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
December 16, 2013 
Picture Credit: NBC’s The Voice
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I believe Jacquie Lee and Will are going to be the final two. I’ve been a Jacquie fan since her first appearance and have voted for her each week and bought her tracks but I think Tessanne deserved the praise she received last week. Her “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was a very good showcase for her vocal abilities but it didn’t result in a track that I wanted to buy due to the excessively longgggg note that she added to the arrangement. I think the apparent pimping is actually the polite send off. We will soon see.
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In my head I was emphasizing the word “are” in the first sentence in agreement with you but it reads like I was ignoring your comment. Sorry.
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Gene – ya think? It seems like the primping had been excessive but maybe this level of excess is a “polite send-off” as you said.
I am watching the show tonight and am getting nothing from her. I do not get the appeal and her voice is too harsh to my ear.
Now, Jacquie Lee – that is another story. She is a star in the making. Great first performance and also her duo with Christina was beautiful.
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I agree except that I think the Tessanne / Adam duet may sell better on iTunes due to song choice and Adam’s “pretty man” status,and that’s where the game is won or lost. Will’s duet is going pretty well too.
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Well, Tessanne won me over with “I Have Nothing”. Her voice is still grating to my ear but her phrasing and breath control and nuanced and expressive delivery were brilliant.
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Yeah, Tessanne did a nice job with “I Have Nothing”. She is a seasoned professional singer. One of the things I’ve noticed about Tessanne this season is that she always stands out in the group performances, no matter what the style. I think I figured out what I didn’t like about some of her performances. There is sort of a mushy middle to some of her songs like she is killing time until the next featured part of the song. I believe it may come from her being a backing vocalist where she probably sings a little bit of reinforcing vocals between her next whoop or shoop.
Reggae isn’t my favorite style of music, but having listened to several of her songs that were available on iTunes before the Voice, she is very good at adding that flavor to her songs, whether it is original or a R&B or Pop cover. She is doing well on iTunes right now having just hit number one and many of her songs from previous weeks charting again. They all count for the finale I believe.
I think Jacquie finally realized she was on stage in front of millions of people and her usual steely confidence gave way to trying to sing with a smiley face during the early songs. I liked “Back to Black” better at her audition than tonight though. The round mouth position and nerves of steel were back for her final performance“…I’m Not Going.”, and it looked like she had good breath control on this song. I thought she did a good job with it, maybe her best of the season, but she lacked connection with the lyrics and didn’t seem to be delivering her message to anyone in particular. But, Jacquie has done exceptionally well for a sixteen year old who sings for nursing home patients.
I have to hand it to Will for delivering that heartfelt song that could have been written for him and his wife and child, directly to his wife as she held back her tears. You may not have seen the episode earlier in the season when Will said she was coping with a brain tumor as well as raising their young child. It sounded like Adam was giving him a fond farewell afterward, though.
So it’s looking like Tessanne will likely win but second place is a tossup right now.
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Your comments were very interesting. My co-worker and I have been watching the Voice and while we were both fans of James and Will, last night we both preferred Tessane.
I understand that Jacqie is extremely talented, but she was too young to do that last song justice. Her voice was great, but there was no FEELING in her performance.
And as much as I enjoy Will sometimes, Tessane killed with the Whitney Houston song. I’d really like to see her win, but honestly I believe that Jacquie will win.
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Hi Louise,
The charts change constantly, but If they announced the winner right now, I think it would be Tessanne followed by Will, with Jacquie in third. Even though this year’s rules have diminished the role of iTune sales in the vote totals, each week’s results, except for one, have been a direct reflection of the contestants chart position. So it’s a pretty good predictor when Tessanne’s single is at #1, her duet is at #3 and her older songs are moving up the chart as well, that she will win. Second place looked like a tossup last night but Will’s single is at #8 and Jacquie is at #9. I would say that was too close to call except that Will’s duet is currently at #10. So, Tessanne has two in the top 10 as does Will and I don’t think Jacquie’s duet, currently at #19, is going to make the top 10. Of course, these are not all of the votes but as I said, the vote totals have been a reflection of the chart all season.
I thought Tessanne sang very well but I couldn’t help but think as she did so, that as good as she is singing this song, she lacks that special distinction that Whitney had. She will have to rely on her Reggae fusion thing to be distinctive. Unfortunately for me, a little bit of that goes a long way. It’s not so much the vocal aspect that I don’t like but that rinky-tink steel drum sound that a lot of those songs have as well as applying that Reggae tempo to songs where it doesn’t really fit. She may do very well with it. A few of her original tracks on her albums at iTunes are pretty good.
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Thanks for that information, Gene. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed tonight for a Tessane win. Of course, does it matter? None of the winners on these reality talent shows seems to do much anyway–except for Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.
I always think it’s a bit sad when the shows are over and you never hear from your favorites again!
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It’s mighty quite in here.
Congratulations to Tessanne Chin on winning this season of The Voice.
Way to go MCL on the correct call and to Louise, and Tessanne’s other fans and supporters, on their support of the winner. I think she has an unusual opportunity to take a different route to stardom than those that we are accustomed to. We will have to wait and see if she becomes a mainstream American success, if interest will be limited primarily to Jamaica or if she will enjoy success on the larger world stage. Her win came from mainstream U.S. support, so we will have to wait and see. I wish her the best in her future career.
Also, congratulations to Jacquie and Will on their second and third place finishes. Both are very close to a possible bright future, but both need work to make that next step. I’m sure they will keep swinging for the fences.
I think I missed the second and third place finishing order because, even though Will led Jacquie on this week’s iTunes sales, the contestants total iTunes sales for the season are also added to the final count that determines the winner as well as second and third place. Jackie had better sales over most of the season, so consistency is rewarded more than a late surge in the final count.
Louise,
I would add Miranda Lambert to that list. She came in third on “Nashville Star.” Pentatonics from the Sing-Off last year have charted several songs. I think Danielle Barberry is off to a good start, signing with the very innovative “Big Machine Records,” the house that Taylor Swift built and also has Tricia Yearwood as an anchor artist. She also made a timely launch of her pretty decent debut album in time for the end of this season’s competition. Several others are doing well but are harder to find. Pickler, Hudson and Hicks for example.
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Thanks for the info, Gene. I’ve never watched Nashville Star, so I wasn’t aware that Miranda Lambert was on that show. But, yes, you’re right about Kelli Pickler and Jennifer Hudson, both very successful former contestants on American Idol. But Taylor Hicks isn’t nearly as successful as I thought he’d be. I was one of his biggest fans, and while he’s continued to entertain in Vegas and on Broadway, that was not the future I had hoped for him. But there are others from shows like America’s Got Talent who I enjoyed each week and have never heard from since–Michael Grim, for example.
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i just caught up with the performance and finale shows. i find it very interesting that for most of the season tessanne never charted on itunes, and suddenly in this last week she’s ‘all over the place’, so yes, i was expecting that she would win.
i enjoyed the finale show, watching the singers who had been eliminated. i thought of you gene, watching stephanie.
i loved seeing jonny, preston, and matt schuler and i remembered how i thought preston would win, and then was hoping for matt when preston was eliminated.
i loved seeing the final singers and who they ‘called back’ to sing with them. i noted that caroline was called back twice.
i can’t believe they’re coming back in february. that’s too soon. although, i *love* the other two judges. it’s so much lighter and ‘real’ with them.
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Louise,
Taylor has an upscale burger joint / lounge about five miles from me, if it hasn’t folded up yet. He dropped in and took the stage once in a while when he was in town.
I like Michael Grimm as well. He has a remarkable history of live performances with well known artist. I have one album of his called “Michael Grimm Live” Of the twelve tracks; seven of them are in regular rotation on my pods. He also appears in one of the music theaters in Branson Missouri, I don’t know the name of it but I think it belongs to Bill Medley of Righteous Brothers fame. Bill’s daughter, McKenna also performs there. All of that was a long way of saying my favorite recording of his is a duet with McKenna that was recorded live at the theater, “You Don’t Know Me.” I’m sure you know this song. Ray Charles probably had the most famos version but Eddie Arnold wrote and recorded it first. Everybody and his brother (and sister) has done it since, but theirs is a pretty solid version.
Unfortunately most singers and musicians never make it to the top level but many continue in the business their whole life and may enjoy a strong local or regional following. We are lucky to have the internet to help keep up with our favorites. I have albums or tracks from several of the Idol contestants in their post Idol period, even an autographed copy of Siobhan Magnus’ “Moonbaby.”
Merry Christmas Louise
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Rosanne-Hi! I hope you’re doing well and enjoying the holiday season! It’s been awhile since I’ve commented here. Congratulations to Tessanne! She really is quite the talent. But, like you, I preferred Jaquie. For being only 16, this girl has such enormous talent! Her “I’m Not Going” was my favorite performance of the whole night, and also her duet with Christina was stunning. I think she puts alot of feeling in her performances. She even reminds me a bit of Siobhan Magnus, and to me , that’s a great compliment! I actually wish Siobhan would have auditioned for The Voice instead of AI. I think they would have appreciated her talent, unlike AI. Anyway, I know Jacquie has a wonderful career ahead of her, and I plan to follow her career!
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Merry Christmas to you too, Gene!
So does that mean that Taylor lives near you? In the south, I presume?
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Thank you Louise,
Yes, Birmingham, AL. Before American Idol, Taylor lived about two miles to the South of me, Rubin was about 4 miles to the North and Bo Bice is from the Rocket City of Huntsville, AL, where several classes of NASA rockets were built for the Moon shots and earlier programs. Taylor’s restaurant and lounge called “Iron” was in another section of town from where he live. Last time I was by there it looked closed, but I don’t know
Alabama has a very rich music history. You would be surprised how many famous singers and musicians hail from here. Nat King Cole, Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette, Lionel Richie, Jimmy Buffett, Emmylou Harris, Percy Sledge, Martha Reeves, The Commodores, The band Alabama, Shelby Lynne, Jim Nabors, Wilson Pickett, Big Momma Thornton , Tommy Shaw from Styx, Alabama Shakes, The Band Perry, The Temptations, Lionel Hampton, Clarence Carter, Eddie Floyd and on and on.
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Merry Christmas to Rosanne and all of your readers and contributors at the MasterClassLady blog. Thank you for hosting this great site for another year and all of the expertise that you freely share with us. It’s always a pleasure to visit.
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Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to all. Thank you Gene for your kind comments.
I will be back blogging next week. There is so much to talk about. In a nutshell, American Idol is going to be outstanding for many reasons. Can you count them? Stay tuned….
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