Bringing Back a Love for the Best of Classical Music
It all started when…
Camille & Elissa took a bold move on April 1, 2019 and began a new partnership with a big dream. They had already worked together for several years on weekends and evenings as musicians building choirs, teaching students, performing and accompanying. Camille had been studying piano under Elissa, and Elissa had been studying voice under Camille. They had been trying to squeeze in evening recording sessions for voice, piano accompaniment, Vaccai and vocal instruction, in addition to preparing for the Christmas and spring recitals at Camille’s Bel Canto voice studio. All of this had been part-time, when it became clear that it really was time to jump in with both feet and do something with it. At the time, Elissa was working as a professional horseback rider at a world-class Hunter/Jumper arena exercising horses, Camille had a successful vocal studio teaching out of both Poulsbo & Port Townsend with students on her wait list. With a bold move, they both quit their jobs to begin a partnership and pursue an exciting new dream together. What is that dream? To bring back the best of classical music with both joy and precision, to travel to unusual locations to record stunning music videos and to touch peoples hearts and lives with the beauty and power of divinely inspired music, bringing together the best of the past, the present and moving with it into the future of music.
Camille JMJ
Vaccai Teaching
Choral Director
Bel Canto Perfomance
Elissa Lorraine
Piano Accompaniment
Classical Instruction
Piano Performance
Camille JMJ
Ahhhh…..Singing! There is nothing that I'd rather do than sing. It fills my soul.
I grew up in a family of singers, my father an Irish tenor and my mother an Italian soprano. I learned what Bel Canto meant from my mother. I was fortunate to get the Bel Canto greats like Enrico Caruso, Rosa Ponselle, Galli Curci, Ezio Pinza, and Bidu Sayao in my ear from infancy. I believe this exposure is why I sing and even more that I can teach the opened pure tone of Bel Canto.
I am a second generation student of Enrico Rosati, a world renowned Bel Canto teacher, my mother having studied under Rosati. My mother passed on everything she knew to me about Bel Canto, and my childhood and young adult life was full of beautiful music.
Even while I was a professional chef for more than 15 years, I never stopped singing or perfecting Bel Canto. In my forties I opened my own vocal studio, Madame Camille's Bel Canto Studio in Poulsbo and Port Townsend, WA. I have taught adults and children of all ages for over 10 years. Many of my students have gone on to lead roles in musical theater, the Seattle Opera Youth Program, and are receiving college scholarships for vocal excellence. I am confident when I say that I can correct any singers problems and that no matter what genre a singer pursues I can give them power, range, beauty, and health for their voice.
During my teaching years, I also founded and directed a performing choir, Bel Canto Voices. It was during this season that I met Elissa, my musical partner. I knew right away the first time she played piano for me accompanying my choir, that she had a rare talent. While working together, we have come to realize that we must put our musical dreams together and perform.
While I have been performing in the Seattle area over the past 5 years, I have received consistent comments, such as… “How do you create such pure dynamic sound, where does that come from?,” “Your voice touches my heart and gives me goosebumps,” “I am blessed to have heard you sing,” “Why are you not singing at Carnegie Hall?” My answer to all of these questions would have to be having mastered the art of Bel Canto and my absolute love for singing.
Now working with Elissa, who is not just a concert pianist but an exceptional accompanist (a rare talent), we form together a musical duo that excels in excellence, wanting to bring life back into all the classics, old, new, and original.
Bravissimo!
Elissa Lorraine
I was given an incredible musical gift by a truly great teacher. Kenneth L. Moses took me from a very average and rather ordinary 19 year old pianist and passed onto me a great legacy of music, precision, skill, excellence and tradition. I grew up in Friday Harbor, Washington, a remote island with an hour and a half ferry ride just to get to the mainland. I took lessons there from anyone I could find who would teach me, and I practiced long hours. When I graduated high school I went on to study music at Pensacola Christian College in Florida with music and academic scholarships as a Music Major Piano Proficiency. After I came back, I was quite confident of my ability, until I was introduced to Mr. Moses by the young man who would later become my husband. Mr. Moses was kind and encouraging, but I quickly realized that if I truly wanted to excel in my art, I still had a long, long ways to go. The young man I had met was a brilliant young pianist, and I wanted to learn how to play like him. So, I started taking lessons from his teacher. I traveled 6 hours each way every other week just to sit at the feet of greatness, and learn from Ken Moses. This was the greatest single musical blessing and investment of my life. Mr. Moses was 4th generation Beethoven if you count by teachers: Beethoven taught Chopin; Chopin taught Rachmaninoff; Rachmaninoff taught Mr. Moses’ teacher, who then taught Mr. Moses. It was here that I found the musical insight and perspective I had been craving and searching for my whole life. He taught me how to practice, how to play, how to teach and how to perform. Over the last twenty years, I have honed the skillset he passed on to me. I have played my Hanon until I could do it with my eyes closed, taught over thirty students, accompanied and performed for churches, choirs and local music studios, and now I am so very excited to be beginning this new adventure with my friend and incredibly talented vocalist Camille.