Emerging Entrepreneurs

	TRR photo by Charlie Buterbaugh Dorothy Stone Andrade and her baby, Estella, stand with faculty and students at the newly christened Campo Doro Vocal Institute. (Click for larger image)

The sweet, mountain arias

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

Dorothy Stone Andrade chose to buy a home in Wayne County because of the already strong cultural presence. She also chose to create the Campo Doro Vocal Institute in her house, where young singers can develop in a musical community far from the rivalry within professional music schools.

Andrade has performed internationally in opera, operetta, concert, and musical theatre. Throughout her success, she always remembered her annual retreats to summer camps in Wayne County with her mother, and at some point, Andrade saw the clear potential for her own business in the area.

“This has been a dream for many years. I always wanted to have a camp and music in the same atmosphere. This area is conducive to this type of program,” Andrade said. Ten young singers traveled to her home on May 23 for the inaugural weekend workshop, and on Memorial Day, they each performed a solo selection during a concert for friends and neighbors in Andrade’s living room.

Her decision to set the Institute in Wayne County indicates her confidence in a local economy that will support the arts. While her students need not be from the area, Andrade has already initiated her plans to introduce talented performers from diverse backgrounds to local opera companies, such as the Delaware Valley Opera, and future auditions will invite local talents to earn a spot at Campo Doro.

“In a year or two, we plan to hold much larger concerts and participate in local music festivals. We are very excited to find our audience in the region. The Delaware Valley Arts Alliance has been very supportive of the project,” she said.

“We plan to build a small outdoor collapsible theater as well as cabins to house larger groups of students,” she said, adding, “We intend to keep everything harmonious with the natural scheme of the property.”

It is undeniable that Andrade’s students adore her teaching, which is steeped in the vocal pedagogy of Cornelius L. Reid that focuses on synergy between vocal technique and anatomical structure.

“Many techniques are based on imagery while Reid’s is functional. He brought back the bel canto tradition of the late 1700s. Also, the teaching here emphasizes dramatic and vocal skills. We teach classical and musical theater performance. I want the students to sing what moves them,” Andrade said.

“This weekend is all about getting your voice to function as best as it possible can. That becomes more enjoyable when you don’t need to think about beating people. In this environment, I was really able to enjoy the other singers’ voices,” Anna Kirkland, a singer from Minneapolis, MN said.

The students have all studied under Andrade at New York University, where she teaches as an adjunct and authors the first-year music curriculum. Andrate also teaches at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and the Lee Strasburg Institute.

Andrade, familiar with the rigors of music study at the university, said, “I wanted to get away from competitive, judgmental, hand-selected programs,” but added that her teaching style remains outspoken and honest.

Under the instruction of Andrade’s colleagues, Ellen Rabiner, Gary Norden, Laurence Sobel and Valerie Cirillo, the students receive daily private vocal instruction, individual repertoire coaching, audition training and advice, and they participate in evening master classes and morning stretch and movement workshops.

“Campo Doro’s communal setting gives artists a chance to become part of a nurturing musical family. There has to be safety for them to grow,” she said.

[This article is part of a series that will feature new businesses in Sullivan, Wayne and Pike Counties. If you would like to invite the newspaper to feature your new business, please email the author.]