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
March 11, 2009 
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Hey MCL. Can’t wait to read your review!!!
I think I have an Adam Lambert addiction. LOL. Can’t wait to see more of him. He is such a gem, and I can see why the judges love him. He must make it really hard for them to have to hold back the praise.
I always have a tough time picking my fave, but this season it’s clear as day for me. 🙂
Nice posters here. Lots of respectful disagreements. 🙂
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I LOVE Kelly Clarkson! ❤ If you enjoy her music, please buy her album, All I Ever Wanted, which was released yesterday (3/10).
On tonight’s results, I feel that the judges never gave Jorge a chance or a break. I think he’s very talented, and he has such a passion for music! I’m sad to see him go.
And I have to say that yesterday, I realized that I’m disappointed with the crop of girls this year–not that they’re untalented but none of them particularly excite me. Some of them have solid, if not amazing, vocals, but none of them have blown me away. Maybe I just prefer more dynamic vocalists.
That said, my favorite girl in the finals is probably Alexis, who has great style and musicality. I really like her phrasing and bluesy style. My nitpick, though, is that her vocal approach–although not “incorrect,” is very light, so even when she’s trying to growl through passages, she doesn’t ever reach a particularly “loud” dynamic. Now, I don’t like being shouted at, but I like multi-faceted singers, and I like singers who can be subtle when appropriate and reach great crescendos when necessary as well. I guess this is just the group we have this year; we can’t change that!
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J, one problem with this season is there hasn’t been any break-out performance by any of the contestants. They’re good singers and Adam is certainly a GOOD entertainer – but something is missing.
As I wrote on the other thread, I don’t like the changes being made this year and I don’t understand the “save the contestant” option. I thought they saved Megan by letting her go sit down. I guess I am a bit confused.
I also thought they were not kind to Jorge. Having the public not vote you back is one thing, but to have the judges reject you is humiliating. He does have a good voice and hopefully can do more things in his native country.
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I don’t totally understand the “save the contestant” option either. Or, at least the way it was presented I don’t.
They mentioned that they could use that option up until the Top 5. But some of the people they profiled left after that point. Chris Daughtry was #4. And wasn’t Tamyra off after the #5 point as well? I’m not sure. My AI viewing started with season 2. I’m just going on what I think I remember from reading articles about season 1.
I’m not sure I would want to be saved from a shock boot, honestly. I think people do better if they were the shock boot. I mean, the fact that Jennifer Hudson left so early and didn’t get as much credit as she deserved makes for a heck of a redemption story, right? And I think it helped Daughtry as well. It kept the interest up.
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Oh dear. This next week is country week. This is the one week that I don’t see as a slam dunk for Adam. I think he made a comment about not looking forward to that week or something. Help me calm my nerves, please……
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I think Adam will pick a ballad and just try to sing it as well as possible. Something he can start by sitting on a stool and show a quieter side to him. If he does that, he will be fine. If he tries to put a rock edge on something, it could be bad… I am VERY nervous about this week, as I want him on the tour and he needs to survive next week!
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Hi All:
Haven’t posted many times here, nor have I posted in a while, but I always stop in to see what MCL has to say about the Idols and their performances. But there is one issue I’d like to comment on.
As far as the “new” rule of saving one contestant one time, I don’t agree with it at all, and personally, even though they showed both Jennifer Hudson and Michael Johns in the clip when they were telling us about this “twist,” in my heart I believe it is mostly about Chris D., and the fact that he got voted off when he did in Season 5. I’ve always said, and will always say, that Chris being voted off had little to do with people thinking he was going to win so they just didn’t vote for him, and more to do with his personality, which although mostly non-existent, when we did see it, was laden with arrogance and cockiness.
We all know, this show is supposed to be about finding the best singer, but seldom has the “best singer” actually won. If people voted purely on who has the best vocals, perhaps Chris D would have one, and for sure, David Archuleta would have. But the truth is, people need more than just a voice. People need to be able to connect with a person in some way, shape, or form, and Chris D’s attitude made it almost impossible to do that. He presented himself as very cold and standoffish, and that attitude ended up hurting him, and was the catalyst for his demise.
As for this year’s crop, there’s lots of talented singers, but in my mind, based on how the majority of folks seem to vote, which in essence is with their heart and not their ears, there are really only two who have any chance of making it to the the finals.
It’s fairly easy to determine who is going to be in the finals after a couple of weeks into the season, and that’s the sad part of all of this. Voting is based more on emotion than it is on reason and logic, and as a result of that, sometimes better singers get get brushed aside for those with more flattering personalities. That’s just the way it is.
Idol, mostly Simon Cowell, whose need to make his his critiques personal exceeds keeping them on a professional basis only, has created this monster, and now Idol doesn’t want to have to live with it. Believe it or not, Simon has a lot of influence over how people vote, and his snarky comments have hurt the majority of contestants more than they have helped them. Some have left too early because of them, and some have stayed far beyond what they should have because of them. And that again, is because emotion dictates how people vote.
This show needs some serious overhauling because it is quickly losing any credibility it had.
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No worries about Adam. The country theme is broader than one would think – lots of crossover material.
I agree – i think Adam will settle down with a ballad and totally astound everyone with his vocals.
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I agree Skid. However, I can think of one time where Simon’s opinion did not matter: Season 5! Taylor Hicks won that season and Simon was not a fan. So, sometimes, the voters do have their say.
That being said – i think the “judges save” option is ludicrous. Most of the shocking moments in previous seasons happened after the Top 5.
Also, the semi-finals – with a Top 24 – allowed us to really get to know the singers prior to the Top 12 and that is when the growth process began. Remember David Cook’s “Hello” performance? How about david Archuleta’s “Imagine”? I’ll bet some of you could name more examples from previous seasons.
Have to finish my Vocal Masterclass article, so will catch all of you a bit later!
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I agree with MCL on Adam Lambert. I’m not worried about him at all. I think he can sing anything.
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MCL:
Actually, I’m very glad you brought up Taylor Hicks, because he is, more than any other Idol contestant, the person who was most affected by Simon’s opinions.
Simon’s blatant disdain for Taylor in my opinion, only helped Taylor, because his already massive fanbase was DETERMINED to prove Simon wrong, and went above and beyond to make sure they were there each and every Wednesday to vote for him. If Simon had kept it strictly professional, prehaps Taylor’s fanbase would, as other’s have, become complacent, and Taylor may not have made it to the finale. That tells me that in reality, Simon’s opinion did matter a great deal, just not in the way Simon wanted or expected it to.
And yes, you are absolutley correct. Most of the shockers did happen after the top 5.
And I sure do remember David Cook’s Hello performance, but, and how ironic is this, I remember his Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” performance much better.
BTW, just so you know, there are many of us who very much appreciate your thoughtful, insightful, and completely unbaised critiques, and can’t wait to read what you have to say about each individual performance. You, and your reviews, are a real TREAT!
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Hi all 🙂 I love this place. Everyone is calm and try his/her best to be objective. Mind if i share some thoughts?
Okay I’m a huge huge fan of Adam but i’m concerned about something.
It seems that Adam is presenting himself as a rock singer on American Idol (he’s part of a non-signed on band The Citizen Vein) hence his take on the songs (I can’t get no) Satisfaction and a rock (hair metal?) version of Black or White.
It seems to me that he wants to be consistent with that image, so i’m wondering if he’s torn between showing the prettier side of his voice in a ballad or once again put an edge to his voice in a ballad, which i think will hinder him from displaying his beautiful voice that can seriously blow people away.
If say he decides to scrape the edge in his voice for a ballad, would haters or people on the fence about him pounce on that and say that he was faking the rocker thing all along or something like that? It seems like there can be no win-win situation.
What do you all think?
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Hey Skid!
I’ll second what you said on MCL’s reviews being a treat. Can’t wait to read it!
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I don’t know. I haven’t really been that against the Judges’ Veto rule. In fact, the thought that went through my mind as Simon explained it was, “Hey, duh! I wonder why this rule wasn’t implemented from the start.”
This new rule gives voted off contestants a glimmer of hope. I mean for that ONE contestant who thinks his or her dream is over and they get saved by the judges, this rule will mean EVERYTHING to them.
There are times, I believe, when America justs gets it wrong for whatever reason. When that happens, it’s nice to know that there is a sort of safeguard in place against that. To be honest, I think it makes the whole process more fair.
However, I know we’re all entitled to our own opinions. This is just the way I see it.
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Skid, I appreciated your remarks about the persona of Chris D. and why he was voted off the show. It seems he has redeemed himself and is doing just fine.
Having been a fan since Season 1 has me feeling a bit discouraged about this season. I will watch every week as Paula declares who will be in the Finale. It makes for a boring season with little hope for others.
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