Teaching Biography

Mr. Sortore maintains an active private studio in the Denver/Boulder area. Past music faculty positions include the University of Colorado at Denver (Lecturer – Applied Voice, Class Voice, Ear Training and Sight Singing, Beginning Piano), the University of Colorado Division of Continuing Education (Instructor – Applied Voice), Swallow Hill Music School (Instructor – Private Voice, Sight Singing, Breath Workshop), and the Boulder School of Music (Instructor – Private Voice).

Mr. Sortore has taught singers of all abilities, ages 12-69, from students with no experience and severely limited pitch-matching ability to serious/professional classical and musical theatre singers. All of his students benefit from an increased understanding of breath management, balanced phonation, and tuned resonance, and are able to expand their expressive palettes and vocal artistry.

As a freelance clinician, adjudicator, and musical consultant, he has provided professional services for Great American Parks Festivals, Front Range Community College, Denver School of the Arts, UCCS/Theatreworks, Denver Public Schools, Foothills Music Teacher Association, Colorado Opera Troupe, and The Principia Upper School (St. Louis, MO).

Mr. Sortore holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in vocal performance and a minor in French from the University of Colorado, Boulder and earned a Certificat de Langue Française from the Institut Français des Alpes in Annecy, France in 1999. He has participated in master classes with renowned vocal coach Martin Isepp (Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne Festival) and voice teachers Dan Marek (Mannes College of Music), Valorie Goodall (Rutgers University, retired), Darleen Kliewer-Britton (Arizona State University) and Scot Weir (Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin). His background includes extensive study of vocal pedagogy, including vocal physiology and acoustics, vocal hygiene, acoustic phonetics and the methodologies of Dr. Berton Coffin, body work including Alexander Technique and yoga, breath management, singer’s diction (English, Italian, Latin, French, German, Russian and Czech), opera stagecraft and movement, and audition techniques.

Mr. Sortore is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.