Carol Mastrodomenico maintains an active schedule as a guest soloist with numerous choruses, orchestras, and other ensembles. She excels in the interpretation of oratorios such as Poulenc’s Gloria, Beethoven’s Mass in C and Ninth Symphony, Brahms’ Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Mozart’sCoronation Mass and Requiem, Mahler’s Second Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42, Handel’sMessiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Fauré’s Requiem. Her opera roles include Pamina, Adele, Lucy (The Telephone), Rita, and Kate Pinkerton.
Ms. Mastrodomenico enjoys singing contemporary works and has performed the works of noted composers including Robert DiDomenica, Ellen Bender, and David Leisner. She premiered John McDonald’s Put this in your Pipe and Speech made by music with the Essex Chamber Players and premiered Ms. Bender’s Five Emily Dickinson Songs during New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Festival.
An accomplished recitalist, Ms. Mastrodomenico was most recently heard singing a program of Haydn’s music, featuring the cantata Arianna a Naxos, for the Boston College Chamber Music Series. She was heard last year for a program of voice and guitar music with guitarist David Patterson. She is frequently heard collaborating with flutist Vanessa Mulvey and clarinetist Michelle Shoemaker. She has been invited to perform at the Tanglewood Music Center, Jordan Hall, Faneuil Hall, the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival, the Boston Vocal Artists Series, and the 1794 Meeting House concert Series in New Salem.
Ms. Mastrodomenico is a frequent lecturer on vocal pedagogy. Most recently, she was asked by the Boston chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing to be one of three panel members for a discussion of different elements of “Teaching Men to Sing”. She was invited by the Western Massachusetts NATS chapter to give a solo presentation on Teaching Men. This past summer she developed and taught a new vocal class curriculum to the students at the Heifetz International Summer Institute in New Hampshire.
Ms. Mastrodomenico has been the stage director of Tufts Opera Ensemble for past eleven years. The Ensemble most recently performed the Boston Premiere of Ned Rorem’s Our Town based on the play by Thornton Wilder.
Teaching Philosophy
My philosophy of teaching fosters a love of singing and music, free from entanglements and unwanted obstacles. Students’ understanding of their own instrument, which includes their voice, breath, body, resonance, and mind, empowers success. I feel knowing the anatomy and physiology of vocal production is essential. Directive exercises that are clearly stated to students allow for productive and self-guided practice sessions both in and out of the studio. Through focus and play, singers are trained as vocal athletes. They will develop healthy habits and build endurance to prevent or work back from any injury with pride rather than shame, helping to teach the larger community. Students are encouraged to enjoy the process, while gaining sustainable and reliable methods for singing in a variety of styles that results in their unique sound. No individual is alike, so therefore no one method for teaching works for everyone. Rather through the knowledge of scientific facts and individual investigation of sound, movement, and imagery, the student discovers their ultimate vocal function and expressive communication.