Francesca Mondanaro on the big voice and the pillars of building a career that most often is not linear

10/20/22 • 89 min

My guest today is a dear friend and colleague of mine Francesca Mondanaro. A fabulous singer and a master teacher. At the forefront of our discussion today are topics such as working with and Identifying the big voice and what “building” one actually means. Why developing and listening to your own intuition is so important in addition to three metrics Francesca has defined for trusting vocal growth for the young singer who is still learning to take ownership of their own instrument.

Why developing and knowing your WHY is crucial in being able to play and stay the long game, which is what it takes to build a career in opera, and dare I say in any business for that matter.

There is some powerful information in this episode that you can profit from no matter where you are in your career.

After a 15-year international career performing as a dramatic soprano with such companies as Deutsche Oper Berlin, Spontini Festivale, Sarasota Opera, Nashville Opera, Opera Baltimore, Opera Delaware, Teatro Grattacielo, and many more, Francesca Mondanaro has moved into teaching voice for emerging young artists and working professionals in opera and musical theater.

In 2022 alone, her clients have been featured in roles with Santa Fe Opera, Sarasota Opera, Florentine Opera, Center for Contemporary Opera, Opera Delaware, Teatro Lirico d’Europa, Opera Orlando, Baltimore Concert Opera, Barn Opera, San Diego Opera, and the National Broadway Tour of Disney’s Aladdin, just to name a few.

She has also been a guest master teacher for the Vancouver Opera Young Artist Program and Brooklyn Music School since 2018. Francesca is absolutely passionate about working with unique instruments, and the whole human, not just the voice, by creating a nurturing, positive environment in her studio that allows for each individual artist to find their most authentic sound, built on a technique that gets them where they want to go on their artistic journey.

It was such an honor to have had Francesca on the podcast as she is a wealth of knowledge and experience! A fabulous singer and a master teacher and just such a warm presence to be around!

Connect with Francesca Mondanaro:

Website | Facebook

Resources Mentioned:

The artist's Way by Julia Cameron
The body keeps the score by Bessel van der Kolk
Ikigai by Héctor García

Why developing and knowing your WHY is crucial in being able to play and stay the long game, which is what it takes to build a career in opera, and dare I say in any business for that matter.

There is some powerful information in this episode that you can profit from no matter where you are in your career.

It was such an honor to have had Francesca on the podcast as she is a wealth of knowledge and experience! A fabulous singer and a master teacher and just such a warm presence to be around!

Connect with Francesca Mondanaro:

Website | Facebook

Resources Mentioned:

The artist's Way by Julia Cameron
The body keeps the score by Bessel van der Kolk
Ikigai by Héctor García

Previous Episode

undefined - Ingela Onstad on how thoughts and emotions are not facts. Improving our self-talk. Breaking down overwhelming goals. Finding other ways to financially support ourselves and how our habits impact our performance and anxiety.

Ingela Onstad on how thoughts and emotions are not facts. Improving our self-talk. Breaking down overwhelming goals. Finding other ways to financially support ourselves and how our habits impact our performance and anxiety.

Ingela Onstad is a High-Performance Coach for performing artists and other professionals in the public eye, as well as a professional soprano, psychotherapist, and board-certified coach.

Her coaching business, Courageous Artistry, supports performing artists in their quest to perform at the top of their abilities. She helps performers address emotional wellbeing and mindset in order to help them take massive action towards creating or maintaining their dream careers.

She has thousands of hours of clinical experience as a therapist with a variety of ages and issues, but helping performers is her true passion.

Ms.Onstad has presented on the topic of performance anxiety at dozens of institutions across the United States and Canada.

In addition, Ms. Onstad is a soprano who has enjoyed a varied international career in opera, concert work, and contemporary music. Operatic highlights include performances throughout Germany, Canada, and the United States.

She continues to maintain an active performing career.

In our conversation today we talk about how to deal with our natural tendency to break into fight or flight mode. We talk about how thoughts and emotions are not facts and how we can better our self-talk and thought patterns so we don’t end up standing in our own way.

She guides us through breaking down big overwhelming goals, like getting an agent, into manageable steps. We talk about how we as singers are entrepreneurs and that we are essentially running a business with every single role that entails.

How there is no shame in finding alternative ways of supporting oneself while you build your career. And lastly how every single aspect of our lives contributes to our well-being or not, and how being vigilant about building good habits may help your anxiety.

Connect with Ingela Onstad, MM, MA, LMHC, BCC

Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Linkedin

Resources Mentioned:

Mindset by Carol Dweck
Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman
Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman
You are a badass by Jen Sincero
The alter ego effect by Todd Herman
The artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Next Episode

Janet Williams on building resilience in a tough business

In our conversation today Janet generously shares stories and lessons learned from her own career. How she developed debilitating anxiety just as her career was going really well, what answers and tools she found to tackle it and how the solutions in turn inspired her to write her excellent book “ Nail your next audition”.

We delve into subjects on building mental tools needed to deal with struggles head-on in order to build your confidence and not tear it down. We talk about building an optimistic mindset, the foundation of resilience, defining how your ultimate goals should feel, pivoting, and finding other outlets for your creativity that make you happy while you build your career. And why the budding artist in you needs to be fed and nurtured just like the musician in you.

After an international career of more than 25 years of critically acclaimed performances at major concert halls and opera houses around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, and Berlin Staatsoper, American soprano, Janet Williams has dedicated her life and passion to teaching the art of performance mastery.

Her book, Nail Your Next Audition, The Ultimate 30-Day Guide for Singers was translated into German under the title: Erfolgreich vorsingen! The 30-Day Countdown to Take Off, and is the go-to guide for singers preparing for high-pressure performances.

The positive response to the book inspired her to develop the “Leistung and Performance Workshop”, which she has taught at music colleges, universities, and Young Artist Programs for singers since 2009.

Her students have won contracts with Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera Studio, Berlin Staatsoper Studio, Vienna Staatsoper Ensemble, La Scala, Theatre Liceu Opera Barcelona, Oper Köln, Oper Leipzig, L’opera de Bruxelles,

Janet Williams has worked as an adjunct professor, associate professor, and visiting professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock and at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, where she is currently an Honorary Professor. She is regularly invited to judge in international singing competitions. In 2012 she founded the Leistung and Performance Vokal Akademie Berlin, offering master classes, workshops, and performance opportunities for young talent.

Janet Williams received Bachelor of Music Degrees in both Vocal Performance and Music Education from Michigan State University and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Indiana University. She is a prize winner in numerous vocal competitions.

Janet is a long-time mentor, voice teacher, and dear friend of mine, not only did teach me to sing but she really helped me with a lot of my mental hurdles like so many of her other students.

This is a rich interview, full of love for the craft, the voice, and the people who decide to make it their lives work. There is some gold in here for everybody in the profession of singing!

Connect with Janet Williams

Website | Facebook

Write an email to Leistung & Performance Vokal Akademie Berlin for inforamation the next upcoming Online 30 day challenge:

[email protected]

Books Mentioned: