Episode 76

Gilles Ragon is back to discuss French Diction with the text to "Klein-Zach" from Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann. Our focus is on what happens when the same vowel sound appears back-to-back with no consonant between them, liaison, and some exceptional pronunciations in French.

The libretto for Les contes d'Hoffmann can be found at the Opera Guide. Make sure to click on L for libretto and F for French (because it defaults back every time) and then scroll down to Act I scene 4--the aria starts with Hoffmann's "Il était une fois."

The new projects that I announced on this episode are 

The Diction Police: Special Diction Unit (SDU)

Here we offer: 

• Video Tutorials on songs and arias, including Diction Police-style interviews with leading diction experts
• IPA transcriptions with word-for-word and poetic translations of texts from Art Song, opera and oratorio
• Translations into English, French and German
• Diction Tips
• Skype coachings

The Diction Police: By the Book

Our new webinar classes on lyric diction! A great refresher for professionals, an excellent resource for diction teachers looking for new resources for their classes, and a perfect introduction to lyric diction for young singers.

Our first Webinar session on French Lyric Diction will be held June 2016. Registration opens soon, so keep checking back for details!

And don't forget that François Germain will be giving a master class on French Lyric Diction for the Classical Singer Convention in Boston on May 28th! For exact details, check out the Facebook Event page.

Please feel free to contact me here, at the Facebook page, via Twitter, or directly at ellen@ellenrissinger.com