Learn to Sing in Vancouver BC
April 20th, 2010
Damien Jinks and Nadia Chana, at VISI 2009
Collaborations and Community:
Vancouver International Song Institute and Accent Inns
Again this year Accent Inns is collaborating with the Vancouver International Song Institute in mounting the annual Institute event June 4 – 23, 2010 at the UBC School of Music.
The Vancouver International Song Institute is a hard beast to explain – and many wonder where it is? What’s its address? The Vancouver International Song Institute – VISI – isn’t a place, it’s an event. It includes a training program for voice students and collaborative pianists, a series of lectures and workshops for voice and piano teachers to learn to improve their teaching. It also includes lectures and singing workshops for the general public and a series of public concerts.
It is all about song, particularly “art song” which is song with a story to tell – a poem set to music, text fused with sound. Song is as ancient as our species and has been used to express our personal, tribal, and societal experiences over the millennium – to connect people and to build community. VISI provides a special place for everyone interested in song to connect in a shared community.
At the heart of VISI is collaboration. Art song is inherently collaboration – from its creation with the partnering of text and music, through its performance in the balancing and coordination of the performers and finally in the interaction, both sharing and responding, between performers and audience. And of course there is the collaboration with community partners like Accent Inns who generously host visiting faculty.
The faculty of VISI includes an outstanding roster of singers, pianists, directors and scholars from Europe, the USA and Canada. They are joined by a talented group of students working towards professional careers as performers and teachers. Previous students have written:
“Every class I attended, every recital I heard, every musician I spoke with, inspired me to be more courageous, more open, more generous in my art.”
“VISI is far and away the most comprehensive summer program I have attended.”
Many of these students go on to high profile careers such as Fraser Walters who is now a member of the highly successful Canadian tenors featured recently on Dr. Phil and on Oprah.
You don’t have to be a specialist to enjoy song or to join this community of song!
Take advantage of these great performers and attend one or more of VISI’s public concerts held at various locations including UBC, the Vancouver Public Library, the Silk Purse, West Van United Church and Heritage Hall. Want to attend and from outside the lower mainland – Check with the Accent Inn Vancouver Airport for VISI concert special rates.
See www.songinstitute.ca for more information or contact VISI at [email protected]
Accent Inn Vancouver Airport hotel