Fountain Valley Vocal Music is very fortunate to have the inspirational support and teaching expertise of our three vocal coaches – Betty Feinblatt, Daniel Babcock and Stacie. Each of our coaches has taught on all levels of education and has worked extensively as both performers and teachers. They collectively have received major solo roles and performance experiences, ranging from opera to vocal jazz to Broadway stages around the world. Our coaches bring their own unique style to our program and our students.
Betty Feinblatt ~
I-Chin “Betty” Feinblatt is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton in Vocal Performance and Music Education. She currently sings professionally with Pacific Chorale, the John Alexander Singers, and First Presbyterian church in Orange. Ms. Feinblatt has performed as a chorister and soloist with Pacific Chorale on numerous occasions, most recently as the mezzo soloist in Duruflé’s Requiem, in March 2009, and an alto soloist in Bach’s St. John’s Passion, in April 2009. Among her Southland solo performances are her performance as alto soloist of “Messiah” in June 2009 with The National Children’s Choir at The Broad Stage of Santa Monica, and in December 2009 with Camerata Singers of Long Beach. Ms. Feinblatt’s most recent solo work includes Beethoven’s “Chorale Fantasy” with the Pacific Symphony, in celebrating Carl St. Clair’s 20th anniversary, and the Rochmaninoff Vespers with the Pacific Chorale in May 2010.
Ms. Feinblatt also was one of the guest artists of “Organica,” an annual concert event at UCLA’s Royce Hall with organist Christoph Bull in April 2009. Ms. Feinblatt is a frequent guest of “Organica,” and in June 2008 her performance in “Organica” was reviewed by Charles Lonberger in The Beverly Hills Outlook: “Best of all the guest artists…who vocally caressed art songs by Fauré and Gounod with a low, velvety dark yet strong and sturdy instrument…she was a wonder and a revelation this night.”
Ms. Feinblatt was a featured soloist in the world premiere of The Passion of Ramakrishna by Phillip Glass at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in September 2006. She was also the mezzo soloist in Bach’s Mass in B Minor at the Orange County Performing Arts Center with the John Alexander Singers in October 2004. Ms. Feinblatt has been a vocal music teacher at Fountain Valley High School since spring 2007. She currently studies with voice teacher Monika Bruckner in Sherman Oaks, and has coached with Dr. Kathleen Roland-Silverstein in Studio City.
Daniel Babcock ~
Tenor Daniel C. Babcock is in demand as a soloist, chorister and vocal instructor. He serves as tenor section leader for Orange County’s Pacific Chorale under the distinguished leadership of John Alexander. He is a frequently featured soloist with both Pacific Chorale and the John Alexander Singers. Mr. Babcock has performed with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Horizon Music Group, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, LASchola and De Angelis Vocal Ensemble. The Orange County Register has written that Mr. Babcock, “…sang with projective ease and unadorned phrasing: a heartfelt and unostentatious performance.”
On the concert stage in the fall of 2010, Mr. Babcock sang both tenor arias from the St. John Passion during the finale concert of the Los Angeles Bach Festival and the tenor solo in Holst’s Psalm 86 with Pacific Chorale. Also in late 2010, he sang “Ev’ry Valley” and “Comfort Ye” with Horizon Music Group in a complete performance of the original 1742 version of Handel’s Messiah. Mr. Babcock finished the 2009-2010 season singing the tenor solos in Pacific Chorale’s performance of Rachmaninov’s All Night Vigil. During the 2008-2009 season, he sang the tenor solo in Kodaly’s Missa Brevis with Pacific Chorale as well as an aria from Bach’s St. John Passion in a performance of the work with the critically acclaimed Baroque period ensemble Musica Angelica. In the fall of 2006, Mr. Babcock sang the tenor solo in Stravinsky’s Les Noces at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion as part of a touring production by Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montréal. Opera roles performed include Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with Opera UCLA and Prince Charming in Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon with Lyric Opera of Los Angeles.
Fall 2010 included Mr. Babcock’s second appearance with Los Angeles Opera as a chorister in the company’s production of Wagner’s Lohengrin. During the spring and early summer of 2010, he sang as a chorister in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung as part of Los Angeles Opera’s production of Der Ring Des Nibelungen. In April of 2009, Mr. Babcock joined the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Walt Disney Concert Hall in a staged production of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex for Esa-Pekka Salonen’s final concert series as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. As a staff singer in the Choir of St. James’ Episcopal/Anglican church in Los Angeles, Mr. Babcock traveled to London to sing in residency at Westminster Abbey during the summer of 2006.
Mr. Babcock can be heard as a soloist and choral singer on three recent recordings: Pacific Chorale’s Rachmaninov Vespers (2010), Santa Fe Desert Chorale’s Hail Cecilia (2009) and John Alexander Singer’s Shenandoah (2008 Gothic Records).
As a vocal instructor, Mr. Babcock maintains studios at Fountain Valley High School, Irvine High School and Orange County High School of the Arts. Mr. Babcock teaches classical vocal technique and enjoys many different styles of music. He is happy to work with students on classical, contemporary, musical theater, jazz and choral singing. Mr. Babcock earned a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from UCLA and a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from the University of Redlands.