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 18, 2009 
Masterclass Lady On MySpace.Com
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MasterClassLady.Com 
Her performance was definitely praise-worthy, and you can feel the shock the audience had after her first few notes. Beautiful voice… Thank you for sharing MCL
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My oh my. Such”pure, unadulterated raw musical passion and fervor… The influences she garnered through her spiritual belief allowed her to remain grounded and attentive to what is truly important in one’s life.”
You are so right MCL. Also, thank you for the Wikipedia link.
I googled the lyrics to I Dreamed a Dream – hard to hear every word, what with the audience and the british accent. I must say that this song exemplifies Susan to a tee.
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Thanks for your spot on commentary MCL. Man, what a dream come true!
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Have you heard Susan’s “Cry Me a River”? In case you haven’t, here’s a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI2DxkrgpgQ
I was blown away by her voice on this. Susan may have “never been kissed” but she sings with all the passion, longing, and loss that is the message of the song. Her tone is so clear and beautiful. Susan is a true artist- maybe that’s why Simon was impressed. I hope she gets a recording deal!
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It is amazing how in just the first few notes that she sang – you knew this was something beautiful! Thank you for show casing this talented woman here – she is so praise worthy.
On a funny side — my husband has now youtubed this over and over and over again. He has youtubed other singers doing I Dream a Dream, the professionals from Les Miz — and he keeps jumping back to Susan’s version and says – he can now only enjoy hearing her sing it. I told him that Susan Boyle to him now is what David Archuleta is to me — but he still does not get it!
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I was so amazed when I saw this on the news. I went to youtube to watch the entire video and cannot get enough of it! She is simply amazing!! Even if she doesn’t go far on this show, something incredible will happen to her…..
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Shannon – Simon Cowell is rumored to be putting together a recording contract for her. She is definitely going on one wild ride to fame and I cannot wait to purchase her first CD!
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Susan reminds me of Paul Potts
He like she was mocked until he sang. the beauty of susan’s and pauls voices is amazing.
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My husband was listening to this yet again today – and he usually does not care for this type of music — and even my 13 year old was enjoying Cry Me a River —
I think she will do very well with her CD — I do hope that comes true for her. She has dedicated her life to others — now it is her time to shine.
As the BGT judge said — it will be a privilege for the world to hear her sing.
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That’s very exciting! I’m so happy for her! I cannot wait to get my hands on that CD too – some nice music to do some marking and prepping to…ha!
I love Simon’s facial expression at 4:00-4:04 – he’s is absolutely in love with her voice! HA!
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It certainly is a great thing to see such a beautiful voice get attention and accolades! Her voice is truly lovely. I can’t help but wonder though if she would have all this fame and support if she “wasn’t such a surprise” to Simon et al. I suspect she would still advance, but I doubt we would have all this buzz if she looked more like, say, Katherine McPhee. I guess it shouldn’t matter, really. If she can capitalize on her new found fame, than more power to her!
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Well, Sara, you do have a point there. But doesn’t Susan Boyle sing better than all the AI together? jumping to another thought, it really would be cool to have the “phoney” look (or the It Factor) outta here on earth. I think perhaps she became popular because we want the natural-be yourself-who cares about age; whitening teeth, weight issue, yadda yadda. but maybe on the other hand, we are making fun of her. S-A-D.
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As an afterthought, that would be tragic if people are making fun of her because in her interview; she said that because she had a learning disability, kids make brutal fun of her all through school.
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If anyone is making fun of Susan Boyle, I feel sorry for them because they are unbelievably shallow.
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I certainly hope that my comments didn’t give anyone the impression that I am making fun of her in any way. On the contrary, I am super psyched so many people are recognizing her talent and hopefully aren’t caught up on stereotypes. I can’t honestly say she is the best singer I have ever heard, though she does have a very beautiful voice (I am a Broadway enthusiast and she reminds me of a couple different Broadway vocalists). Let’s just hope that TPTB don’t try to exploit her in inappropriate ways. Show biz IS very tough, and sadly even with Opera roles now looks and age DO play a part. I for one look forward to purchasing her first album or seeing her on Broadway.
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Sarah said, “I certainly hope that my comments didn’t give anyone the impression that I am making fun of her in any way.” I didn’t have that impression at all, as a matter of fact, a couple of days ago, I almost wrote something similar to what you wrote about about wondering if Susan would be quite so popular if she was conventionally “pretty.” I’m always bothered with our culture placing too much of an emphasis on looks so Susan really bring this topic center stage.
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Such a lovely voice! What a pleasant surprise Susan is. I am wondering how that girl (with the black hair) feels now for rolling her eyes when she first appeared on the stage. She surely realizes millions of people saw her.
Sara, I can certainly see Susan on a Broadway stage – not all roles require a pretty, young woman. However, I wonder if she could handle the hectic schedule of being in a stage production?
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MCL, what did you think about the performance of the 12 year-old kid, Shaheen Jafargholi who also appeared on the show? Some feel he sings better than some of the current finalists in the TOP 13.
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As for Susan Boyle, I can confirm some dramatic breaking news: she has accepted my offer of a date, during a live interview with American chat show star Larry King, and we are going to be dining in a romantic London restaurant very soon.
This could spark the biggest press frenzy since Brad and Angelina.
WILL THEY KISS?
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THAT WAS QUOTED BY PIERS (ABOVE) (one of the judges and as *mean* as Simon)
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SS – When is this date? That is so adorable and, yet, worrisome at the same time. Is this guy just attracted top her because of her new-found fame? I would hate to see this lady hurt by romance fueled by fame and fortune – hasn’t she been through enough?
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I watched the video that Rosanne put up (thank you dear) and as deaf as I am, I turned up my two speakers as high as it goes and put it against my ear with a hearing aid—and I was ascended to heaven.
Visually, she is a sweet woman–humble, fun (shaking her hips at Simon! HO HO!) and very poised! she walks lovely across the stage with a straight back and her head high.
People like that with a handicap (lack of oxygen at birth which gave her “learning disablity”) and was made fun of all her life gave her this beautiful voice that has the emotion in it.
PLUS:
She loved her mother like I did (mine passed away in 2002) and I can see how her mother spiritually guided her and her mum is beaming from heaven.
My mother also spiritually guided me to go to college (I am 60 years old) I was born deaf, but mum talked me to speak and I went to puplic schools instead of a deaf instiution. I am now a grduate student with a goal to be a special education teacher.
Susan Boyle is charming, delightfully charming. I will follow her all the days of my life and use her for a role model for my special education students.
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“Is this guy just attracted top her because of her new-found fame? I would hate to see this lady hurt by romance fueled by fame and fortune – hasn’t she been through enough?”
Not to fret, MCL … the fellow that said this is Piers Morgan, one of the 3 judges of BGT. He’s a real egotistical twerp (you should have seen him on last season’s Celebrity Apprentice), but likewise, I don’t think there’s anything but fun in his invitation, as he’s very wealthy and has a girlfriend after just divorcing last year.
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Check out the picture of Susan Boyle’s makeover!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30387337/
And here’s an article in which music instructors critique her . . .
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30330165/
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Louise – thank you for sending those links. That was an interesting read and Susan still looks authentic! the makeover was just perfect, not overdone – or it would minimize the wholesome persona that she exudes.
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MCL, I agree. I think Susan looks terrific! She must be feeling so good about herself–it makes me smile just to think about it.
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Hey, I posted this in the Shaheen kid’s section, but it seems like there’s not a lot of activity there, so I thought I would post it here. I just wanted to get other people’s opinions on what I said.
“It does seem that American Idol is looking quite bad compared to its British counterpart. The kid and that Susan Boyle girl are amazing. You know, I think their success is a lesson Idol should take to heart. One of them would be too young to enter Idol, while the other would be too old. Perhaps Idol’s strict age limit is preventing it from finding some truly remarkable undiscovered talent. You know, as I am writing this, my mother is singing in our living room, and I can’t help but think that she sounds just as good (if not better) than this year’s contestants. The problem? She’s 45 and cannot compete on Idol. She is truly an undiscovered talent that I feel sorry people (other than me and my brother) will not get to hear. Come on, Idol, discard the age limit and allow some REAL talent to take center stage!”
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America’s Got Talent seems to be the show for your mother, Galen. Last year there were quite a few older contestants on AGT and a few of them made it to the finals.
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Thank you for that information, Louise. We may seriously look into that. I may pay a visit to their website and find out some details about it this year.
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