When she was in grade 3 Florence remembers singing on the schoolbus just for fun. She even have flashes of herself singing "Just a Spoonful of Sugar". And one of her friends even called her Mary Poppins! Also she would constantly be singing in the family car, just because she thought it was fun. In grade 5 her music teacher taught the class a pretty ballad that Florence used to sing all the time along with her best friend. It was called "Les amours, les travaux". That’s pretty much when she discovered she had a soprano voice.
At 11 Florence decided to start taking violin lessons and this is when she first got exposed to real musical studies.
A few years ago she had a major passion for musicals such as "The Sound of Music" or "Annie" and totally fell for the songs. But she basically started singing seriously after reading Céline Dion’s autobiography. She became her role model even though they belong to two different musical genres.
Her mom, who had noticed Florence’s developing love for singing booked her an audition for the Mount-Royal Youth Choir in Calgary.
Florence started taking voice lessons in February of 2003 and also decided to quit playing the violin.
In 2004 she started vocal studies at the George-Hahle Academy of Music in Calgary. So far she performed in a few concerts and entered two singing competitions: NATS and Kiwanis (both of them are local competitions and she got an "excellence" rating at Kiwanis. It was such a fantastic experience for her.
In 2006 Florence was involved in two concerts. She performed " A Christmas Song" in December and "My Lord and Master" in February. This last piece is taken from "the King and I" and she was dressed as an oriental princess for her performance. Florence also took the grade 5 royal conservatory exam in January of 2006.
In 2007 she took the grade 6 royal conservatory exam and did very well. Her mark reflected her great improvements from the past year.
She also sang 2 pieces (Cosi Amor Mi Fai Languir and Trop Heureux Qui Moissonnent) at NATS.
She unfortunately had to stop taking voice lessons in 2007 since she moved to Ottawa in September to do translation studies but she’s hoping to take lessons again next year because she still has a lot to learn.
Florence Miglionico, soprano's Friend Space (Top 7)
