• Turn your Fear into Passion
• Discover and Create Your Unique Package
• Own Your Personal Keys for Role Preparation
• Acting, Singing and Movement: How to Achieve a Balance

Freedom from Fear | Role Preparation | Acting & Singing | The Performers Package | Don't Change Who You Are | What People Are Saying

Client Fees
Please call Adria Firestone toll free on 877-500-5717 or email Adria@AdriaFirestone.com for an obligation free quote.

Adria epitomizes what “completes” an artist: commitment, perseverance, integrity to the composer, and most of all personalization with the character. It is not enough to sing notes...but more important is your commitment to the understanding and interpretation of the WORDS!

For many years you will wonder “what you have to offer”, feeling inadequate to express the intention of the words and music! But there will come a time when you know….and at such a time you will be able to add to your name, the word, Artist.

Adria will tell you from her personal experiences that all the above will not make a career. A career is built on the respect of your colleagues, your reputation for being prepared, your attitude to conductor, director and fellow singers and your willingness to “grow” in each experience.

You have, in Adria Firestone, a master leading you and may your path be that of enlightenment and enrichment as she guides you.
James de Blasis, Opera Director/Producer/Teacher

For Adults:

Voice Instruction (Singing/Speaking)
Fearless Public Speaking
Presentation Skills
Body Language

For Children & Young Adults:
Voice Instruction
Acting & Movement

Adria Firestone has performed opera & musical comedy internationally for many years. She is an award winning actress whose credits range from Carmen to Family Guy. She is currently on the faculty at NJCU.

Adria Firestone is a unique combination of experience and expertise in music and theater. Her 40 years of international stage experience is supported by almost as many years of study under the best directors, coaches and conductors in the business.

When you work with Adria Firestone you receive the benefit of those years delivered by a master of communication. Ms. Firestone is an actress who has constantly honed her craft and enjoyed many varied experiences on stage from cabaret to concert and from straight theater to opera.

She continues to perform around the globe and revels in sharing her experience with young and old alike as a teacher, a writer and an inspirational speaker.

Adria has also added to her teaching skills that of life coaching. When you work with Adria you will have the guidance of a seasoned actress and singer, as well as a life coach, whose ears and heart are expertly tuned to serve her clients.

My colleague, Donna Connolly, with whom I toured the Mid and Far East, asked me to do a few Master Classes at NJCU and that led to joining the faculty in the School of Music Dance & Theatre. There is a perfect line from the King & I that expresses what happened. "It's a very ancient saying, but a true and honest thought, that if you become a teacher, by your pupils you'll be taught." I have learned that I love sharing what I know and seeing others blossom because of it.

Some available workshops:

• You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression
• Freedom from fear: Onstage and Off

Freedom from Fear
It is my desire to refocus the fear that envelops performers and stifles our creativity and turn it into passion that excites not only us, but our audience. Honing our technique be it acting, or singing, is for the studio, not the stage. When we step onstage it is our responsibility to go beyond our fear and transport others to a realm where life is more intense, more beautiful or achingly painful.

Role Preparation
I have keys that make role preparation personal and unique to each artist. The body must be prepared to reveal the character. There must be a living link between the character and yourself. There are questions that make the character's personality assert itself. There are acting techniques that are specific and pointed - they make the performer's job easier.

There is a story about one of the English greats who dryly asked a verismo actor who was covered with very real filth because he was playing a homeless man, "But my dear boy, have you never heard of acting?"

Adria Firestone is a complete artist, the mistress of a special charisma, and possesses a sensitive intuition, that permits her to acutely observe human behaviour.
El Pais

Acting & Singing
It is possible to sing and act at the same time! I did it - and many others before me and after me. In opera, as in any well written piece, the clues are all there in the music waiting to be pieced together to form an elaborate tapestry that is a living, breathing character.

In the less detailed works where it is all about vocal virtuosity, one must build a creature, sometimes out of thin air and the trance set by the composer. The silences are as important as the sounds. The acting must serve the music, the singer must serve the music, and the actor must serve the work. Within that disciplined service we create new synergy composed of fidelity to the works we perform and personal interpretation that allow us to transcend the work itself and create that movement onstage when it all comes together and we are aflame with inspiration.

The Performer's Package
Then there is the new adage that "it ain't over 'till the black dress sings." Well, there are certain realities that nibble way at tradition. Why is it a law that an opera singer must be fat, or skinny, for that matter? Norman Treigel wasn't fat, his voice certainly was. Pavarotti was not slender; did it lessen his vocal appeal? But then, if you really want to embody a character onstage, isn't it part of your discipline and responsibility to look like that character as well? Aren't singers athletes? Aren't we a performance package?

Might the age old tradition change? Is it possible to look great and sound great? Isn't it possible to have fine acting and singing - one complementing the other? I remember a night at Utah Opera when we greeted patrons still in our Aida costumes. A man grasped my hand and said, "you sang so beautifully, you. . .you." and tears filled his eyes. It wasn't just my voice that touched him, but a woman & a princess torn by jealousy whose heart broke for all to see. Why not have nights of great singing and great theater? It has happened -- it is called excellence. Is it easy to do? No. Are the results worth the effort? Most definitely.

In Adria, we have a fearless performer capable of embracing all aspects of the stage and captivating any audience. In working with Adria, I realized that the use of her voice and her body, as beguiling and astonishing as can be imagined, was only the first step in discovering the soul behind it; that primal force of energy that gives life to what performers do, and meaning to an artist’s existence. Adria's rich life experience will help many performers a great deal, particularly the ability to put it all in perspective.
Roland Peelman, Conductor & Artistic Director
The Song Company, Sydney, Australia

Don't Change Who You Are
One of the most truthful things I have ever heard came from a master speaker, John Childers. He was giving his audience pointers on what it takes to be a fine speaker. He said, "First of all, don't change who you are." The who is always more important than the what. I pass on the same thing to you. Don't change who you are to please anyone or to fit into a mold. Your real self is the core of your power. I am not saying, don't learn, don't grow, and don't refine your gifts, just the opposite. Imitation is a fine way to learn, but you must go beyond that or risk never attaining your own authenticity -- you'll be merely an imitation.

Find out what your strengths are and keep working on those. If you keep struggling with your weaknesses you will end up with very strong weaknesses. Spotlight those strengths. Learn from the best. Create a package that is marketable because it is real and true, not shiny fool's gold.

Know the difference between fashion and personal style. And above all be congruent. Have the inside and the outside of you harmonize and enhance each other. Learn what you need to present the diamond of yourself in a perfect setting. What cuts need to be made? What needs polishing? What is the best setting and the best light? It takes enormous discipline to be a marketable commodity, and sacrifice. What is your vision? Does it pull you enough to perfect all you are and become the master of yourself?

Learn, learn and then learn some more. Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. Study with the best, but don't be afraid to make mistakes. Sometimes the bumps in the road jolt us out of our complacency & fear and allow us to discover unexpected pathways to our magnificent selves.

It is not often in life that one is fortunate enough to meet a dynamic individual who can truly be termed "a force of nature”, but Adria Firestone is just that. Well-spoken, multi-talented, and brilliant at communicating with and inspiring an audience, whether the setting be a darkened theatre, a student masterclass, or a professional board room. Her positive attitude and inspiration are infectious. Adria Firestone's passion and generosity for sharing her skills are a special gift to be experienced by all.
John Hoomes, Artistic Director, Nashville Opera

What People Are Saying...

Do you want to be confident in how you present yourself, be assured that you are communicating well, that you are using your talents to the fullest? Do you want to be appreciated and liked? Do you want to learn to love yourself better and present yourself always in a positive manner? Adria Firestone is a person who knows how to do that and how to comunicate that knowledge to you. Enthusiasm is not taught, it is caught, and from Adria you will catch it in a joyful way!

It has been my pleasure to catch that joy of living from Adria and share it through music. It has been my joy to serve as an accompanist for Adria for over twenty years! I have heard her share her vocal talent as well as inspire others with her skills as an educator and motivational speaker. You will love Adria and may never be the same again!
Dr Jack W. Jones (D.M.A. The Juilliard School), Organist-Director of Music, The Royal Poinciana Chapel, Palm Beach; Founder-Director, The Masterworks Chorus of the Palm Beaches.

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