Claim Your Voice and Sing!

I am Rae Gabrielle de  la Crétaz.  My last name is Swiss-French and rhymes with “see yuh’ latuh’”.  I’m a lifelong resident of Caldwell, NJ, and a graduate of the Caldwell school system.  I graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio, as a music major.  I also attended NYU, in Manhattan for musicology, but decided not to pursue that.

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After college, I studied with Florette Blank, the protégée of Olga Ryss, for 20 years.  When Florette moved, I continued studying with Gloria Blanco, also a protégée of Florette and Ms. Ryss.  Their training has made me a fourth-generation Lamperti teacher.  I have taught singing for over 40 years, and love it.  I have been the assistant choral director at James Caldwell High School, as well as teaching at Delbarton School, Caldwell College, and Felician College in Lodi.

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I have performed in concerts all over New Jersey, including winning the South Orange Symphony Young Artists Competition.  I have also sung the roles of Monica in Menotti’s The Medium, and Josephine in Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore.

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Some years ago, I developed the Claim Your Voice workshop.  I gave this for five years at the Women’s Health Festival , in Morristown, NJ, and at the Resource Center for Women in Summit.  Although I never intended the workshop to be for women, and while the men who have taken it, have enjoyed it greatly, women have flocked to it.

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I have several cats and a dog, so severe animal allergies can be a problem if you come to my house, but while I have had several students with allergies, reactions have been very few.

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I love performing, especially concert work, but my single greatest fascination is with the voice itself.  It has never ceased to inspire me.

 

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