Soprano
Born in Lisbon, Carolina Van Halderen attended the Gregorian Institute of Lisbon (Instituto Gregoriano de Lisboa) where she studied under the guidance of the Baritone Armando Possante. She also received the second award on the first national classical singing competition of the Gregorian Institute of Lisbon. With a Bachelors in Classical Singing at the College of Music in Lisbon (Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa), she attended the class of Soprano Sílvia Mateus and the pianist Nuno Vieira de Almeida. She has been a part of several MasterClasses and Vocal Technique Workshops with well known portuguese singers such as Isabel Alcobia, Magna Ferreira, Elsa Cortês, Armando Possante, and international performers such as Rita Novikaite, Lieve Jansen and Jill Feldman. She lived in Italy, working with Soprano Barbara Lazotti, Soprano Silvia Ranalli and the pianist Luigi Pecchia. During this period, she has also deepened the practice and study of Scenic Arts and Stanislavski technique with Stefania Porrino. She previously studied Clinical Psychology during one year at the College of Psychology, in the University of Lisbon. After that, she graduated in Music Teaching, Singing branch, earning her Master’s Degree at the Piaget Institute in the city of Almada. She specialized in teaching expressivity and controlling emotions through the singing voice. Her public performances include: the role of Pollicino’s sister in the opera “Polliccino” by Hans Werner Henze; Second Witch, Sorceress and Dido in Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas”; the Countess in “Le Nozze di Figaro”; Zerlina in “Don Giovanni”; Despina in “Cosi Fan Tutte”; Mendo in “Auto de Natal” by José Martins and staging by Carlos Guilherme, among other operas and oratorio repertoire. Other performances include works form Händel, Bach, Mozart, Strauss and Debussy as well as Bel Canto works. Alongside her performance work, she has a vast experience as a vocal teacher and vocal coach, working with different Portuguese bands. Several of her students have national singing awards and joined the best schools internationally. Besides teaching, she has also done workshops on the correct use of the speaking voice, to help teaching professionals improve their vocal health. She was also part of the social project “Ópera na Prisão” (Opera in Prison), a project with the help and support of the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.
