Ms. McMasters has enjoyed a distinguished teaching career. After several years of maintaining a home teaching studio (for both singing and piano lessons), she went on to teach voice an additional 15 years at the university level, which culminated with her post as a tenured Associate Professor of Music at the State University of New York at Fredonia, where she taught students majoring in Performance, Musical Theater, Music Education and Music Therapy. She was honored in New York by being presented the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Recently, she was a guest professor for one semester at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In addition, she has given vocal master classes in Japan, China, Canada, Costa Rica and the United States and has presented lecture recitals in Japan and Russia.
Students of Ms. McMasters have gone on to complete further studies and graduate degree programs (often with scholarships or fellowships) at: Academy of Vocal Arts-Philadelphia, Boston Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Hartt Conservatory of Music, Illinois State University, Indiana State University, Indiana University, Juilliard School, Manhattan Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, SUNY-Fredonia, SUNY-Stony Brook, Syracuse University and University of Arizona. Her students also have participated in the summer training programs of the Aspen Music Festival and Chautauqua Institution. Ms. McMasters left SUNY-Fredonia in 1991, to enjoy a more extensive performance schedule for the following two decades.
After retiring from the stage in 2010, Ms. McMasters has maintained an independent teaching studio at her home, currently in Stonington, Connecticut. She teaches the classical vocal method, which includes appropriate application of healthy singing techniques to musical theater and jazz performance. She works only with voice students aged 14 and older who are highly self-motivated to learn. Her teaching offers the possibility of studying English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, and Spanish vocal repertoire.
Fee schedule:
$60 for 45-minute lessons (teenagers)
$80 for 60-minute lessons (adults)
STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT and RECOMMENDATIONS from COLLEAGUES
I have known Christine for many years and am fully aware of her qualities and capabilities. She is, first and foremost, an impeccable musician in every sense of the word. She is highly intelligent and extremely knowledgeable in her chosen field of the vocal art. She is one of those rare artists who are comfortable and effective in a wide range of genres, including opera, oratorio, lighter classics and jazz. She does it all, and does it all well. She has more than proven herself internationally. Christine has proven also to be a successful teacher--one who easily looks through the eyes of her students, communicating in a manner that results in inspiration, understanding and solid teaching. She is totally committed to her art, completely reliable, and a very positive person who works well as a cooperative teammate with colleagues.
~~~Donald Neuen, Distinguished Professor of Conducting and Director of Choral Activities at UCLA
The Personnel Committee has, after careful deliberation, voted unanimously by secret ballot in favor of continuing appointment [tenure] for Christine McMasters. The support from her colleagues in her major area is also positive and unanimous. There is an unusually long list of her students who have received honors as Concerto, Performer's Certificate and Honors Recital winners. There is no better way to win the admiration of an institution than by the product, and we have a wonderful example here in our midst who produces fine singers. Her evaluations from her voice studio work have always been strong. The students trust her and benefit greatly from her expertise and friendship. Many have progressed quickly from her guidance. She is clearly a great asset to our vocal area.
~~~School of Music Personnel Committee at SUNY-Fredonia
When I arrived on the frozen tundra of Fredonia, New York, twenty years ago, I had some grave doubts until I went to my first concert and found my bearings again. Twenty years later--this past Saturday--a really phenomenal event took place with soprano Christine McMasters's rendition in the original Russian of Dmitri Shostakovich's "Romance Suite to Poems by A. Blok". I had thought a few years ago at the local Holocaust Remembrance service that her extremely sensitive singing of songs based upon writings from the concentration camps was a peak in her vocal interpretation that would be hard to top. But I was wrong. Saturday's performance of the Shostakovich with her fine colleagues was not merely music that moved and elevated one's senses. It did far more; it transfixed you.
~~~Julius Paul, Professor of Political Science at SUNY-Fredonia