I contacted Cynthia a year ago, because I wanted to improve my technique and get rid of the technical problems with both legato and
higher tones and of course have in overall the best tips from the high class professional.
After the two summers, I’m so happy to say, my singing has developed with giant-steps and I’m at last getting gradually
a grip of a really reliable technique – after all the struggling I used to have – a time before I met Cynthia:)
I want to thank Cynthia for all her warm-hearted support I have had during the private lessons.
Great was also the possibility to hear really developed singers in master class summer 2018 in Helsinki.
Cynthia really gives all and never spares her energy when teaching – what is an attitude, I’m totally impressed and thankful.
Her own singing skills are astonishing, what in itself is the living proof of her high-standard knowledge in Bel Canto -technique.
Susanna R., Hausjärvi
Hi, I’m Margit Westerlund, a Finnish opera singer. I want to say a few words about Cynthia Makris. Cynthia is the most wonderful coach one could ever hope for, in many ways important. She is a dream come true coach, always giving herself totally to the person in front of her. All her precious knowledge, all her attention, all her charms, laughter, good humour, empathy and kindness. It really is amazing.
We have now worked about a year together and I could never have believed that an old dog like me still can learn something. But so it has happened. Cynthia’s skills in singing are unbelievable. Her resonance is so pure that you can feel it in your own system when she shows examples with her own voice. So she’s easy to follow, both by the advice and the voice. She can also push you to your limits but never leaves you alone on the cliff. She is there with you guiding and helping, and with her sensitiveness she knows when to take a couple of steps back.
That makes my singing a pure joy, despite its constant demands. She puts the smile on my face. Every singer should have a Cynthia of their own and you can get one by contacting my Cynthia. So do it. She is a treasure.
Even one meeting with Cynthia can make a HUGE difference in your singers mind. Experiencing her positivity and dedication to your singing is unique. You get inspired, enlightened and energized and most important – you want to sing more!
As an older professional I was a bit tensed before my first meeting with her – how do we match, do I still have a capacity to learn, am I insane still trying to improve? All this was nonsense thinking! It was an energizing hour! And I wanted more!
She had the most essential issues for me just right now! What an amazing knowledge, what an amazing Diva with a lot of experience and good ears! My next level of singing is on and I love it!
Margit W., Helsinki
I began lessons with Mrs Cynthia Makris in September 2011. Previous to starting lessons with Cynthia,
I had just finished up my bachelors of music in performance and was looking for someone
who could take me to the next level operatically.
I knew from just one lesson that she could do just that. Cynthia has a full understanding of the voice.
Her approach is to stay free, lifted, and aligned.
Never once have I been told to manipulate my sound or have I ever felt tension.
Since taking lessons with Cynthia my voice has gained agility, flexibility and height.
I am doing things vocally I didn’t know possible. Cynthia goes over and beyond in helping me find and prepare
for different competitions, and I am proud to put her name down as my voice coach.
Jinon D., Palm Beach, FL
I wanted to have lessons with Cynthia because I felt I needed more focus and better high notes in my voice.
I had heard and admired her singing on the Finnish National Opera and Savonlinna Opera Festival stages,
and felt that she might have the secret for what I needed. After only six intensive lessons my pianist marked
a big difference in my voice’s carrying power. This resulted also in more freedom and better diction.
Cynthia is a very dedicated teacher, demanding and encouraging at the same time. She puts herself wholeheartedly
into her teaching, and her combination of intelligence, dedication, caringness and aura of opera diva
should draw the singer out of anyone. And for us who are already professionals, she will always have something
to give from the wealth of experience she has amassed during her career all over the world.
I strongly recommend her to anyone who is interested in attaining or maintaining high standards in their singing.
Tuula P., Finnish National Opera
It is very rare these days to find a coach that not only knows how to bring the voice to its true potential,
but also in diction, phrasing, and to sing perfect language in the text of the opera as written.
I’m very impressed at every lesson. Just when I think I learned something one way, there’s a better way with Cynthia.
Her talent is not just as a coach, but she has tremendous experience in many roles,
that one day I want to sing, the real opera,
real emotion and an understanding of how opera should be done on stage.
She is also very experienced in 6 languages, and Bel Canto is Cynthia’s specialty from start to end.
I highly recommend anyone who is truly serious to go into this field of passion called Opera!.
She is a great mentor to have and guides her students to the greatness of what they can become.
Anna N., Boynton Beach, FL
Cynthia not only has an amazing voice but she is an amazing teacher!!!!!! She has helped me get into an outstanding school,
Bak Middle School of The Arts. I have progressed my vocal range and she has helped me in
so many other ways to build my confidence and become a better singer.
I continue to use Cynthia in the hopes to get into Dreyfoos for high school.
Alexa R., Boynton Beach, FL
My daughter started with Cynthia about a year before we were to have Alexa audition at Bak school of the arts.
Cynthia is a professional in every way. She helped Alexa with her confidence and taught her what she needed to know
and improve on in order to audition at Bak. Cynthia believes in her students and she believed in Alexa from the beginning .
We are so happy with how Alexa has grown as a vocal major and we hope her beautiful voice will continue to shine
and get her to the next level with all her dreams. Thank you Cynthia for making it all possible!
Michelle R., Boynton Beach, FL
Some testimonials of the singers after the Audition Workshop in Helsinki in September 2018
Thank you Cynthia for an amazing audition workshop! The program was excellent! I am so happy to have been able to receive invaluable
feedback from the highest professionals in the field. But at the heart of the workshop is your positive approach and your generosity in
sharing your knowledge and experience as a singer, artist and coach. You’ve really helped me to perform at a higher level and to sparkle
both vocally and artistically!
Marika K., Helsinki
The Audition Workshop was a total package! We covered many aspects from all kinds of preparation work to the actual audition situation.
We got consulting from various professional experts through Cynthia’s wide network: from appearance and communications to movement
and physical expression of the character. Cynthia gave us the finishing touches musically and vocally with our audition repertoire.
The most important thing was that we got valuable experience of audition situations, singing for people who might (and often do) sit behind the desk
in an actual audition. The crucial difference to a regular audition was that they gave us useful feedback and advice, which we could apply directly
to our next feedback audition. Three days in a row of this kind of practice, and I found there was routine established in a good way,
more mental space for spontaneity of expression, and more courage to play. A lot of development and growth happened in just a few days for
all of us. I warmly recommend this to singers preparing for competitions and auditions.
Marja K., Helsinki
The Audition Workshop for singers at Helsinki was great! It pushed me gently out of my comfort zone and took my audition skills to the next level.
It was planned very well and we also learned many other things besides just singing. Cynthia was extremely supporting and stood behind us.
She believed in us, and that took me to try even harder. We also had professional feedback. I enjoyed the workshop a lot and would highly recommend it
for all of you who need to practice these kinds of situations!
I was very happy after my next audition. I could do my best shot there. I already knew it would be okay in the airplane. It was very very good
that we did the training before!
Emmi K., Helsinki
Some testimonials of the singers after the Master Class in Helsinki in June 2017
I had the pleasure to participate in a masterclass with Cynthia Makris this summer. I had high expectations based on testimonials
of my singer colleagues, but my learning experience turned out even better than I expected. I was looking for advice to
improve my vocal technique to meet the demands of challenging opera repertoire, and I developed more agility
and ease in my higher range during the master class.
During the course we did detailed work, but all the time in a supportive and encouraging atmosphere. It was also really inspiring
to observe other lessons during the course and see how Cynthia was able to help singers on a high level get even better.
Thanks to her vast performing experience and repertoire knowledge, she can help students to bring the expression and
character alive in addition to giving the technical tools that make it possible.
Marja K., Helsinki
Singing has been my dearest hobby for 30 years. All my singing life I have been looking for sound. People say
I have a big and beautiful voice full of warmth but I have always felt a dullness in my voice, and that has made
me so frustrated many times. Thanks to Cynthia Makris I learned a way to create brightness and focus to my voice.
Cynthia is a great teacher. Her positive and consistent guidance truly helps the student learn and develop her voice
in a way that brings immediate results. With Cynthia I have found also the potential for coloratura in me.
Singing feels again like a worthy and exciting adventure!
Cristina A., Helsinki
Advantages of working with Cynthia
– Creates a very safe, joyful, nurturing and positive atmosphere for student that enables learning
– Student-oriented with sensitivity for student’s individual needs and wishes
– Really good eyes, ears and other senses for optimizing student’s resonance/ring, posture and artistic expression
– Decades of experience in performing all operatic repertoire on globally leading stages
– Value-added services include Bel Canto tenor singing niche insights from Raimo Sirkia
Case Dramatic Tenor 40 years, no voice lessons for past three years, no existing technical/vocal issues
– What was done: Worked for six consecutive days on optimizing ring and posture in repertoire, including Tristan,
Siegfried, Siegmund, Lohengrin, Walter von Stolzing, Otello, Andrea Chenier
– End result: Significantly refined frontal resonance without causing any vocal fatigue
Antti T., Helsinki
Some testimonials of the singers after the Master Class in Düsseldorf, Germany 2016
Hi Cynthia, thanks for your nice words and help during our week! For me it was really important especially to listen to you singing,
hearing you keeping it very “slim” but rich and full in sound. Nowadays I’m trying to find my own voice and to keep it natural
in every register and you helped me to follow this way.
I must say that I really enjoyed the friendly atmosphere during the whole masterclass, thank you for that!
Roman H., National Theatre Brno
Dear Cynthia. Working with you it was an honor. And thank you very much for bringing your apport
and support in my development as a future opera singer by telling me precious things about singing
and technique from your point of view. All this picky work to each phrase and sound you make
it seem so easy because of your positive energy, kindness and love. To be honest it was a lot of fun.
I am grateful that God made us to meet because you are really a great person from whom i had a lot to learn.
Wish you all the best and thank you again for this beautiful work together and good atmosphere.
Maria P., Deutsche Oper am Rhein
I have been fortunate enough to witness many of Cynthia’s performances on stage. Her Salome and Lady Macbeth set standards
to which I have subsequently compared any performances of the same operas afterwards.
In the beginning of my career I worked at the Opera Festival in Savonlinna, Finland. Cynthia’s mastery of vocal technique,
her dramatic singing and her exciting stage presence would be a source of inspiration for us young artists, also striving for a career in opera.
It made me very happy that this year, I was able to invite Cynthia to give a masterclass for the Opera Studio of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. She worked with the singers of our studio for a week with remarkable results. Cynthia’s method of singing is based on decades of experience of performing most demanding soprano parts on stage. Her method is not based on illusions of what singing might be seen from an academic point of view. She has a set of exercises that she uses for warming up the voice. She insists on proper execution and pure vocal colors, and the exercises serve as a tool for a daily check on vocal condition. Many of the scales that she uses can be found almost exactly in the same form in arias of Bellini or Verdi.
While insisting on technical perfection, Cynthia strongly emphasizes a musical and dramatic approach to singing.
With her, vocal technique and interpretation are not two separate things. Rather, the two form a synthesis,
where technique enables the singer to serve the purposes of music and where dramatic context
sets the requirements for the vocal technique to meet.
In addition to all this, Cynthia is a positive, energetic person who makes learning for her students easy.
I would very warmly recommend Cynthia for anybody who wants to bring his singing to a high professional level
and obtain vocal skills that enable a healthy, long career in singing.
Ville Enckelmann
Musikalische Leiter des Opernstudios
Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg