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
February 11, 2015 
Masterclass Lady On MySpace.Com
Vocalist.Org
MasterClassLady.Com 
Hmmm… Still wanting to ‘adjust’ the judging panel.
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I’m still liking Trevor…something. And right there, with that last group, is the difference that having three people who are also (now, and not years ago) performers–they don’t throw fits because a singer forgets the lyrics, because they know that EVERYONE goes blank at some point in a performing career; the thing to pay attention to is how the performer handles it. (Joey was too funny with her made up lyrics, but she didn’t miss a note!)
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Ooooookay…well, it’s a little hard to judge the singing based on the snippets (or less) we got from most of the contestants! But I have to thank Harry for stopping that girl–was her name Alexis?–who was trying to sing “You Light Up My Life.” She wasn’t in the wrong key so much–at least she started in the right key, both times, but in the second line she just started singing notes not in the song. Painfully not!
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I have new respect for Debbie Boone. 🙂
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ITA, Gene! That song is quite a bit harder to get right than she made it sound.
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The problem with “You Light Up My Life” is that, during the verse, it starts out in a Minor Key then changes to a Major Key for the refrain. So you have to have a finely tuned “ear” for the transition. Which she didn’t.
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Thank you, MCL, that makes total sense! I have a pretty good ear but no training at all (unless you count playing a little folk guitar by ear), so all I knew was that it sounded “wrong.” She never got to the refrain, so I’m guessing she switched to major key in the middle of the verse? That would definitely sound terrible! (I thought Keith was about to stick his fingers in his ears, and obviously Harry just could not listen to it.)
If you don’t mind my asking–That song was everywhere when I was in high school, and I noticed that people mostly went off in two places specifically–at the “alone” of “alone in the dark” (in the first verse, it’s different words in other verses, of course), and the “to” of “to carry on” in the refrain. Is there a similar reason for that?
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Re Reader – it is the transition from minor to major that throws some singers off key. It happens toward the end of the verse. I never noticed it before until I heard that singer on AI the other night. But then, I have a finely tuned ear so it never gave me problems.
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Thank you so much–I love learning something new. 🙂
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