Workshop 2024

July 11th-14th, 2024 in Florence, Italy

Following the success of its first two workshops, Lied the Way hosted its third workshop from July 11th-14th, 2024. This edition was open to female Lied Duos and took place in the heart of the Renaissance — Florence, Italy.

Commitment to Collaboration

For the first time, Lied the Way hosted a special-edition workshop for female Lied Duos—singers and pianists. In a culture that often puts women in competition with one another, we looked at the foundations of what makes healthy and successful collaborations—musically, professionally and personally—and how we can nurture these individually and as part of a larger community.

Beyond a “Masterclass”

Although at our workshop we highlight many aspects of a musician’s experience, our core focus is still on the music. With our mentors Prof. Anne Le Bozec (Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse Paris) and Prof. Pauliina Tukiainen (Mozarteum Salzburg), we explored new ways to discover and relate to our music-making in innovative sessions that go beyond the typical hierarchical “masterclass”. We met every evening for a group session with both mentors and each duo received an individual session with both Pauliina and Anne during the course of the weekend.

Strengthening Partnerships

Like any relationship, building a musical partnership requires trust, being seen and heard, as well as setting boundaries and making compromises. With our career and performance coach Waltraud Österreicher we looked at the ways that we can most effectively communicate our needs, respectfully set boundaries, resolve conflicts with integrity and most importantly support one another to bring the best out of each other. Participants met as a group each morning with Waltraud and also had a duo session with her over the course of the weekend to talk about a specific area or project that suits the duo’s needs.

Returning to our Bodies and Voices

At Lied the Way we continue to put a focus on getting outside of our purely rational experience, with an emphasis on returning to the body - our original home and source or strength, wisdom, and joy. With the holistic vocal coach, singer-songwriter, and doula Kendy Gable, we engaged in a variety of activities to connect with our bodies, voices, and breath. Kendy invited us to approach singing as a path to self-knowledge, one that begins to reveal the possibilities within your voice and leads you into a deeper relationship with yourself, others, and the world. Participants met as a group each morning with Kendy and also had a duo session with her over the course of the weekend, where she showed specific breath-work exercises from her experience as a doula to form stronger, trusting partnerships through the body and breath.

Final Concert

For the first time, Lied the Way hosted a concert at the end of the workshop. The beautiful hall of Palazzo Corsini al Prato was filled with guests who could listen to a beautifully versatile selection from the art song repertoire, performed by the participating duos. The recording of this concert is not only a memory and proof of the artistic quality of the participants, but also a valuable investment into the future of every performing duo.

Palazzo Corsini al Prato

The workshop took place in a beautiful Baroque Palazzo in the heart of Florence, the home of Mascarade Opera Foundation. We are very grateful to our partners at Mascarade Opera for offering their space to us!

Meet our Mentors

  • Pauliina Tukiainen

    PROF. OF LIEDGESTALTUNG, MOZARTEUM SALZBURG

  • Anne Le Bozec

    PROF. OF VOCAL ACCOMPANIMENT, CONSERVATOIRE NATIONAL SUPÉRIEUR PARIS

  • Waltraud Österreicher

    PERFORMANCE AND CAREER COACH

  • Kendy Gable

    HOLISTIC VOCAL COACH, DOULA, FOUNDER OF “OPEN VOICE”

 FAQs

  • The core of our mission still remains in supporting female Lied pianists. Because our profession is a collaborative one, we decided to host this special-editon workshop to focus on how we as women can become better collaborators for and with one another, and have invited singers to join us in addressing this topic.

  • No, only female singers are invited to participate. For now we continue to keep our events women-only, as we believe that there are not enough spaces for women to learn from and share with each other in today’s society.

  • No, our programs are open to female artists of all generations. At LTW we believe that learning is a continuous spectrum and that experience can mentor youth and youth can inspire experience.

  • Yes, we are currently in the process of organizing a final concert on Sunday, July 14th. We know that performances can add an extra “pressure” to a workshop space, which is why we have avoided having them at our past workshops. However we want to look closer at our relationship to performing and explore ways that we can bridge the gap between what we are working on privately and what we share publicly.

  • No, if one of the members of your Duo is on our Verein (English: association) then your Duo is exempt from paying the 30€ application fee.

  • You are welcome to apply, however as we believe that it changes the group dynamic when everyone is there for the whole period, and at this workshop there will be a final performance, we will put a preference on Duos who will be able to attend for the entirety of the workshop.

Thank you!

Vielen Dank to the Athenaeum Dietrich Götze Stiftung für Kultur und Wissenschaft, without whom our workshop would not be possible

Photo credits: LTW Workshop- Zoe Spawton, Headshot Anne le Bozec- Paul Castanié.