Curtis Mourns the Passing of Corradina Caporello
The renowned Italian diction coach served on Curtis's faculty from 2005 to 2017
The Curtis community mourns the loss of beloved Italian diction coach, educator, and mentor Corradina Caporello, who served on the Curtis faculty from 1995 to 2017. She passed away on June 2, at age 79.
For nearly four decades, her career took her across the globe, where she held numerous master classes and taught at many esteemed summer opera programs. She coached Italian operas at the Bel Canto Institute, Banff Centre for the Arts, and the Walton Foundation opera course, was a member of the Italian Honor Society, and trained with Evelina Corloni, author of Singer’s Italian: A Manual of Diction and Phonetics. While coaching at Curtis, she also taught at the Juilliard School and served as an Italian diction coach at the Metropolitan Opera.
Born in Rome, Italy, on January 24, 1944, she was raised in a large, loving family on the city’s periphery. In her formative years, she graduated from the Montessori Institute in Rome and briefly entertained thoughts of pursuing a career in pediatric medicine before serving as an au pair for an Italian family in Manhattan when she and her family moved to the United States in 1965. There she met Maurice Szykman, whom she married in 1968, and they built a life together for almost 54 years until his passing in 2022.
Her early career in academia led her to teaching posts at John Jay College for Criminal Justice, Queens College, Hofstra University, C.W. Post Long Island University, and Columbia University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree and won the Medaglia d’Oro Award. From there, she earned her M.A. from Queens College and her M.Ph. and Ph.D. from Columbia University, and in 1990, Dr. Caporello’s dissertation was published as a book, The Boccaccian Novella: The Creation and Waning of a Genre.
The Curtis community extends its deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, former students, and colleagues of Dr. Caporello.
Read Dr. Caporello’s obituary HERE. Photos of Corradina Caporello courtesy of Dignity Memorial and Georg Solti Accademia.