Valerie Girard Resume

      Recently resettling in New York after a long and successful career in Europe, soprano Valerie Girard is now accepting a limited number of qualified students in her private studio.

Ms. Girard performed as leading soprano in major opera houses throughout the continent, first as lyric-coloratura and later as lirico-spinto performing leading roles in theaters including the Zurich Opera, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, Semperoper in Dresden, Aalto Theater in Essen, Frankfurt Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Theatre du Chatelet, Paris, and the Marseille Opera. As concert soloist, she sang with symphony orchestras in Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, the Festival for Early Music in Innsbruck and the Konzertverein in Vienna, Austria. She was chosen as featured Mozart soprano for the International Mozart Festival in Prague.

She began her career in New York as a recitalist and concert soloist affiliated with the Concert Artists Guild of New York. She completed her studies in New York with a full scholarship to the American Opera Center of the Juilliard School, where she had the rare opportunity to work with such great musicians as Leonard Bernstein and Jennie Tourel. She also studied Italian belcanto and verismo opera with Luigi Ricci in Rome. Among other notable competitions and awards, she won first place in the Eastern Regionals of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions plus 4 subsequent study grants from the Met National Council.

In the USA, she has sung with the New York City Opera, Ravinia Festival, New York Choral Society, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Lincoln Center Chamber Ensemble and at the Wolf Trap Festival. She is the creator and artistic director of "Camerata Colombaia", a new summer music festival in the mountains near Florence, Italy, and has taught vocal technique and its application in repertoire privately in Germany and Italy, as well as on the faculty of the University of Koblenz.

"At last, someone who's willing and able to understand the individuality of my voice. Ms. Girard is a great teacher for the professional singer, though I regret I didn't study with someone like her when I was a student. She does not require that you start from the beginning again with 'her' technique. She is creative and intuitive and has the skill to help you immediately improve upon that which you already have. I am very excited that I have found her!"

CALL 914-310-7842 FOR AN APPOINTMENT OR SEND AN EMAIL: GIRARDVAL@GMAIL.COM

**Students visiting Europe are welcome to study with Ms. Girard at her vocal studios in Stia, Italy (near Florence and Arezzo) as well as in Munich, Germany.
More information about the European programs upon request**
Updated:  September 13, 2008

Back to Profile