About Masterclass Lady
Rosanne (Giallonardo) Simunovic began her musical career in Timmins, Ontario. She studied piano with Anne Pizzale and later, at an advanced level, with Soeur Anita Vaugeois (Sister Cecile of Les Soeurs De L’Assomption in Timmins). Her vocal and accompaniment skills were nurtured by her aunt, the late Dorothea Mascioli.
When Rosanne graduated from O’Gorman High School, she moved on to the University of Toronto where she continued her piano and vocal studies while attaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She was hired as a piano accompanist for several musical companies, most notably, the National Ballet Of Canada. She presently holds an A.R.C.T. Teacher’s Diploma in Voice from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.
Rosanne has studied choral conducting with numerous well known Canadian Conductors, including Wayne Riddell of Montreal, Quebec and the internationally renowned Dr. Elmer Iseler.
She has been a founding member of numerous community-based arts organizations: the Timmins Arts Council, later known as Arts & Culture Timmins, the Timmins Symphony Orchestra, and, the Timmins Youth Singers…as well as the TYS Alumnus choir, the Timmins Concert Singers. In 1987, she was also selected to be the conductor of the Timmins Board Of Education Choir, comprised of talented students from Grades 5 to 8.
In 1988, she was elected to the Board Of Directors of the Ontario Choral Federation (now known as Choirs Ontario), where she served as Chair of the Festivals Committee for six consecutive seasons. In 1996, in honour of the Ontario Choral Federation’s 25th Anniversary, Rosanne was selected as one of 25 recipients of the OCF’s Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contribution to the choral art. The ceremony was presided by Lieutenant Governor, Hal Jackman.
In November 1997, Rosanne Simunovic was selected by the Rotary Club Of Timmins to receive the prestigious Paul Harris Award for her years of dedication to the artistic development of young musical talent in Timmins.
In August of 2002, Rosanne Simunovic was selected by the Board Of Directors of Choirs Ontario to serve as Conductor of both the Provincial Junior and Teen Choir Camps, now renamed in honour of the Camp Benefactors, Don and Lillian Wright.
In November 2002, Rosanne was the one of the recipients of the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, honouring her work in the development of the arts in Timmins.
Under Rosanne Simunovic’s direction, the Timmins Youth Singers and the Timmins Concert Singers have been featured in numerous choral festivals and performing opportunities outside of Timmins. In 1985, they were selected to partici
May 5, 2010 
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Thank you ssoooo much for posting this wonderful performance! I found American Idol during Season 7 (thank you David Archuleta for blessing my life and ears!)…and missed Kelly’s journey through Idol and her post-Idol career. I’ll have to pay more attention to her, as she is so talented and expressive! MCL, thank you for your insight and comments, you bring so much depth to interpreting music – I feel like a blessed student! 🙂
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They could not have called Central Casting and ordered up a better person to be the first American Idol than Kelly Clarkson. Everything about her was perfect. I can’t tell you how many times I have come across her performance videos on You Tube from that first season and said to myself “ now that’s an American Idol.”
I love Kelly Clarkson.
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Thanks Sheryl and Gene. She is quite amazing, isn’t she? What a voice and what presence!
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Now, that’s a master class right there!
Along those lines, I also loved Melinda Doolittle’s “I Got Rhythm”:
(I don’t know if/how to embed a video in the comments here!)
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Hi RR! I fixed it for you! Thanks for the video and always great to hear from you.
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I love her and remember that this is the performance that caught my attention and called to my husband that he had to see this girl with the most incredible voice I heard in eons.
And, that’s how I feel about Siobhan.
I put her in the same class as Kelly C. In her, I thought Judy Garland lives again.
This is why Season 9 is over.
No one on the stage belongs there other than Siobhan.
I caught clips of last night’s performance on Youtube.
They were 3rd and 4th rate next to Siobhan.
So sad.
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Thanks, MCL!
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What an entertaining video from a bubbly Kelly Clarkson. I did not watch AI prior to season 7, so have not seen this before. What a knockout voice and the presence she had! Thanks for this MCL. I certainly did not get any feelings close to this watching last nights performances, sigh.
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Thank you, MCL for posting that because I hadn’t ever seen anything really prior to season 7. That was spellbinding. Her voice and stage presence is commanding. She looked like she had been doing this genre for years. Her phrasing, expressions, interaction with the audience were all natural and perfect. Wow!!!!!!!! At that point in the first season did they ever get criticism for not being current? Or do they get a pass with this genre? How would I like her to duet with Harry Connick, Jr!!!!
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That was indeed a classic performance by Kelly. I remember watching that way back when I was looking at Season 1’s performances. Stuff Like That There stuck out in my mind because she sounded amazing yet still had a lot of fun with the song.
While we’re sharing favorite standard performances, I thought I’d include Kat Mcphee’s Someone to Watch Over Me. A treat for sure!
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Thanks very much for posting this link to Kelly’s performance. The first season was the only year I didn’t watch Idol. I had no idea that Kelly was that good. WOW!!! Oh, to have someone like that on Idol now.
When I filled out the Idol survey today, I suggested that Kelly and Carrie Underwood be mentors. Afterall, they’ve been the two most successful winners. But Idol is going to have a hard time finding any mentor as good or better than Harry Connick, Jr. He was amazing!!!
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Rereader,
Thanks for that clip of Melinda! She was my all time favorite. When she was voted off at final three, I felt like a piece of me died. That almost caused me to swear off this show forever. It still hurts when I watch her just blow the roof off the place with that performance. If at all possible, she sounds even better than I remember. I will always regret her.
MCL,
I did not watch season 1, so this clip of Kelly Clarkson bringing down the house, was a revelation to me. Talk about raw, natural talent! This girl could just rock the house! What can one say? She had it all – the voice, the presence, the joy, the sass, the confidence, the total package. Oh how far down we have gone since this promising start.
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In case anyone is wondering, this is what Dial Idol is showing for results:
1. Lee
2. Mike
3. Aaron
4. Crystal
5. Casey
I hope we don’t lose Crystal.
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Kat sure is beautiful..
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Mindy I know how u felt regarding Melinda D – I took the day off after she was eliminated. I was soooo upset. Worried for my Crystal tonight…too close to call.
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Thank you for the redirect – do you think we will get to see anything like these performances again?
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Kelly Clarkson was fantastic during Season One and in my opinion, there has not been another contestant like her. Simply amazing and I still love her. Anyone who missed that season should see all of her performances.
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Thank you so much for your wonderful post, MCL! I had a very trying day, and seeing your wonderful words about Kelly (and hearing Kelly, of course) made me feel so much better! 😀
This performance is a masterclass in every sense of the word. When she starts singing, every time without fail, I literally imagine the screen turning black-and-white; her voice captures the time period so authentically. Stunning! Watching Kelly during season one was such a privilege. I had no idea what the show would become, but I knew I loved Kelly. And in my naivete, I just assumed that she would success—how could the winner of such a show not succeed?—but viewing Kelly’s success in light of subsequent winners’ really validates how special Kelly truly was and is. She’s still the show’s greatest success story, all these years later, based on worldwide sales, radio airplay, and so on. I’m so proud of her. It’s been a fun ride, being a fan for more than 7.5 years now!
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*would be a success
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Plus their presence is SO GOOD with the vocals, and the clarity. Aaron came CLOSE last nite, but if I could get him on some resistance training–to both build his muscular mass and diapragmmaic breathing–his vocals would have been SUPERB! And he would no longer be so nervous:)
And I liked how Aaron used the stage and he did look FLY last nite.
Ms. M; maybe you should contact the AI honchos and see if they will let YOU be a mentor:)
And it should be full ‘hands-on’ just like Mr. Connick:)
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Awe at Aaron going home. It’s hard seeing them leave each week. 😦
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I started watching American Idol in mid-season 1. Then I watched Idol Rewind which filled in some blanks. Let me tell you what a fan I am… I have watched every single show. When we are on vacation, my daughters taped the show for me. I have kept my tapes and may transfer them some day to a DVD.
Kelly was the perfect first Idol! There was such innocence in the show that first season. The contestants had nothing to go by for preparation or scripts. The judges weren’t so manipulative and we weren’t aware that there was casting for the show.
I would like to know why Idol didn’t have Melinda on the show to sing one of Sinatra’s classics? We had to view a sub-par performance by Lady Gaga instead. Ugh.
Thank you, MCL, REReader, and Beth!
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One thing that these older performances have made me realize is that I have really talked myself into thinking that this season’s crop of singers were great. I like Crystal, I like Mike, I like Casey etc.. BUT they all pale in comparison to previous years. Thank you for Melinda’s video! Now there’s a true singer and entertainer! She was just so amazing to watch and listen to! Kelly Clarkson, Katherine McPhee – same thing! Some of this year’s contestants are artists, but I really don’t see any of them on the big stage, pulling off a truly specatcular 1 hour concert. I can see myself sitting in a tiny lounge or bar, listening to them for maybe 20 minutes, but that’s it. Are any of them idols? Even Siobhan, who I feel was the best out of this crew, doesn’t have what Melinda, Kelly or Katherine have. She’s young, so I’m sure she will grow and I look forward to following her career. Hope this doesn’t sound too negative, but I am so uninspired by this show now. I gave it the benefit of the doubt on Tues night, saying I am not going to let Siobhan’s absence ruin this show for me. And it didn’t – the singers did. I like how MCL put it…”THIS is how a BIG BAND performance SHOULD sound like”. Will we be saying this for the remainnder of this season?
On a more positive note, Harry was terrific!! I loved his approach with all the singers and his down to earth interaction with everyone on the show – including the audience! And he did really bring out some new dimensions to SOME of the singers. The best mentor yet!
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Hi there. It’s me, the sad, crabby one who misses Siobhan more than words can say. But I love this video & I just favorited it to my YouTube playlists. I am not as familiar with Kelly’s voice/style as I would like to be. This makes me want more. What a fabulous performance!! I can’t help but think that things were more supportive and friendlier back then in the early days of Idol. This made me miss Paula too; her comment to Kelly was so kind & genuine. What a difference between her & Kara (in spite of positive comments that some of the contestants, like Adam Lambert, have made in regard to Kara). Oh well. Sigh. I guess I’m just a little sad today. Thanks, MCL, for sharing Kelly & her amazing talent with us.
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Hey Cookie Monster! Nice to see you back here. I think I may just add a new big band video topic every so often. All those great big band showcases to choose from past AI seasons is an inviting prospect.
Re Siobhan – I think that we never saw her true performing potential because she was so fearful of the judging that she couldn’t relax.
She said recently that she wants to incorporate some rock numbers into her Idol tour repertoire. Also, her father said in an interview that she has received many offers from a variety of sources, some of whom are major. So, we have to wait and see what happens.
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You are most welcome, Darlene and thank you as well!
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Thanks for your nice article on this particular performance of Kelly Clarkson! I was awestruck the first time I saw this video. What a natural performer!
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