A month ago, Tamuz Shiran was in the middle of a year off from school wondering what she would be doing next year. Now, with two fellowships amounting to nearly $25,000 in support, Shiran, Music ’02, has the chance to sing with accomplished musicians in Italy and the Netherlands far from her Evanston home.
“I was applying for everything and now I have almost an embarrassment of riches,” said Shiran, 27. “But I guess that’s the way music is.”
Shiran’s first fellowship, valued at nearly $15,000, is from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund for Musicians. She is the first NU student to receive the award. The fellowship will pay for travel costs and a year of study at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, Netherlands. At the conservatory, Shiran plans to study early music — pieces from the 15th century to the 18th century — to earn a certificate in voice.
“I knew that I wanted to pursue early music, which is my first love in singing,” said Shiran, a mezzo-soprano and vocal performance major, “but I got away from it at Northwestern.”
When studying in Europe, Shiran also will spend two months in Busseto, Italy, courtesy of a $10,000 prize from Chicago’s Bel Canto Competition. The Italy program will feature daily voice instruction by world-renowned tenor Carlo Bergonzi.
Shiran is one of more than 50 NU students awarded fellowships. The students will be honored at a dinner Monday.
Shiran began singing as a young girl in her hometown of Tel Aviv, Israel. She came to NU when she was 22, ready to maximize her college time.
“I thought, ‘I don’t want to waste this,'” she said.
Although she said she loved music, Shiran wasn’t always sure it was the right path for her.
“I was in a rough spot and even thought about quitting,” she said. “You need someone to have confidence in you, even when you don’t or can’t.”
For Shiran, this person was her voice teacher Theresa Brancaccio, who remembers Shiran’s confusion.
“I saw her turn herself around from having a lot of questions to having a renewed passion in her singing,” said Brancaccio, a voice and vocal pedagogy lecturer. “It was thrilling to see her reignited.”
Third-year Music graduate student Orna Arania, who performed with Shiran in Israel, lauded her abilities.
“She’s a natural, born for the stage,” Arania said. “When you see her up there, you know she’s performing from the heart.”
