PAMELA BEZZINA
Director
Vocal instructor / Voice therapist / Vocal Troupes Director
Pamela is the founder and director of VocalBooth Studios. She is a well established singer in Malta, mostly known for her soul and gospel style. Pamela is the vocal director and arranger of Animae Gospel Choir, one of Malta's top vocal ensembles. Three times entrusted as a lead backing vocalist in the Eurovision Song contest (2010, 2011, 2016), she was lately also entrusted to be the vocal coach of the group Firelight during the Eurovision Song Contest of 2014, Amber with her song Warrior for Eurovision Song Contest 2015 and Ira Losco with her song Walk on Water for Eurovision Song Contest 2016. She was also the vocal arranger of all the music of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest held in Malta in 2014 and 2016. Pamela is a professional Vocal Coach and vocal arranger and studied music and Classical singing from an early age. She then continued her musical and voice studies in contemporary singing and owns a degree in Speech and Language Pathology where she focused her studies on the Human Voice and singing. This also entitles her to practise Voice Therapy with singers who encounter any voice difficulties and together with several Otolaryngologists and ENT specialists in Malta she plans and administers a rehabilitation programme for singers with voice disorders. She is also trained in the Estill Vocal Technique - a singing technique which is very scientifically oriented and helps understand each individual's voice in much more detail.
Pamela focuses mainly on vocal technique during her singing lessons, where she helps singers explore their own voice with its abilities and limitations and guide them to use it in the proper manner avoiding any kind of vocal abuse and misuse. Apart from technique, Pamela also teaches interpretation of different songs, improvisation, sight reading, rhythm, basic music theory, vocal style, harmony and performance and follows the Rock 'n Pop Vocal Syllabus by Trinity College of London where students are encouraged to sit for vocal exams. She is also one of the directors and tutors of Vocal Troupes.
GLEN VELLA
Assistant Director
Vocal Instructor / Vocal Troupes Director
Glen Vella, a Maltese popular singer known for his participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. He started his singing career at the age of 13. He studied both practical and music theory in voice and piano. He is certified in voice coaching from the Victoria Music and Arts College, London and he is one of the vocal tutors at VocalBooth Studios and is director of VocalTroupes. Furthermore, he is actively involved in the prominent Maltese Gospel choir Animae, of which he is a founder member.
Glen has been coaching singers for several years on one to one sessions and he follows the Rock n’ Pop Vocal Syllabus by Trinity College of London to which students sit for the examination with the same college. Amongst his experiences, Glen had the opportunity to coach the team of Maltese singers at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Belarus in 2010. Glen is one of the tutors of Vocal Troupes where he works with pupils in groups, on various musical materials such as rhythm, harmony and movement.
In 2011, after placing first at the Malta Eurovision national final and thus representing Malta in the Eurovision Song contest, he was also nominated for the Best Male Artist at the Malta Music Awards. He had the opportunity to sing in local main concerts such as Rockestra featuring the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and Animae Gospel Choir in Concert, amongst others. Through his participation in local and international festivals, he has managed to achieve outstanding results including a triple FIDOF Award obtained from three different festivals and the Jury Award which he received at the Golden Stag International Festival held in Romania in 2009. Glen's experiences abroad widen his knowledge which is transmitted with passion onto his individual students and troupers.
JOSEF TABONE
Vocal Instructor
Josef Tabone is the main tutor for our youngest students attending VocalBooth Studios and he is responsible mainly for Junior Troupes. Josef started his singing career at a very young age in the primary school choir. At this tender age he also started to attend piano and musical theory lessons at Johann Strauss School of Music, Valetta. Later on he has taken part in various local singing festivals throughout the years, such as, ‘Showtime ma’ Aceline’ – Opportunity 2 Challenge, The Malta Eurovision Song Contest, The Malta International TV Song Festival, ‘Konkors Kanzunetta Indipendenza’, Malta Hit Song Contest, ‘Ghaqda l-Melodija’ amongst others.
Josef is also part of Malta’s top vocal ensembles - Animae Gospel Choir. His interest then grew not for just singing but also for musical theatre, including other artistic areas.In fact Josef took part in various local pantos, musicals, educational sketches and other drama performances, including Mama Mia, Hair Spray and Cindirella, under the direction of FM Theater Production and Stage Coach. Lately he was given the lead role in one of Malta’s leading History re-enactments Nights Spectacular 1565, and other shows for both adults and children such as 'A Xmas Live Experience’ and ‘Dar il-Wahx’. He is also the main vocalist of the band ‘Running Late’ which are hoping to release their first radio single in 2015. Josef has also sang as a backing vocalist with some of the most popular Maltese singers at the Malta Eurovision Song Contest, including Kevin Borg in 2012. Josef is a professional and dedicated Home Economics and Design and Technology (Food & Textiles) teacher in a local secondary school. He also gives vocal lessons to young and upcoming students and his aspirations are to keep growing musically and to pass on the love of music to others as he strongly believes that 'Music is the key to one’s soul!'
Norma Camilleri
Vocal Instructor / Voice therapist
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Coming from a musical family music studies were a natural option for Norma. She started learning piano and theory of music at the age of five under the tuition of Mro John Galea and for most of her studies with Sr Cecilia Vella in Gozo. She holds both the Associate and Licentiate diplomas of the Trinity College of Music in piano performance. She studied Voice with Anna Scicluna Bisazza and briefly at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. A Speech-Language Pathologist by profession, she furthered her studies in voice at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and holds a Master of Science in Voice therapy. This enables her to assess, diagnose and treat individuals with voice disorders.
As a teenager she was one of the founding members of the Gozitan choir Voci Angeliche and was the first choir mistress St. Julians’ Children’s choir was founded in 2009. For ten years she was also an active member of Chorus Urbanus with whom she had the opportunity to perform at the Vatican, England and Bulgaria. She also had the opportunity to join Jubilate Deo Choir as well as Mirabitur choir in several concerts, amongst which she performed in the rendering of The Peacemakers, conducted by the composer himself, Karl Jenkins. Norma participated in several concerts and musicals both as a soloist and chorister. For several years she was also resident pianist and singer at Ta’ Frenc Restaurant and Mgarr Hotel. She had parts in local productions of Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Les Miserables – concert version, Thank you for the Music and Anything Goes amongst others. Her latest role was of Mrs Johnston in Blood Brothers performed at the Salesian Theatre for which she was also the voice coach. She also acts regularly with Atturi Salesjani and had main roles in Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and Alibi, Eduardo de FIllipo’s Napoli Milionaria, Guze Chetucti’s Il-Kerrejja, and Ix-Xewwiex minn Nazaret to mention a few. She also presented the TV programme Twelid il-Kelma and took part in the TV series Vittmi. She taught singing at the Malta Drama Centre and Masquerade Theatre Art School before joining the team at VocalBooth studios. Since 2015 she has been the National Coordinator for World Voice Day celebrated on 16 April. Norma is also the current president of the Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and was recently elected as the treasurer of CPLOL, the European umbrella organisation for Speech-Language Pathology Associations.
She finds teaching voice a very exciting and challenging venture as she explores individuals’ vocal abilities and helps them to exploit their potential.
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Julie Pomorski
Vocal Instructor
Born on the 13th November 1987, Julie Pomorski is currently employed as a Kindergarten Teacher with the Education Department. That said, she is also a woman of many talents, holding the distinguished element of being a triple threat, acquiring skills in dance, acting, and singing.
In 1993, she kick-started her career in music, with the support of several vocal coaches which more or less saw her compete in several children’s festivals on a local level, before garnering the attention of a television producer who sought to make her a television host, of a children’s programme, a side project which would at least 9 non-consecutive years on ONE and NET Television, respectively.
Julie has been trained by various local vocal tutors. Furthermore ,she started taking vocal sessions at a higher professional level at the age of 18, when she commenced her pop sessions with Ms. Rita Signorino for two intensive years. She also did a few workshops and sessions with Ms. Heather Backer regarding SLS vocal training and she is interested in mixing effective vocal techniques into her teaching.Julie has also studied the "Superior Singing Method" through an online course and is still interested in learning and teaching various techniques along the way.
Julie could never shy away from her roots, and knowing how strong her correlation to music was, she was selected as the vocalist for “Etnika”, a group whose sound is categorized under ‘world music’, and with whom the female triple threat toured the world, going from Malta to Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Germany amongst others.
Back in Malta following the end of “Etnika”, Julie decided to try her hand at a couple of local music competitions, always under the guidance of Ms Rita Signorino. On her debut, during “L-Għanja tal-Poplu” 2005, she emerged as the winner with the infectious tune “Å»ewÄ¡ Qagħqiet”, an original song composed by Augusto Cardinali and penned by Giovann Attard.
Just two years later, she reached the finals of the Malta Song for Europe with “Look At Me”, an original composition by Philip Vella, before reaching the final stage of the Konkors Kanzunetta Indipendenza, and also the Summer Hit Song Contest, the latter being a competition she would emerge triumphant in 2015, with the song “Tabula Rasa”, the first song she co-wrote alongside Augusto Cardinali and Giovann Attard.
Julie Pomorski has recently taken up a Vocal Instructor role at VocalBooth Studios, hoping to share the wisdom that she has acquired through the years, to the young talented souls of the present.
Nadia Vella
Vocal Instructor
Nadia Vella trained at Hertfordshire Theatre School, UK where she completed a 3 year course in Acting and Musical Theatre and obtained an LTCL in Vocal Teaching with a Distinction. She made her theatrical debut playing ‘Annie’ in Masquerade’s production of ‘Annie,’ at the Manoel Theatre in 1997. This was followed by ‘Royal Child’ in ‘King and I,’ ‘Morgiana’ in ‘Tin Pan Ali,’ ‘Annie’ in ‘The Ragged Child,’ ‘Clara’ in the opera ‘Werther,’ ‘Ruby’ in ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ ‘Kit-kat girl’ in ‘Cabaret’, ‘Mary’ in ‘Rock Nativity,’ ‘Soloist’ in ‘Handel’s Messiah,’ ‘Soloist’ in ‘Beyond the Barricade’ and ‘Agnes’ in ‘Agnes of God.'
Roles in the UK included 'Angel' in 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,' 'Maria' in Lorca's 'Yerma,' 'Countess' in 'Don Juan on Trial,' 'Maggie' in 'Matchgirls' 'Helene' in 'Sweet Charity,' (Kirk Foster, QMT) ‘Catherine' in 'Memory of Water,' 'Milena' in 'Once we were mothers, ‘Soloist’ in ‘The Best of Broadway,’ ‘Zerlina’ in the original cast of ‘The Lovers’ Inn’ 'Elphaba' in 'Encore' and performed in Hamburg’s ‘Weinachtcircus.’She played ‘Ruth’ in TAC Theatre’s ‘Is it Me’ followed by ‘Lupita’ in ‘Innocent Flesh’ and later joined the TIE South Western UK tour of ‘Working Space Theatre’s’ production of ‘Oliver.’
She sang the part of ‘Eponine’ in the 2013 premiere of the ‘Les Miserables’ screening at the Eden Century cinemas and was a guest artist in Masquerade’s ‘Comedy Tonight’ at the Manoel Theatre.
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In 2014, she rejoined the cast of ‘Innocent Flesh’ as ‘Lupita’ for a fresh group of performances at the MITP, was lead singer in ‘A night on Broadway’ at the Teatru Rjal, ’50 years of Maltese Music’ at Smart City under the direction of Mro. Paul Abela as well as ‘A night at the theatre’ at the MFCC with The PBS Orchestra and in December, was lead actress in local band ‘Red Electrick’s video of ‘Young Again.’
In 2015, Nadia played the part of 'Cecile' in the Maltese musical 1565 held at the MCC produced by Masquerade and was lead singer in ' The Angel of Christmas Eve' at The Metanoia Theatre.
She was a soloist in ‘Simply Queen’ and played ‘Sherrie’ in Malta's first long running musical 'Rock of Ages.'
Most recently Nadia performed the theme song from ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ in the Malta EU Presidency Closing Concert at Smart City and performed as a soloist in ‘Freddie for a Day’ and ‘Gotta Sing Gotta Dance.’
She was a finalist on the first edition of ‘L-Isfida’ on Net Tv and has appeared in various Maltese adverts -202 Jewellery, Delicata Wine, Century 21 Estate Agents, GOM New Business App and Baystreet Shopping Complex. She is set to release her first single entitled ‘The Dark’ in September 2017 as well as performing the coveted role of ‘Christine’ in the Malta premiere of ‘The Phantom of the Opera.’
Claire Caruana
Vocal Troupes Tutor
Claire Caruana started studying piano and theory of music at a young age, and she obtained the ALCM diploma in piano performance. She studied vocal technique and interpretation under the direction of mezzo-soprano Marie-Therese Vassallo, and holds the LLCM diploma in singing. After graduating at the University of Malta with a Bachelor of Education Honours Degree in Music and Elementary Education, Claire currently teaches music in elementary schools. For a number of years she has been also a tutor of piano, music theory and voice.
Claire has a classical music background and is a regular performer in concerts, both locally and abroad. Her repertoire includes oratorios and sacred works, operas, German lieder, French and Italian art songs, Neapolitan songs, operettas and musicals. She has sung many times with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and has worked with Maltese and foreign conductors.
Some highlights in Claire’s singing career include: performing in Naples during the Notte Bianca a Napoli; singing the solo Soprano part of Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace; interpreting the role of First Lady in the opera production The Magic Flute; featuring as solo Soprano in Karl Jenkins’ The Peacemakers, together with Jenkins himself; being part of the audio-visual show The Everlink; and singing in Vienna during a concert to celebrate the 52nd Anniversary of Independence of Malta.
Claire took part in two editions of ROCKESTRA (2009 and 2010) and in two editions of CLASSICS UNDER THE STARS (2013 and 2015).
Claire also forms part of Animae Gospel Choir and has recently joined the team at VocalBooth Studios where she is one of the Vocal Troupes tutors.
SANDRO ZAMMIT
Choreographer / Staging and Performance Director
Sandro started dancing at the age of twelve. He studied Ballroom and Latin American Dancing and he followed examinations by the British Association of Teachers of Dancing achieving highly commanded results in Bronze, Silver and Gold levels. Sandro performed in different events around the island and on various local television programs. Later on he enrolled on a new and adventurous experience for him on the television programme ‘Kalamita’ where together with four other artists they presented a kids programme.
In 2001 Sandro formed part of the cast in the Musical “Jien Poeta Jien - Lehma” during the Iljieli Mediterranji events. He was entrusted with the main dancing role and choreographed the dance numbers.
He formed part of the YADA production 'Dirty Dancing' and he started studying at the ‘Yada College of dance’ and made part of the YADA dance company. During this period of time he was awarded with the ‘College of Jazz dance Award’ for his achievements. ‘Footloose’,‘Straight Street’ and ‘YADA 25th Anniversary Show’ were amongst the events that Sandro performed with the company.
In 2003 he was one of the finalists of the television show ‘Bravi’ were he studied both singing and acting together with dancing. On this series, Sandro achieved one of the best experiences of his life, having the opportunity to attend for lessons at the Cambridge University of Performing Arts in London. Sandro was also a finalist on the television programme ‘Sfida’ and a resident dancer on ‘Showtime’.
Additionally Sandro does choreographies for different established singers, performers and backing vocalists on the island. His last major achievement was that of 2011 were Sandro performed, choreographed and staged Glen Vella`s song ‘One Life’ which won the contest and gave him the chance to also perform in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Sandro's sessions focus mainly on how a singer (and/or backing vocalists) should present himself/herself on stage, how to make use of the stage according to the song, gives very valid tips about movement, attitude, facial expressions and confidence amongst others - aspects that are extremely vital for today's performance industry.