Dr. Cristina Castaldi
Lirico-spinto soprano Dr. Cristina Castaldi has been described as “a rare talent with a warm, agile, exciting voice… she moves like a dancer, looks like a model and is at home on stage as off…. her vocal technique is unfaltering and her pianissimo high floats are without comparison.” Dr. Castaldi specializes in bel canto, early Verdi and verismo repertoire.
Dr. Castaldi is a fully certified Essential Somatics® movement teacher (a practice based on the teachings of Thomas Hanna and Moshé Feldenkrais). She also has more than 20 years of yoga practice experience, including 12 years of teaching yoga classes.
Dr. Castaldi created the courses “Essential Somatics® for Singers” and “Essential Somatics for Instrumentalists.” They are the only Essential Somatics® college courses in the nation. She is a sought-after movement teacher in Essential Somatics® and gives master classes and individual sessions for singers. She is often a featured workshop presenter for the Kansas Music Educators Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the National Opera Association, and regularly gives master classes at area schools and colleges. She has also created an online course for singers and is the only Essential Somatics teacher applying the practice specifically for singers.
Her knowledge of body mechanics and the brain-body connection aids her students in gaining a clear, individualized understanding of their own bodies, their chronic muscle tensions, the effects of performance anxiety and the ability to sense and make lasting changes. Dr. Castaldi is passionate about this work and has witnessed with her students how empowered they feel both in and out of the studio. Her work as a holistic voice teacher and continued somatic research demonstrates the importance of applying somatic education in vocal pedagogy.
Her recent vocal performances include soprano soloist in “Carmina Burana” in Prague, Czech Republic; soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and the East Texas Symphony Orchestra; and soprano soloist for the Wichita Symphony Orchestra in Haydn’s “The Creation.” Dr. Castaldi performs newly programmed recitals each year.
Dr. Castaldi’s operatic roles include Alice Ford in “Falstaff” and Le Prince Charmant in “Cendrillon” (both award-winning productions), as well as Mimì in a concert performance of “La Bohème” with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra. Other roles of note include the title role in “Giovanna d’Arco” with Sarasota Opera (Maestro Victor DeRenzi conducting), of which The Observer wrote: “Cristina Castaldi, as Giovanna, has a lovely bearing on stage… got our attention… in the final scene… she became radiant as an actress and singer.” As Donna Elvira in Connecticut Grand Opera’s production of “Don Giovanni,” Opera News said: “Act II started with Elvira’s big scena... the high point vocally and dramatically....”
Dr. Castaldi made her operatic debut as Musetta in “La Bohème” for the 100-year celebration of the work with Westchester Hudson Opera. She also sang Madame Lidoine in “Dialogues of the Carmelites” at the New England Conservatory of Music with John Moriarty conducting.
Dr. Castaldi has sung Mimì in “La Bohème” with the Natchez Opera Festival as well as with the National Lyric Touring Company and covered Henrietta M in “The Mother of Us All” with the New York City Opera.
Dr. Castaldi spent several years with Dicapo Opera in New York City, where she sang Magda in “La Rondine” and Violetta in “La Traviata.” She repeated the role of Violetta with the National Lyric Touring Company, with performances throughout New England. She also sang Nadia in the New York premiere of Wargo’s “A Chekhov Trilogy” (Steven Crawford conducting) and Miss Jessel in “The Turn of the Screw.”
Prior to joining the Wichita State University voice faculty, Dr. Castaldi regularly performed solo recitals throughout New York. Her solo recital venues included Christ and St. Stephen’s Church, the Trinity Church Concerts at One series and the Kosciuszko Foundation.
Other past orchestral engagements have included soprano soloist in operatic galas with the Allentown, Norwalk and Springfield symphonies; and in oratorios—Handel’s “Messiah,” Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” Mozart’s “Requiem,” Rutter’s “Gloria” and the “Coronation Mass”—with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra and Kennesaw State College in conjunction with the Cobb County Symphony in Georgia.
Past accomplishments include winner in the Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition, finalist for the New Jersey Verismo Vocal Competition and winner at the Opera at Florham Vocal Competition.
Prior faculty positions were adjunct professor of voice at Rowan University in New Jersey and part-time lecturer at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Dr. Castaldi earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in vocal performance at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. She holds a Master of Music in vocal performance (with distinction) from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from Kennesaw State University in Georgia.