Lara's story

Lara Matteini, who had a long and successful career as a professional singer, now teaches Opera Singing at Liceo Musicale Marco Polo in Venice. We spoke to Lara about her 20 years of professional singing, as well as her experiences preparing students for Trinity exams.

Lara was a very musical child, starting her piano studies at the tender age of 6. At 17, she decided to turn her attention to Opera Singing, eventually graduating from Conservatorio G.B. Martini in Bologna.

“At the same time, I got a specialization in Baroque Singing at Schola Cantorum Musik Akademie in Basel, and I followed this with a degree in Musicology at University of Bologna”

Lara then began her career as a professional singer, performing around the world and winning numerous international opera competitions. After deciding to settle in Venice, she became interested in the idea of teaching.

“I put an announcement on eBay saying that I was a singer and I wanted to teach. After two days this young boy answered me, and I started teaching him right away. I discovered that I liked it, so I decided to do a teaching diploma.”

Not long after completing her diploma, Lara started teaching in a Liceo musicale, which is a secondary school specifically devoted to music and dance. The more experience of teaching Lara gained, the more she realised she wanted to learn about the profession.

“About six or seven years ago, I began to study the Trinity certification, and this really changed my way to teach, because the syllabus really gave me a different way to organise the programs I write”

“Classical Conservatoire singing programs suppose that the students begin to sing at the age of 18, but my students begin at the age of 14, and the voice is completely different.”

“I work with the students in the first part of their life, so I am so proud to be there from the beginning - it's a great responsibility for me.”

We asked Lara what she appreciates in particular about preparing students to take Trinity’s Singing exams.

“Trinity helps me so much because of the repertoire – I can organize all my knowledge of thousand of pieces into levels. The structure is fundamental! It also changed the way I give lessons because I added sight-reading”

Lara even noticed changes in her own singing the more she worked with her students.

“After beginning teaching, I finally learnt how to sing! if you say one thing to your student, after that you have to do the same thing - I became aware of my voice, so my students were really a mirror for me!”

“Trinity helps me so much because of the repertoire – I can organize all my knowledge of thousand of pieces into levels. The structure is fundamental!

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