Joan Metelli
Joan Metelli has received wide acclaim for exquisite vocal artistry in recitals, oratorio appearances and operatic roles and high e for being one of the finest vocal technicians and rehabiliators of classical sound. Her engagements as singer and teacher span the United States, Eastern and Western Europe, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica and the Middle East. A lyric-dramatic spinto, Metelli specializes in Puccini, Verdi, Strauss and contemporary (particularly American) vocal works.

A recital collaborator, Mitchell Andrews, writes of her, "her voice is rich, warm, flexible, and wonderfully expressive, her diction superb, and her command of languages most impressive...she has the capacity to bring music to life and is one of those musical artists who were unmistakably born for the stage."

A Fulbright scholar to Germany and a Metropolitan Opera National Council Winner, Metelli holds degrees in vocal performance, opera performance, music education, and an associate degree in piano performance from the Staatliche Hochschule fˆºr Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart, Florida State University, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Wingate University. Fluent in the German language, Metelli also holds diplomas in Italian from the Scuola Lorenzo de Medici (Florence) and the Scuola di Lingua e Cultura (Siena), intensive Czech studies from the Asset Language School in Cesky Budejovice, and minor studies in French and Russian. Other awards include Russian and Eastern European Institute and International Center Grants (Italy, Germany, Czech Republic) from Indiana University, the Metropolitan Opera, Arts America, United States Information Agency, International Institute of Education, Wagner Gesellschaft, Mu Phi Epsilon International Fraternity of Music, and the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico.

A vocal and interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Metelli has performed innovative recital-lectures including American Music Theatre: The Fusion of Great Acting and Singing at the Broadway on the Ruhr: The Musical Comedy in the New Millennium Conference (Dortmund, Germany), The Vocal Works of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco in the Issues in Judaism Lecture Series (Hofstra University), The Most Ancient of Minorities: History and Culture of the Jews of Italy from Antiquity to the 20th Century (Hofstra University), A Recital of Vocal Music based on texts of Shakespeare at the Shakespeare at the Millennium Conference (Hofstra University), An Array of Musical Emotions: Creative Synergies of Composer, Librettist, and Artistic Muses at the World Institute of Phenomenology, Fine Arts and Aesthetics (Harvard), Comparative Romanticisms in Vocal Music at the American Conference on Romanticism (Milwaukee), The Need for Healing: Women's Experience In Song, Politics of Caring III, The Enduring Spirit of Women: Song Portraits in the Women As We Age Conference (Omaha), and Bringing Historical Women to Life: A Musical Portrait of their Feelings and Words at the Great Lakes History Conference (Grand Rapids).

A leading authority on the development of classical Italianiate technique, Dr. Metelli's students are engaged with major opera companies and festivals including The Metropolitan, Philadelphia, Florida Grand, New York City, Seoul Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Virginia Opera, the Saito Kinen Festival (Matsumoto, Japan), East-West International Music Academy, Tanglewood, Santa Fe, Glimmerglass, and the Israel Vocal Institute. Her students have received awards in such competitions as the Metropolitan Opera National Council, Richard Tucker, Shoshana Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competition, the MacAllister Awards, Connecticut Opera, National Association of Teachers of Singing Artists, Anna Maria Saritelli Di Panni of the Rhode Island Opera, the New Jersey Opera, Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Fraternity, and the National Federation of Musicians.

Joan Metelli serves as a board member and on the executive and administrative committees of the International Alliance of Women for Music. In addition to university teaching, Dr. Metelli maintains private students, master classes and vocal consultations throughout the world. She has served as Artist-Faculty of the Pacific Rim Summer Festival (British Columbia), the Altenburg International Music Festival and East-West International Music Academy in Altenburg (Germany), The Hudebni International Music Festival and International Master Classes of Jihlava (Czech Republic), and has led a Singer-Abroad Master Class tour to Florence, Italy.

Upcoming engagements include Dominick Argento's Miss Havisham's Wedding Night in San Francisco, and a return to Jihlava for the Third International Master Classes.