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
April 16, 2014 
Picture Credit: AmericanIdol.Com
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I have been hoping a Kings of Leon song would be sung and was excited when I heard Caleb was singing one. But he was just so so.
Jessica has a good voice like a technician but she doesn’t feel it or it doesn’t get make me feel it.
I really like Sam & Alex together and the judges just always want vocal gymnastics ?
Give me a pretty smooth as butta tone any day.
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I didn’t hear Caleb but I did hear Jessica and thought she was excellent. The judges have been on her back for the last few weeks and I wish they would let up. She is a wonderful singer. No wonder the ratings are down with this kind of negativity and game playing.
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I really liked both Caleb and Jessica tonight. In fact, this was my favorite Jessica performance. I thought Sam and Alex were boring with their duet.
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Why is Demi Lovato critiquing the singers? I thought we were done with her now that X Factor has been cancelled. So annoying.
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Sam and Alex were so good tonight. While the judges didn’t like the duet, I did and I really enjoyed both of their solo’s. They are current and with the right material both could be successful. IMHO
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Yes they were excellent but Jena is a monster on that stage. Brimming with confidence and artistry.
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Loved Jena tonight!
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I thought the night went to Jena overall.
She had a decent turn at the overdone “Creep” and I would have enjoyed her more in the duet of “Gimmi Shelter” if I hadn’t seen the documentary “20 Feet From Stardom” about a week ago. The monster backing vocalist Merry Clayton was summonsed to the studio in the middle of the night to sing the duet with Mick Jagger. She showed up in her pajamas, mink coat and rollers in her hair and blew everyone out of the studio. Everyone else pales by comparison. Even still, she had the strongest night of the group and she looked good tonight.
I’m really getting tired of them riding Jessica. They could have built a very successful artist by just tweaking her raw talent but they will probably run her off before the top five at the rate they are going. There was really nothing wrong with her performance That a moderate helpful, supportive critique wouldn’t have covered. Then to dig up and rehash the attempt to make her the mean girl in Hollywood and reminding us that she didn’t know the lyrics of the group number way back then. Finally, the very awkward and ill conceived trio was pathetic. Maybe they should have paired Sam with CJ and Alex with Dexter and let her join the rockers. If there wasn’t such a long history of Idol doing this to female contestants it might go without notice but I would prefer to see them compete on equal footing without either pimping or sabotage. Jessica does a good job of not taking the bait and smarting off to the judges
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I didn’t realize I was using the same word, “monster,” that you used to describe Jena, MCL. I agree that she has a remarkable natural ability to perform. I don’t know what her history is but you would think she had been at it for 10 years or more.
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Tonight was the first time I thought Jena could win this thing. What a great night for her! I agree Aubrey, Sam and Alex were so good tonight. I liked the easiness of their song. Caleb wasn’t quite as powerful, but won’t be in trouble. I think that Sam has been reading about the comparisons to Ricky Nelson. I told him Ricky closes his eyes more, and this week that’s what he was doing. He seemed more sincere. I wouldn’t mind Dexter or CJ going home. I wish the judges would be kinder to Jessica!
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I loved the song choices for tonight, but am no way gullible enough to believe that there wasn’t some help with them???
My order for the night:
Alex and Sam Tied, I loved both of their songs and delivery. I love that the judges have just pretty much given up on telling them to move around on stage…cause by the looks of things, it ain’t gonna happen!
CJ was great, I loved him doing that song, I wasn’t even listening to sharp, pitch whatever I was just taken in!
Caleb did a good, he sounds like someone that I can not put my finger on, he is a rocker and that is that!!!
Jessica, I know I can’t believe it my self…last night was the first time that I really liked her voice. I could here the buses starting up after she sang!!! She needs to do more country songs like this!
Dexter, he sounds so much like Garth Brooks…but I can’t understand a word that he sings!
Jena, I guess I am in a huge minority when I say this, I do not like her voice at all, did not like her and Caleb’s duet and did not like her solo!
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I hope you don’t mind that I post this here, but I just ran across a small article by the mother of the girl who was on Harry’s shoulders last weekend. I think it puts to rest any discussion of inappropriateness.
http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2014/04/mom_of_girl_harry_connick_jr_b.html
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Poor Jessica. She is getting the same treatment that many strong female performers from previous seasons had to endure. In a nutshell, she is not the “chosen one” – Jena is. And this is the fundamental problem with Idol – the obvious subjectivity and negativity when addressing some of the performers. The Voice is a more positive experience and the ratings reflect this.
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haven’t yet watched the show. aubry..i was thrilled to know that a kings of leon song would be sung, and i look forward to it, although apparently i shouldn’t have too much anticipation. 🙂
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Any guesses on who will go home tonight? I will say, Dexter or Jessica with maybe CJ in the bottom with them!
I also forgot to mention…what was with all of the foot traffic on idol last night; why Demi, UFC fighter, Terry Bradshaw????? To boot no time to critique contestants?
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Vonnie – I was confused as well. So silly. A poor show has clearly lost its way. Sad. Really, really sad.
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I’m just now catching up on the performances (Passover got in the way!), and it reminded me–she sings really well, especially when she keeps it quiet, but there’s something about the way Jena pronounces words when she’s singing that really bothers me–it’s not the same way she talks, so I don’t think it can be a speech impediment, but it sounds really odd. I was wondering if you could pinpoint it, MCL?
I can’t complain that they sent Dexter home–he has a good voice, but he wasn’t bringing anything individual to his performances, and I couldn’t understand a single lyric he was singing! I think he might do very well in country music once he gets some life experience on him, though.
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Rereader…I agree with your thoughts on Jena!
Easter Blessings to everyone! Have a wonderful weekend!!!
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MCL…I am wondering is this isn’t a ratings ploy having so many people, plus we had Kevin Bacon doing opening announcements??? I wonder if the thought has ever crossed TPTB’s minds to make this a singing show???
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Well Vonnie of course this is a ratings ploy but, in my opinion, all of these random guest appearances devalues the show. It is beyond ridiculous.
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Rereader – I will have to check. It is probably an affectation of which she is not fuly aware?
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Rereader,
I remember at some point, audition maybe, Harry commented on it and then again later he made a comment about her tongue while singing! She almost acts like someone having a tongue ring in!
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Jena’s mouth is sort of fascinating for me to watch. She has a large mouth, big toothy smile and a short wide tongue that seems to be anchored very close to the front. There are a few singers that come to mind with a similar set of features. One is Christina Aguilera and another is Daryl Hall so it’s obviously not a career killer. Harry said something about her having a speech impediment at her audition.
Gina is interesting to watch no mater what she is doing. There is a lot of nuance and expressiveness in the movements of her lips and mouth whether she is talking, smiling, frowning or singing.
She sometimes appears to be rolling a marble around in her mouth. What ever the unique arrangement of features she happens to have, they works very well for her. The repetitive nature of “I Love Rock and Roll” became tedious before she was through with it but she usually delivers a better vocal than she did on that song. She did “Paint it Black” earlier in the year and I didn’t like the way she sounded on it either. Those two songs are why I think she should stay away from Rock and Rock and stick to pop. Most of the time, she is remarkable, especially for her age and known (?) experience.
Maybe it can be attributed to her youth and inexperience, but the reason I’m not interested in her as an artist of the future is that she said she wanted to do electronic music. YUK.
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Whether it is an affectation or the past existence of a tongue ring (ew! I know, I’m old fashioned 😉 ), I hope she will listen to advice and work on eliminating it–it’s very distracting.
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Gene and Rereader,
It is distracting, but for me I just don’t enjoy her voice! I do believe she is the chosen one this year and many others are going to be thrown under the bus to spare her!
I believe we were cheated out of some very good girls this year for an agenda! I think Majesty was the original chosen one and America didn’t see it that way!
Lol, that’s not old fashioned, I don’t like tongue rings either and they seem to be falling by the way side, I don’t see them nearly as often as when the trend first hit town! Nothing was more annoying than to have a young person talking to you with a tongue ring in…wait! Gene am I speaking like a replacement? 😉
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I completely agree with Gene’s comment about Jena’s version of “Paint if Black.” I thought it was painful and after that I expected her to be gone from the show in a few weeks. But now I also agree with Vonnie that she is the “chosen one.” Sometimes she is good, but there is something about her that I don’t care much for.
My favorites are still Sam and Alex. I love the tone to Sam’s voice, and the musical interpretations from Alex.
But all in all, not a very exciting year at all. It reminds me of the year that Lee DeWyze won.
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Louise…Sam and Alex are my favorites too! I would buy both of their CD’s if they were allowed to be the artists that they want to be! I love Alex’s diligence to remain the artist that he wants to be, I wish Idol would allow Sam to follow his own style too instead of boxing him into a boy band front man…I love these two duet ting together also!!!
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Vonnie if you see a station wagon with faux wood on the side, look away, don’t stare or it will draw you in.
I doubt that Jena is old enough to have had a tongue ring. Isn’t she 17? My guess is that you would have to be an adult or have an adult’s consent for that. Not a lot of parents are going to sign off on that. I find them in poor taste as well, especially for a singer. The lip piercings are just as bad. Zero support from me for pierced tongues lips or even backward ball caps. If you are not a welder or a catcher on a baseball team, the bill goes in the front.
I think Sam is done. Nobody survives being eliminated and saved by the judges, it just prolongs the agony. He missed his opportunity to connect with the audience he needs, not only to win, but to be successful going forward. People in our age group don’t even exist in the eyes of record labels, not for new artist anyway. For us they sign old established artist and re-release their old catalogue of hits as “Greatest Hits, Vol 10” or something similar. He has never connected with young girls and even appears to be afraid of them. He may bare a visual resemblance to Rick Nelson but he lacks all of the swagger, not to mention the stage Dad to enjoy his type of success. Sam has a gift but he should have waited until he gained some maturity and life experience to enter a competition like Idol.
I think it will be a battle of boredom to the end. Caleb has been good but he probably peaked too soon to win. Alex has been my favorite and hasn’t really peaked in the sense that the judges don’t give him the unmitigated praise and affection that they give Caleb, Jena and Sam. Jena has mixed up her presentation and peaked later than Caleb so she seems like the one to beat right now. Jessica wins by surviving. The best anyone has done in the position of whipping boy was Haley making it to third place. 6th is a more normal finish. So I think her victory will be in a good finishing position. She has gained fans and the performance aspect of her routine is improving each week, so you never know. If CJ survives one more round I will officially change his name to Sanjaya. He’s on at least his third extra life already.
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Gene,
I will definitely steer clear of any said vehicles with wood panels. 😉 There seems to be a lot of parents in our area who have “chose their battles” ?!?!? And allowed tongue, nose, lip, belly button piercings! So we had quite a few of the pierced speech impediment, pin cushion youth running around! Seems to be fading out, don’t see it as much anymore! They all have cell phones and tattoos now, no time for piercings!
I agree with your take on the idol circus! Now why can’t we vote Randy off instead?
I think with the help from the judges Jena will see the top two! Alex could squeak in there to make a top two appearance over Jena if the voters has a say! I think that will round out her Caleb and Alex with possibly Sam holding fourth position! Now to place them in a win place or show; I would have to give the confetti bath to…I don’t have a clue! Alex is more relevant to me but who knows!
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Thanks everyone for your input. I’m so busy with the end of semester hijinks I didn’t respond anywhere. Michael Slezak was in England last week and didn’t do his articles (Annie Barrett did them) or Reality Check. I missed you most of all, MCL!
Back to working on a critical paper on the epilepsy scene in Shakespeare’s Othello and Oliver Parker’s 1995 feature film adaptation.
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