5 Questions with Kim (Deluccio) Collins

Kim (DeLuccio) Collins (BM 1992) studied Flute at Hartt from 1988 to 1993.  She is currently living in Trumbull, CT.

What have you been up to since you graduated from Hartt?

So many things have happened in the last 20-plus years!  I got married to Steve Collins (BM Percussion, 1989).  On the teaching front, I taught at Hartt Community Division for about 7 years, maintained an active private teaching studio, and also did some teaching at Fairfield University, Choate Rosemary Hall, and Neighborhood Music School.  As far as performing is concerned, I never stopped after school.  I decided early on that I really enjoyed the freedom and variety of being a freelance artist, and I have been fortunate to play with so many great musicians along the way.  I have played solo recitals, chamber music, orchestral music, been featured soloist with orchestra here and there, lots of shows including some work on Broadway, and a few recordings…a really fun variety.

In 2007 we had the first addition to our family, and now have two little boys in Elementary School, so that keeps things in perspective and is a huge project in itself.

What are you involved with right now?

I am currently performing in a freelance capacity with the Vermont, Springfield, Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Albany Symphonies as well as in the pit for nationally touring shows that come through the state.  I am also Principal Flutist with the Waterbury Symphony.  I am teaching at home and at Southern Connecticut State University.  I’m always looking for new and interesting projects so I’m open to ideas for fun collaborations and concerts.  Sometimes I feel as if, although I really enjoy orchestral music, that I have some untapped spark for other genres that I want to explore.  I hope I can do more of that in the coming years.

I enjoy running and cooking, and being the best mom I can be to my two boys.  I’ve been known to hit local boot camps and flip some tires and push some prowlers around here and there and always enjoy a good physical challenge like an obstacle race.

What is one of your most memorable things about your time at Hartt?

I hate to repeat what others have said, but…there are so many!

Mr. Lepak with his cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth, performing Concerto for Orchestra at the MENC conference with Arthur Winograd conducting, playing with the Emerson String Quartet, coachings with Moshe Paranov, our trips to NYC to play in Town Hall and Alice Tully hall, working in the Information Booth, Mr. Rauche stamping my papers with a dancing pig in a tutu, and especially my lessons and studio classes with John Wion.  I loved getting the chance to play the flute in so many different settings.  A huge thank you also for the life-changing moment in which Dr. Feierabend said that we shouldn’t use a Music Education degree as something to fall back on.  I recall being wracked with guilt at that statement, and feeling like a sham.  He inspired me to change my major to performance, and I know it was the right choice for me.

What did you learn during while at Hartt that you did not appreciate or recognize until after time passed and you had some time to reflect?

5 Questions with Peter Furlong

Peter Furlong (Master of Music, Vocal Performance) studied at Hartt from 1993 to 1995.  He is currently living in Berlin, Germany. 

What have you been up to since you graduated from Hartt?

Hoo, boy.  That’s a long one (which means it’s been a long time).  Right after graduating from Hartt, I was an apprentice at The Santa Fe Opera (for whose audition I sacrificed a vocal jury at Hartt) for two summers.  From there I was a Young Artist at Opera Colorado for three seasons and was eventually asked back to sing as a MainStage artist by none other than Maestro Julius Rudel.  From Denver, I moved to NYC where I sang with Dicapo Opera and I received my three NY Times reviews (all positive, thankfully) during a ten-year period of being a guest artist there.  I also sang with other companies around the US (Opera Colorado, Fort Worth Opera).  Then I moved to Dortmund, Germany to sing a one-year fest contract.  From there I called Italy home for almost ten years while I sang in Italy, Scotland, NYC, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, and Berlin (where I reside, now).  It’s not all been fun and games, though.  There was a two year hiatus to deal with acid reflux which had been making singing impossible and threatening to end my career, and a recent Fach change from lyric tenor to Heldentenor took me out of the performance business for a year to learn a lot of new repertoire.

What are you involved with right now?

Right now, I am co-producing a concert with my wife (soprano Julie Wyma) called Lovers’ Quarrels: Arias and Duets from the dysfunctional world of opera, which we are performing in Niemegk, Germany (Berlin/Brandenburg) on March 27th, and in Concord, NH on April 8th as part of the Walker Lecture Series (free admission).

After that, I am very excited to be singing my first Max in Der Freischütz at Kloster Chorin (Chorin Cloister) near Berlin June 6, 7, and 13.

Then it’s back to the USA to another co-production concert this time called Three Tenors and a Soprano which will be July 23rd as part of the Summer Music Associates concerts in New London, NH.

In addition to the above, I am also a founding member of a group of opera singers here in Berlin called Voci Inglesi. We are a group of classically trained, English speaking singers who are bringing high-quality, English-language opera and art song to European audiences. Our inaugural season begins this July, 2015.

What is one of your most memorable things about your time at Hartt?