Faculty

Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz

The Norwegian/Italian soprano, Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz, completed her studies at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome with John Shirley-Quirk, Peter Pears and, for a number of years, with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. She won the Salzburg “Mozart Wettbewerb” prize and the Spoleto “Sperimentale” prize, and subsequently began her career as an opera and concert singer. In 1993 she was awarded the Grieg Prize by the Grieg Academy in Oslo.

Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz, is regularly invited to the world’s most important opera houses, festivals and orchestras. She has worked with many distinguished conductors including Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, Gatti, Campanella, Myung-Whun Chung, Bychkov, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Georg Solti, Gergiev, Colin Davis, Mariss Jansons, Kurt Masur, Herbert Blomstedt, Seiji Osawa, Riccardo Chailly, Pappano, Kleiber, Lorin Maazel, and Tate.

Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz’ distinguished opera career includes many performances in Italy at Teatro alla Scala, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Carlo Felice de Bologna, Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, and La Fenice. Elsewhere she has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Opéra Bastille, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, La Monnaie, Teatro Real di Madrid, Opéra de Genève, Bayerisches Staatsoper, Vienna Staatsoper and The Norwegian Opera. With La Scala she has toured to Japan in La Bohème under Carlos Kleiber, Falstaff under Riccardo Muti, and Turandot under Lorin Maazel. Her principal roles include Pamina (Chicago, Madrid, Salzburg, Vienna, Bologna), Susanna (Milano, Vienna), Zerlina (Rome, Napoli, Vienna), Asteria Tamerlano (Florence, Halle, London, Paris), Adina (Milano, Rome, Napoli, Vienna), Lucia (Vienna, Spoleto, Oslo), Norina (Munich, Hamburg, Macerata, Napoli), Nannetta (Milano, Salzburg, Vienna, Madrid), Gilda (Vienna, Spoleto, Palermo, Treviso, Oslo), Oscar (Met, Chicago, Vienna, Oslo), Micaëla (Bastille, Rome, Oslo), Liù (Covent Garden, Athens, Bologna), Mimì (Glyndebourne, Oslo), Musetta (Florence, Vienna), Adele Die Fledermaus (Met), Gretel (Chicago), Constance Dialogues des Carmélites (Milano), Manon ( Vienna ).

Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz’ festival appearances include the Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro where she has sung Corinna Viaggio a Riems, Anais Moise, Jemmy Guilielomo Tell and Giulia La scala di seta, Salzburg, Montreux, Spoleto, Macerata, the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, and the Händel Festival in Halle.

Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz’ many concert appearances include the Berlin Philharmonic (Robert Schumann Requiem für Mignon and Johannes Brahms Requiem with Claudio Abbado), Vienna Philharmonic (W.A. Mozart‘s Mass in C minor with Georg Solti, J. Brahms Requiem with Claudio Abbado), Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala (W.A. Mozart‘s Requiem with Riccardo Muti, and with Gergiev), Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI (Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 4 and Der Wein with Tate), Dresden Staatskapelle (L.v. Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Strauss Lieder and W.A. Mozart‘s Requiem all with Giuseppe Sinopoli), Munich Philharmonic (Giovanni Battista Pergolesi Salve Regina with Claudio Abbado and Lily Boulanger Clarières dans le Ciel with Marcello Viotti), Bayersicher Rundfunk (G. Mahler 8° with Sir Colin Davis), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (G. Mahler Symphony No. 4 with Giuseppe Sinopoli, opera recital with Mariss Jansons), Bergen Philharmonic (G. Mahler Symphony No. 4 , Alban Berg Sieben Furhe Lieder, De Falla Atlantide, J. Brahms Requiem with Ceccato), New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Debussy Le Martyr de Saint Sebastien with Kurt Masur), Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Haydn Creation with Georg Solti), San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (J. Brahms Requiem with Herbert Blomstedt), Boston Symphony Orchestra (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges with Seiji Osawa), Orchestre de Paris (G. Mahler 2° and L.v. Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with Bychkow).

Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz has recorded for Philips, Decca, EMI, Ricordi and BMG including W.A. Mozart‘s Mass in C minor, Nannetta Falstaff with Georg Solti, J. Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem with Herbert Blomstedt that got the Grammy Award, Marzelline Fidelio and G. Mahler 8° with Sir Colin Davis, Tebaldo Don Carlos with Bernard Haitink and Asteria Tamerlano with Trevor Pinnock. She has also recorded a recital disc of songs by Grieg with the pianist Håvard Gims which received the Grieg Award.

Some of Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz’s most important engagements for the 1997 season included Moïse et Pharaon and Il Viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival, Der Rosenkavalier in Geneva, Die Fledermaus at the Met in New York, W.A. Mozart‘s Requiem in Dresden with Giuseppe Sinopoli, Les Illuminations by Benjamin Britten in Oslo, Der Rose Pilgerfahrt by Schumann at the Montreux Festival, L.v. Beethoven‘s Ninth Symphony at the Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, repeated in Bonn at the Beethoven Festspiele in 2000.

In the 2000 season she performed the Petite Messe Solennel at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Les Clarières dans le ciel by Lili Boulanger in Munich with the Bayerische Rundfunk, Les Dialogues des carmélites with Riccardo Muti at the Teatro alla Scala and La scala di seta by Rossini at the Rossini Opera Festival.

The following year (2001) she performed in New York, Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro Comunale in Bologna and she made her debut at the Teatro Regio in Turin with the Passion according to St. John (BWV 245) by J.S. Bach and Il Tamerlano by George Frideric Handel at the Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, repeated also in Halle. She also interpreted L’Osteria di marechiaro by Paisiello at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Hänsel und Gretel.

In 2002 Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz sang in Falstaff at the Teatro Reàl in Madrid, in I Capuleti and i Montecchi at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, in Don Giovanni at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome and at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, in La Bohème at the Opera in Oslo and in G. Mahler‘s Eighth Symphony at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome conducted by Myung-Whun Chung.

Recent and future engagements include Atalanta Xerses at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées under William Christie, Elena in Cappello di Paglia di Firenze in Torino, Gilda in Bologna with Gatti, Adina in Cagliari and Norina in Oslo.

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Matthew Mark Marriott

Matthew is fast becoming one of the leading Voice teachers in Norway and Scandinavia. He has worked as a voice teacher at the Opera Academy at the National Academy of the Arts in Oslo. He has also been a voice consultant to Nordic Institute for stage and studio in Oslo. In 2014 Matthew was given the position as a singing teacher at Toneheim Folkhogskole.

Along side this Matthew runs his own regular private singing studio for both student and professional singers.

In 2015 Matthew worked as a voice consultant to Ringsaker Opera, Norway and also as visiting professor to Hedmark University.

Matthew has given master classes throughout Norway including Stavanger University and for the Oslo Opera festival.

He has also given voice masterclasses for the Renata Tebaldi Foundation in San Marino and the Fillarmonica Romana in Rome.

Matthews students perform regularly on the International Opera stage and leading concert venues and also on the Musical theatre stage around the world. He has also had students successfully embark on the young artist programme at the National Norwegian Opera. He also has pupils who perform on national Television and radio.

He regularly prepares young singers for entrance auditions both in Norway and beyond and each year his students successfully fill many of the places of the accepted applicants auditioning to the foremost Conservatoires and Universities.

Matthew coaches and teaches many singers in Norway and also has students from around the world visit him in Norway for lessons . He is in demand by both students and professional singers. He is known as a teacher who shows great commitment to every student he works with and for his knowledge, patience, enthusiasm, positiveness and well trained ear

He maintains that teaching is essentially a relationship between pupil and teacher with respect and commitment on both sides. Whilst working on the voice, body and mind he considers the philosophical needs of the singer, and believes singing to be the voice of the soul. His fundaments, training and concepts are based on Bel canto principles of beauty of quality of tone, legato and freedom of voice, body mind and spirit!

Exercises are used on various sounds possible for the human voice. All vowels and consonants too are used in different placements throughout all registers, thereby achieving balance and evenness throughout the singers range, as well as flexibility at all dynamic levels.

Alongside this thoughts and use of the natural tendency and developments of the diaphragm as an emotive power is adhered to, and all excercises lead to the optimum individualness and quality of each and every singer. No voice is the same and should be trained accordingly.

Matthew works with many musical possibilities and variations so that when the student/singer performs there is nothing that has not been technically explored. The singer is then confidently able to use their imagination and inherent musicality to sing expressively with beauty and freedom.

Furthermore he has a complete understanding of vocal anatomy which is also a vital key to teaching.

Alongside this he is also a very competent pianist and regularly provides this aspect into his voice lessons.

He is experienced with both training the voice in Classical, Opera, Popular music and Music Theatre. However he specializes primarily in classical and Opera singing.

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Alessio Pizzech

Alessio Pizzech nasce a Livorno nel 1972. Ancora bambino si dedica al canto, lavora in un circo fino a 18 anni e in un attimo, da promessa del teatro, la critica lo definisce come uno dei più significativi registi italiani. Con straordinaria energia mette in scena circa 120 spettacoli fra prosa e lirica collaborando con tutti i principali teatri e festival italiani.

Dal 1991 si dedica alla regia in prosa.
Ha collaborato prima con il Festival di Castiglioncello e poi con Inequilibrio Festival – Armunia, Fondazione Pontedera Teatro, con l’Associazione Teatro di Buti, la Città del Teatro – Stabile d’Innovazione, il Teatro Metastasio di Prato – Stabile della Toscana, Il Festival di Ventotene, con il Teatroinscatola di Roma, il Cut di Venezia, la Fondazione Paolo Grassi di Martina Franca e di Milano, il Festival dei Due mondi di Spoleto, il Festival Il Garofano Verde, il Festival Primavera dei Teatri, il Festival Quartieri dell’arte di Viterbo, la Scuola del Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia di Roma ed il Festival TonesOneTheStones, Festival Lunatica, Teatro di Buti.

Dal 1997 si dedica alla regia lirica.
Ha collaborato con Opera Youth Arezzo, Lario Lirica, la Fondazione Donizetti di Bergamo – BergamomusicaFestival, Fondazione Gran Teatro la Fenice, Fondazione Teatro Verdi di Trieste, Fondazione Rossellini, Pergine Spettacolo Aperto, Il Teatro Alighieri di Ravenna, il Teatro del Giglio di Lucca, il Teatro Comunale di Modena, il Teatro Comunale di Ferrara,il Teatro Municipale di Piacenza, il Teatro Cilea di Reggio Calabria e il Teatro Vittorio Emanuele di Messina, il Teatro Verdi di Pisa e il Teatro Goldoni di Livorno, con il Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, il Teatro della Fortuna di Fano, il Teatro Lirico di Spoleto, L’ente Concerti De Carolis di Sassari, Teatro Umberto Giordano di Foggia, con l’Ente Luglio Trapanese, Festival delle Ville Vesuviane, il Festival della Valle d’Itria, con il Teatro Nazionale Sloveno di Maribor, il Conservatorio di Stavanger (Norvegia), il Festival OperaBarga, i Solisti Dauni, il Festival Lunatica e Taormina Arte, Festival di Oslo, il Conservatorio di Beirut (Libano).

È stato docente di Arte Scenica al Conservatorio Giordano di Foggia. Di particolare rilevanza l’attività di formatore attuata dal ’93 in Italia e all’estero. Ha al suo attivo un contributo per la pubblicazione “I Teatri della scuola“ edito dalla Provincia di Pisa.

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