Karin Wettig

I began working with Karin Wettig, a musicologist who lives in Munich, Germany, in September 2019. Her manuscript, a translation from German, came in at around 82,000 words. I don’t think she knew at the time that some decades earlier I had gained an ARCT–a diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music as a Singing Performer.

Nina was a great editor for my book, Bel Canto in Theory and Practice: Voice and Body Training for Singers, in which I describe the technique of opera singing with its historic and musical background. The book starts with my story of how I studied with Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland in an autodidactic way. It is all about how body, breath, and yoga support the correct vocal approach for a singer. My desire was to create a self-study book where professionals can find tips, exercises, and precise definitions, but to also make it easy to read and practice for everyone.

So Nina and I went together for this goal.

As my original book is in German, she was a talented support for bringing the draft of my English translation into a readable print that is appetizing to any reader and invites not just singers to start exploring my method.

As Nina is also a writer, she is able to guess by intuition and heart what the author wants to say and how to bring that to the heart and mind of the reader. Her personal knowledge about singing is also a great advantage.

I feel very happy that Nina was recommended to me as an editor and I hope to do my next project with her in the near future.

Thank you, Karin. This book is a wonderful treatise on vocal performance, interlaced with biographical accounts of the singers who trace the backbone of bel canto. I appreciate having been part of this journey.