History

In a work session in 2014, long-time collaborators and friends Elizabeth Bishop (mezzo soprano) and Patrick O’Donnell (pianist) began to discuss education:

“We were talking about how different opera training seemed to be from the way it was when we were in school… Overall, we recognized a gap in the training of those who had COMPLETED school, were really talented, but weren’t taken into the “traditional” route of young opera singers. Somewhere in the conversation, we laughed and said ‘We should just start our own school!’ And then we looked at each other and said ‘We should start our own school!’ We didn’t laugh after that!!

After discussions of what that “school” would look like and whom it would benefit, we planned our first workshops and masterclasses. We met wherever we could rent space and began the beta version of PVI. Our first real event was Divas & Donuts with Isabel Leonard on May 14th, 2015; by fall of 2015 we produced several weekend classes in drama, Italian style, and voice training, and our first Fix Your Five audition workshop in September.

Because our singers held jobs to support themselves, we designed PVI differently: a weekend/weeknight organization allowing them to continue their study in the time available & pick the events they needed. Over the next year, we tried different workshops on a variety of subjects, creating a basic, a la carte curriculum to meet our singers’ needs.

MasterClasses & Offerings Include:

• Fix Your Five Audition Workshop

• Divas & Donuts Masterclass Series

• A Touch of Drama Acting Workshop