Becca's Vocals

Singing Lessons
Term 4 7 Oct - 12 Dec
in my home studio @ Altona Meadows
Monday 2-4pm
Wednesday 2-6pm
Thursday 2-8pm
Sunday 4 -6pm
Taking bookings now!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/gYhkfsKn2Bi6oPWM/?mibextid=oFDknk

More Than Opera: German-Australian Opera Grant - Events More Than Opera Ltd. German Australian Opera Grant. Melbourne Victoria Australia.

On Dame Nellie Melba’s 163rd birthday, we celebrate her incredible legacy 🌟
 
Melba really was so much more than a beautiful voice.
 
Did you know?

🎵 Melba worked tirelessly for the war effort raising a staggering £100,000 (equivalent to almost $15,000,000 AUD today). She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire for her extraordinary fundraising efforts

🎵 Born Helen Porter Mitchell, she adopted the stage name “Melba” in 1887 as a tribute to her hometown, Melbourne

🎵 She was Australia’s first superstar. Allegedly sparking “Melba mania” during her American tour, in her time she was one of the most famous women in the Western World, second only to Queen Victoria

🎵 An early and devoted art patron and collector, she opened Arthur Streeton’s 1914 exhibition, and later that same year Streeton spent some time painting at Coombe cottage

🎵 Today she is the face of our $100 AUD note

🎵 In 1915 she helped to establish and finance a kindergarten for disadvantaged children in Richmond. The Dame Nellie Melba Kindergarten still exists today

🎵 Nellie was a car enthusiast, owning an impressive collection including a Rolls Royce, Renault and even a Pierce Arrow which she purchased to drive across America before having it shipped back to Australia after WWI.

🎵 Dame Nellie enjoyed teaching at the Albert Street Conservatorium (later renamed the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music). Melba left the Conservatorium a generous bequest to provide scholarship support for young singers “in the hope that another Melba may arise”. The Dame Nellie Melba Scholarship continues with Melba Opera Trust.
 
🎶 May today be filled with music and celebration!🥂

Calvary Flora McDonald Aged Care, Cowandilla, it was great to be back! I had a wonderful time performing for all the mothers and enjoyed seeing you all having high tea and admiring the handmade flowers on each table. Your singing along with me was music to my ears. This performance marked my fifth for the year, along with auditions, a fringe show, and teaching students since January, keeping my music calendar full. I'm eagerly waiting for my next performance next week.

Term 2 Singing Lessons

Starting 29th April 2024

Tuesday 315-515pm & 730-830pm
Wednesday 315-515pm & 730-830pm
Thursday 315-615pm
Saturday 9am -11am

*Alternative Sundays by appointment
for make up lessons

Spots filling fast ! Text or call 0403 538 295 to book.

Classical Singer Sundays
Adelaide Fringe 18th February 2024
A Chloris - R Hahn. French Art Song
Soave Sia il Vento - Mozart (Cosi Fan Tutte)
Pianist : Stephen Van Der Hoek
Singers : Monique Hapgood, Toby Gajewski and Rebecca Kmit

The Classical Singer Sundays Adelaide Fringe event offered me an unforgettable platform to demonstrate my gift, as I delivered a captivating performance of a beautiful French Art Song and a Mozart trio to a sold-out audience, accompanied by 24 talented artists.

Finally after 4 years of being back in my home town of Adelaide, I'm performing in the Adelaide Fringe!

Come and hear over 24 wonderful singers in a cabaret style setting performing various classical pieces.

I'll be singing some Mozart and some French!

Tickets are $15 - $20

Unley Uniting Church

Sunday 18 Feb 2:30pm

Purchase tickets here !

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/classical-singer-sundays-af2024?fbclid=IwAR0t1PXcAhh--lIVOjoNq7OEjisZVkwGU5VGFhR_e5ujctOAgHOViNTfSjA&mibextid=xfxF2i

Facebook event here !

https://facebook.com/events/s/classical-singer-sundays-adela/1032502694721938/

Well that's a wrap for 2023!

Thank you for all your support and interest in Becca's Vocals this year.

It's been a full year of performing, Eisteddfods, auditions and teaching students.

I was lucky enough to join in on the Christmas cheer at some community carols on Wednesday with my family singing along from the audience.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

City of West Torrens
💕⛄🎄💃🏽🎄⛄💕

I wanted to chat with you all about something that has been weighing on my mind. The art of receiving and giving compliments.
As singers, we are constantly told, for most of our careers, what we should be doing better. We strive to sing at our best, act, emote, move, use of languages etc and there is always something to improve.
I try to tell the young singers I work with that it is equally important to know what you do well, what makes you special, what you've worked hard on and what you're proud of.
Equally, as an artist, I try to always tell my colleagues if something impresses me, praise them and encourage them. Quite often, they will try to deflect the compliment, because they find it so much easier to accept criticism than they do to admit they did something awesome. This genuinely needs to change.
Art is not about perfection. That would be bloody boring. It's about doing all the hard, vigorous preparation for yourself, and then creating magic in the moment onstage, surrounded by the music.

Finally, someone recently approached me in the foyer after a show, and told me they had listened to my MET opera broadcast of Norma. They went on to say they thought it was magnificent, but they didn't need to tell me that, because 'Of course you don't need to be told that at your stage, you know it.'

Actually, that's not true.

Just because I'm singing at incredible places and having a great career, it doesn't mean I don't work tirelessly, that never stops, the sacrifice never stops, and in some ways it gets harder the higher the expectations one has on themselves.
So, if you have the chance to tell an artist you admire that they did a great job then DO IT! It gives us so much joy to know that all the sacrifice and hard work we do is appreciated and admired. It's not about ego, it's about the thrill in knowing that we've made you feel something. Because we never stop working in this career.
So let's appreciate our artists. Because to appreciate the human voice is an intimate and incredibly personal thing.

Australians will be familiar with the term 'tall poppy syndrome'. Where successful people are criticised etc.
Not on my watch. To each of you being the best version of you, I applaud you. I'm proud of you.
Excellence in any field doesn't come from sitting at home and doing nothing. It stems from discipline and hard work, and in my books, that should be applauded - and when it is- that should be ACCEPTED.

Thanks for listening.
H x

On Wednesday 31 May I was lucky enough to compete in the Boroondara Eisteddfod at the Hawthorn Arts Centre in Melbourne.

For this singing competition, I competed in section 2.2 : Classical Vocal Solo, oratorio or cantata

The baroque piece I performed was:

Et Exultavit Spiritus Meus from Magnificat by J.S.Bach.

I was extremely relaxed, happy and felt very well supported by my peers and family back home in Adelaide. It was my first Eisteddfod after a 7 year hiatus! I was so thankful and grateful to be able to compete and much to my surprise received an......

Honourable Mention!

First Place went to Caitlin Rowe, Second Place Rachael Joyce, and Third Place to Nuolin Ouyang. Such an amazing experience to hear and connect with other aspiring singers.

I'm still waiting on my certificate so here is a lovely picture of the Hawthorn Arts Centre and a pre- performance selfie.

I can still remember the overwhelming sense of joy I experienced as I performed and heard the results that evening as it was completely unexpected.

"I really can still do this" I thought.

Even after all the grief I endured with my new journey as a single mum, and father's passing, I somehow managed to launch back into performing again within a year of such life changing personal experiences.

Thank you to those that believed in me and encouraged me to keep believing in myself!

More exciting announcements about my singing journey are coming soon!

🎶Introducing our artists!🎶
Rebecca Kmit

Rebecca has been singing, tutoring and performing for over 25 years.
Her most notable stage works include singing with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Opera, and Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Victoria.
She completed her Post Grad in Voice studies at University of Melbourne in 2016. She has performed in shows such as Anything Goes, Into the Woods, Iolanthe, The Mikado, Cabaret, HMS Pinafore, The Flying Dutchman and many singing competitions. She was even an extra on Neighbours.
Rebecca will be singing some German Operetta and some French too!

Get your tickets 🎟️ www.classicalsingersundays.com

There are 3 books that have helped with all my students and myself for many years.

When it comes to understanding your voice, your body and the way you think about the connection between the two, Houseman, Linklater and Maide explore many ideas and practical exercises to strengthen your vocal apparatus.

to when I played the role of Hope Harcourt from Anything Goes by Cole Porter during my Bachelor of Music Theatre degree in Qld. 2010

Throwback Thursday, to when I was singing in the chorus with Melbourne Opera in two Richard Wagner Opera's, The Flying Dutchman in 2019 ( Photo 1) and Tannhauser 2016 ( Photo 2). Both performed at the beautiful Regent Theatre in Melbourne.

Yesterday was Franz Schuberts' birthday.
31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828

What better way to honour a composer by singing one of his works. I sang an old favourite of mine;

Die Junge Nonne (The Young Nun).
A German Lieder.

Today, the 1st of February, I'm singing Ave Maria, another popular and beautiful song written by this wonderful composer.

Singing Lessons 🎤
Begin 1st February!
Thurs 4-8pm
Fri 4-8pm Sat 9am-12 & Sun 2-5pm @ Parkside, SA or via Zoom.

to when I played 'Bobby Sunshine' ☀️ in Bobby and the Pins. A 1950's acapella group (2014). My favourite songs to sing were Goodnight Sweetheart, Lollipop, Lollipop, and Don't Fence me in!

to when I played the role of Little Buttercup in H.M.S Pinafore with Savoy Opera, Melbourne, 2016.

to when I played Rapunzel from Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim during my Bachelor of Music Theatre degree in Qld. 2009