Voice Instructors
Bill Schuman
Internationally acclaimed voice teacher Bill Schuman is a native of Portland, Oregon. He began his voice studies with B. Gibner King, the noted coach of Ezio Pinza and Margaret Harshaw among others. While attending Brigham Young University he studied with Madame Margaret Woodward, a protégéé of Amelita Galli-Curci. After graduation from BYU, Mr. Schuman continued his studies with Rita Streich at the Conservatory of Music in Vienna.
He then moved to Los Angeles where he began an intensive apprenticeship with the famed vocal pedagogue, Luisa Franceschi, who was a protégée of Luisa Tetrazzini and Pietro Mascagni. Mr. Schuman established his studio in New York City and in the years since, many of his students have been heard in the world’s greatest opera houses, Broadway and West End theaters, motion pictures, and countless operatic and musical theater recordings. In 1998, Mr. Schuman was honored by Opera News when they selected him to be the subject of their first interview for their new column, “Voice Talk.”
Mr. Schuman has been a member of the voice faculty of AVA since 1989, and has given master classes throughout the United States and Europe.
William Stone
In addition to his career as an opera singer, concert artist, and recitalist, Mr. Stone’s teaching experience includes master classes across the United States and in Europe, as well as positions with the Opera Theater and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy, the University of Illinois, and Temple University (Professor Emeritus).
Mr. Stone has sung extensively in the major opera houses of Europe and especially in Italy, having twice opened the May Festival in Florence as Wozzeck and as Orestes, in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride under Riccardo Muti. His creation of the role of Adam for the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s world premiere of Penderecki’s Paradise Lost was followed by his debut at La Scala in its European premiere.
His North American opera engagements include the Metropolitan Opera, in Moses und Aron, Wozzeck, La traviata, Sly, Die Fledermaus, Romeo et Juliette, Lucia, and Madama Butterfly, and the New York City Opera, as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro and the title roles in new productions of Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler and Busoni’s Doktor Faust.
As a concert artist, Mr. Stone has appeared with every major orchestra in the country, including the New York Philharmonic, under Kurt Masur, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, under Seiji Ozawa. His long relationship with Robert Shaw resulted in two Grammy Award recordings.
Equally at home on the recital stage, Mr. Stone considers his many performances of Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch with Benita Valente and David Golub among the most memorable.
Mr. Stone joined The Academy of Vocal Arts as a visiting guest artist in 2009, and in September, 2010, became a member of the voice faculty. He maintains a private voice studio in Philadelphia as well.