A multidisciplinary opera professional with extensive international experience. Inspiring and helping opera singers for more than 20 years.
Diction coach for opera singers in Italian, German and Russian.
Toomas Kaldaru is Estonian-born Italian pianist and vocal coach.
Internationally acclaimed, he completed his musical studies at the Academy of Music and Theatre of Estonia and the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. He has collaborated among others with the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Reate Festival, The Shymkent Opera (Kazakhstan), Accademia Filarmonica Romana, The Estonian National Opera
His linguistic background allows him to cope very different repertoires from Mozart to Wagner and from Monteverdi to Strauss.
He supervises the role preparation of numerous opera singers for major European opera houses; he regularly works as a vocal coach at the "Vanemuine" Theatre in Tartu, Estonia and is a guest lecturer at The Estonia Academy of Music and Theater in Tallinn.
My philosophy
An excellent coach is a singer's mirror
As a former opera singer myself, I try to be the pianist that I had hoped to find during my singing career. What does this mean? I expected the pianist to be professional and knowledgeable but also empathic, supportive and patient.
The singer who comes to my studio probably needs a mirror. In my studio there is a three-dimensional mirror: musical, linguistic and vocal. I strongly believe that working on these three aspects contemporaneously yields much quicker, more natural and longer lasting results.
Music, language and vocal technique exist in symbiosis
If your breathing stops moving, the musical phrase also loses its pulse. If there is some pitch uncertainty, it could be a syllable that is not pronounced properly. If the sense of the text and prosody is not clear to the singer, the music's flow is interrupted.
Respect the individuality
Every singer is unique and has her/his own artistic and vocal personality. When I collaborate with singers, I always have a maximum respect for everyone's individuality, refraining from commenting on vocal technique unless asked. In the music, there are always multiple possibilities and solutions. I know well, after 15 years of singing studies, that a pianist who does not know where and when to move on a technical problem can be damaging and counterproductive for the singer and it means a loss of time and money for all those involved
Breathing is essential
As I see it, the foundation of everything in the music is the breathe, the movement of the air. Even the most expressive musical intention will not come out if this movement stops. And then there is a very important part of the score: the text - language, diction and prosody. It happens very often that the ideal musical solutions come out through the rhythm and accent of the text.
Preparation
Excellent sight-reading skills are one of my strenghths and I am able to work on most pieces immediately. Still, I always prefer to work through the scores on my own before I meet the singer. In this way, we make the most effective use of the time, and the singer can have the maximum benefit from a coaching session.
They say...
Laila Khaleeli
Mezzosoprano
"I'm so happy to have worked with Toomas. he is generous with precious advice. I 've quickly taken things to another level with him and have saved valuable time. I've finally found my pianist/coach."
Elisa Woong
Soprano
"Toomas is a very dedicated Voice Tutor and Coach! I have learned so much even through online sessions during this pandemic.... ...Toomas is very detailed with vocal pedagogy training with me be it spacing, breathing, focus point, as well as diction... (Not forgetting to mention he would handpick some fun Aria or Recitative for us to make the lesson exciting!)"
