Happy Holidays, Everyone!

We are delighted to conclude this year with many wonderful memories of great things that have happened, successes of Somatic Voicework™ teachers everywhere, and the expansion of the work in the international community. Much of this happens through “word-of-mouth” sharing, as we do very little promotion or advertising. That’s such a wonderful thing to know…that people find the work valuable in their own lives and in their teaching, and that they share it for those reasons.

(Photographed Above: Jeanie LoVetri and Michael Belden)

In January we were in Australia for our LoVetri Institute at the University of Southern Queensland. Plans for the next trip to Australia are not yet settled, but we are working on 2021, so we will keep everyone posted. There were visits to Boston, and then to Philadelphia for our annual visit to the Voice Foundation Symposium and then to Denmark for the PEVOC conference, and to Barcelona, for a workshop (with colleague Mary Saunders-Barton) and a personal trip to Madrid. This was followed by a trip to Las Vegas to the studio of Dr. Michelle Latour, and to Virginia, for a weekend of work with teachers in that area at the home of Bharati Somen. In between lots of great things were happening here in NYC, with students performing at Joe’s Pub, on Broadway, at the Jazz Standard, and out on the road both nationally and internationally.

(Photographed Above: Press Clippings from The Australian LoVetri Institute at USQ)

In June, Jeanie traveled to LA to work with the cast of Meredith Monk’s “Atlas” mounted by the LA Philharmonic, under the direction of Yuval Sharon. It was a huge critical success and it was thrilling to see Meredith’s work from 1991 finally recognized as the remarkable piece it is. Since Jeanie was there for the first performance in Houston, it was a double pleasure seeing it again with a new young cast of incredible performers.

(Photographed Above: Jeanie LoVetri with Yuval Sharon, director of Meredith Monk’s Atlas)       

Upcoming news for 2020 — Jeanie will be going to Brazil in January. First, to Rio for a Level I training there organized by Suely Mesquita and Cecilia Spyer and then to Sao Paulo for all three Levels presented by Vocal São Paolo. For more details about Brazil, please check out the information below. Suely has a chapter in the new NATS book, “So You Want To Sing World Music” which is available from Rowman and Littlefield.

We wish everyone a glorious holiday be it Christmas, Hanukah, or Kwanzaa, and we wish a peaceful, happy and healthy 2020 for all of us and the planet. At this time when so much in our world seems troubled, we are grateful for music, for singing and for the opportunity to gather together to share music we love and pass it on to the next generation, all over the world.

(Photographed Above: Jeanie LoVetri and Melanie Vaughan after her performance in “Do You Hear What I Hear” at the Laurie Beechman Theatre)

I would like to take this opportunity, also, to thank Billy Gollner, who is Editor of this newsletter and my Media Coordinator for our webinars and social media posts, and to all those who assist me in my travels; Jennifer Suess in Virginia, Kaoruko Pilkington in Boston, and friends in Brazil (Joana Mariz and Vocal Sao Paulo, Suely Mesquita and Cecilia Spyer in Brazil and Melissa Forbes and Heather Keens in Australia) for their help and the other people who assist them in making sure I get where I am going!! I also want to thank the Administrators of the Community Arts School at Baldwin Wallace University, Adam Sheldon and Meredith Kurtz, as well as my faculty there, for their continued work assisting me each summer. The Senior Faculty members are Michelle Rosen and Betsy Fiedler, and the regular faculty is Amanda Chmela, Leischen Moore, Benjamin Czarnota, Jeff Costello, Trineice Robinson-Martin and and Billy Gollner.

Many blessings to all and see you in the new year!

(Photographed Above: Jeanie LoVetri and the 2019 LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™ faculty: Dr. Michael Benninger and wife Kathy Benninger, Jeff Costello, Jerry Kaplan, Meredith Kurtz, Moran Cohen Talmor, Billy Gollner, Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin, Adam Sheldon, Amanda Chmela, Michelle Rosen, and Betsy Fiedler)