We teach students not only how to sing, but how to preserve their voices throughout their careers

At Frankopan Castle in Kraljevica, young opera singers are spending their days learning to treat the voice as an instrument they must maintain for an entire career.

The international masterclass, titled “Voice as an Instrument,” began on Aug. 24 for the second consecutive year. World-renowned tenor and vocal teacher Francisco Araiza leads the course, while Croatian soprano Marija Vidović, who conceived the project, serves as his assistant. Pianist Božo Letunić, a specialist in vocal repertoire, also works with the participants.

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We have everything, from beginners who are 19 years old to people already in serious careers. That is precisely one of the values of the course, because everyone comes with different experience, problems and needs.

This year’s eight students come from Croatia, Spain, Ukraine, Hungary and China. They range from 19-year-olds beginning serious solo training to singers in their 30s who have already established professional careers. Vidović said that range is one of the course’s strengths because each participant brings different experience, problems and needs.

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We try to bring out the best in everyone. Of course, it is individual work because no person and no voice are the same, but the synergy created by everyone listening to one another and being present all day is also very important.

The program covers vocal technique, repertoire, dramatic expression and interpretation. Although the teaching remains individual because every singer and voice differs, Vidović said participants also learn by listening to one another throughout the day.

The mornings focus especially on Araiza’s training routine, which Vidović described as a system for developing and keeping in condition the muscles required for singing. “The voice is an instrument, only the singer carries it in their own body and must learn how to control it,” she said. Araiza arrived in Croatia from South Korea, where he chaired an international singers’ competition jury, and is scheduled to continue to Vienna and China. He and Vidović have worked together as a professor and assistant team at the Wiener Meisterkurse for more than 15 years.

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The voice is an instrument, only the singer carries it in their own body and must learn how to control it.