Simone Vigilante has been trained by the world famous soprano and Classical Singer Magazine’s 2010 teacher of the year, Virginia Zeani.  She also had the privilege of studying with one of America’s leading vocal pedagogues, Paul Kiesgan. She studied vocal performance and has sung several operatic and musical theater roles at America’s largest operatic training ground, Indiana University, and has taught private voice lessons throughout the United States for over 18 years.

In 2000 she completed her Master in Music from Indiana University, Bloomington. She sings operatic, secular or sacred classical vocal repertoire in English, Latin, Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, along with studying and performing musical theater. She is and Adjunct Professor of Voice at University of North Carolina Asheville. She is a certified member of National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), North Carolina Music Teachers Association (NCMTA), and Asheville Area Piano Forum (AAPF).

In 2010, she became a co-founder of Opera Creation: Opera Differently, a creative performing and teaching company that seeks to train young singers, providing them (along with local professional singers) a chance to perform on stage. Her students are performing regularly on stages across the country, winning national auditions, being accepted into prestigious vocal programs across the United States, as well as being employed as extraordinary music teachers and vocal performers.

Simone on her vocal teaching method:

“Every student I have ever taught can now sing louder, softer, higher, lower, with more breath flow and intention. All of this is done without changing the qualities that make your voice unique. My focus is on singing with freedom by finding the most natural and engaged place from which to sing. This applies to singers of any genre; rock, pop, musical theater, jazz, classical and opera.”