Vincenzo Manno

Education

Manno completed music studies in 1970 at Oberlin College under the tutelage of Richard Miller having previously studeied with John Shurtleff and Burton Garlinghouse while attending the Cleveland Music School Settlement and summer courses with Josephine Antoine at Chautauqua and Eleanor Steber at the Cleveland Institute of Music in Cleveland, Ohio. Thanks to a Fulbright fellowship, Manno continued his studies at Santa Cecilia in Rome with Maestro Gennaro D'Angelo and at Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, with Maestro Ettore Campogalliani. His private studies in Milan continued with Dr. Otto Mueller. After Dr. Mueller's death, Manno was accepted into the private singing school directed by Professor Dennis Hall in Bern, Switzerland. Professor Hall remained Manno's voice teacher and mentor until Hall's death in 2004.

Singing career

His singing career embraced a wide repertory of baroque, traditional, and modern pieces. He performed with theatre companies in all parts of the world, and did radio performances primarily with European radio stations.

He was a permanent member of the La Scala Opera House, in Milan and performed regularly there until his retirement in 2009.

Teaching career

He regularly holds seminars and master classes on singing and style. He was called to teach at the Academy for Young Singers affiliated with the La Scala Opera, while under the directorship of the world renown soprano, Leyla Gencer, then at the Scuola Civica di Musica 'Claudio Abbado' in Milan, and the Accademia Donizetti in Masate, Italy, where he was invited to teach vocal technique. He is also a guest teacher outside of Italy, teaching interpretation, staging scenes, and full-length operas for young singers. He delivered the keynote address and for the 20th National Professional Development Conference, sponsored by the New Zealand Association of Teachers of Singing (NEWZATS) at Queen Margaret College in Wellington, New Zealand and he took part in numerous discussions as guest speaker.

While in New Zealand Manno gave master classes at the Universities of Otago and Waikato as well as private lessons. Maestro Manno is a frequent adjudicator for vocal performance competitions around the world.

Recently M.o Manno has taught English diction to the prestigious chorus of the La Scala Opera for the La Scala debut of Benjamin Britten's “Death in Venice” (having already done so at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa) and was immediately reconfirmed for the world premiere of Luca Francesconi's new opera “Quartett”.

The students of Vincenzo Manno can be heard regularly around the world in the main opera houses, recordings, concert halls, radios and televisions.

Awards

He is the recipient of several awards for his recordings, among them the "Grand Prix du Disque" for baroque music, recorded with Swiss conductor Maestro Edwin Loehrer, and the "Best Recording of the Year", from Grammophone Magazine, for his two-CD solo recording of tenor music of the 17th century, Strana Armonia d’Amore, with Maestro Roberto Gini.

Because of his devotion to divulging culture in the world of music, on May 3, 2007, Vincenzo Manno was honoured with a tribute by the United States Congress, in occasion of the 40th Anniversary of his career.