the foundation of everything in the music is the breathe, the movement of the air. Even the most expressive musical intention will not come out if this movement stops. And then there is a very important part of the score: the text - language, diction and prosody. It happens very often that the ideal musical solutions come out through the rhythm and accent of the text.
Preparation
Excellent sight-reading skills are one of my strenghths and I am able to work on most pieces immediately. Still, I always prefer to work through the scores on my own before I meet the singer. In this way, we make the most effective use of the time, and the singer can have the maximum benefit from a coaching session.
"I'm so happy to have worked with Toomas. he is generous with precious advice. I 've quickly taken things to another level with him and have saved valuable time. I've finally found my pianist/coach."
Laila Khaleeli
Mezzosoprano
"Toomas is a very dedicated Voice Tutor and Coach! I have learned so much even through online sessions during this pandemic.... ...Toomas is very detailed with vocal pedagogy training with me be it spacing, breathing, focus point, as well as diction... (Not forgetting to mention he would handpick some fun Aria or Recitative for us to make the lesson exciting!)"
Elisa Woong
Soprano
Briefly
I am a pianist and vocal coach based in Rome, Italy, specialised in opera. My linguistic background allows me to coach different repertories from Mozart to Wagner, Monteverdi to Strauss.
I have prepared singers at world-renowed opera houses, including the for the Teatro alla Scala, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Teatro San Carlo di Naples, the Teatro dell'Opera of Rome, the Teatro Real de Madrid, Oper Graz, the Portland Opera, Oper Bonn, the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Estonian National Opera, the Grafenegg Festival, the Teatro Regio di Parma and the Festival Aix-en-Provence, among others.
Currently I have a continuative collaboration with the Theatre "Vanemuine" in Estonia and I have been holding regular courses for the collaborative pianists at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.