The classical music educator Andrés Andrade has spent most of his 30-year teaching career thinking about the voices of teenagers. Originally from Tampa, Florida, Andrade currently operates a private voice studio in Manhattan. He has taught at the Queens College’s Aaron Copland School of Music, New York’s LaGuardia Arts High School (better known as the “Fame” school), and most recently, a program for young singers at Carnegie Hall. He even founded a non-profit organization, Citywide Youth Opera, to give teenagers in the wider New York area the opportunity to learn opera repertoire. I first met Andrade in the spring of 2003, at an audition for a spot in LaGuardia Arts High School’s Opera Workshop program. I was accepted into the program, and under his guidance, I sang parts from operas like “Cosi fan Tutte” and “Dido and Aeneas.” I continued to study privately with him through college and into my early 20s. I recently got on a call with Andrade from his home in New York to learn more about his work with young singers.
The Main Focus
An interview with Andrés Andrade
