Caroline is passionate about how opera can serve as a vehicle to inspire and motivate other professionnels from a wide range of industries. She addresses key topics such as high performance, potential and teamwork and through her innovative approach creates a unique experience with actionable take-aways. Each lecture or workshop can be presented in English, French or German.
Keynote lecture: ``It's not over until the diligent lady sings``
- In this unique, dynamic and interactive keynote lecture, Caroline MacPhie uses opera – an area of high performance – as a motivational tool to inspire and promote a strong sense of work ethic. In a world where it fashionable to yearn for a four day (or even four hour) work week, to retire at 40 or to become an influencer, Caroline defines the importance of effort and the need to strive towards a goal that is greater than ourselves. Over the course of this unique lecture, she analyses the world of opera and her 15 years of experience as a soloist on international stages to provide tangible takeaways that will enable participants to achieve long term results. She addresses the importance of individual as well as collective work ethic in order to achieve higher levels of performance and a greater sense of fulfilment in all areas of life, allowing participants to:
develop a sense of pride in their work
enjoy the process of hard work even when the outcome is negative
overcome setbacks due to a growth mindset
know when to be a leader and when to be a follower
create an organised, challenging and respectful environment to achieve optimal individual and collective results
Carmen workshop: learn to excel as a team
- Developed together with international keynote speaker, author, researcher and management consultant Stéphane Moriou, the Carmen workshop is a unique musical journey during which participants take on the specific challenge of preparing for a performance (in costume) of the famous Habanera “Love is like a defiant bird” (“L’amour est un oiseau rebelle”) from Bizet’s most celebrated opera. The excerpt has been chosen because it forces the participants to step out of their comfort zone. By experiencing in a very real way the demands of what it takes to be an opera singer, participants embark upon an unforgettable adventure: a journey in to the world of musical high performance. The workshop seamlessly alternates between insights in to management and teamwork, vocal preparation exercises and a final feedback session. The objective is that each individual attains an unimaginable performance as a result of which they leave with tangible commitments. Here are just some of the topics dealt with over the course of the two to three hour session:
how can the full potential of a team be unleashed and made a reality?
how can we encourage each individual to express themselves in order to succeed beyond all measure?
how can we collectively achieve extraordinary performance?
*NB: the workshop can also be integrated in to the two day workshop “Leadership and Opera” with the participation of the conductor Ingmar Beck*
Concert-lecture: Baroque and emotions
- In this concert-lecture, Caroline MacPhie joins Franck-Emmanuel Comte, director of the international baroque ensemble Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu and Stéphane Moriou, keynote speaker, author, researcher and management consultant to deliver a unique experience combining baroque music with the latest advances in neuroscience. The baroque style came in to being at the start of the seventeenth century as a result of the necessity for individual expression. In order for this new sound to take full effect, the role of the singer-soloist came in to its own. This personal form of expression nevertheless adhered to a certain framework in the form of various accompanying instruments (harpsichord, viol, theorbo). Through this delicate balancing act between the soloist and the collective ensemble an exquisite new form combining expressivity and harmony was born. More than a simple metaphor, baroque music can provide us with specific indicators as to how we can better understand the role of our emotions in the world:
What is the purpose of our emotions and how can we learn to manage them more effectively?
Do they always need to be shared?
What is their role when confronted with the more dominant rational way of thinking?
How can we articulate our aspirations and personal needs within the structure of our workplace and society as a whole?
Vocal coaching
Caroline works on a one-to-one basis with a variety of professionals wishing to improve their spoken voice. Her clients include actors, voice over artists, journalists, chief executives and keynote speakers. Thanks to her extensive technical knowledge of the voice and her 15 years of experience on international opera stages, she helps her clients communicate with greater confidence, clarity, impact and sincerity. She also leads group workshops in a corporate setting aimed at liberating the voice.
Her areas of expertise include:
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breath management and support
developing a pallet of tones and colours in the spoken voice
projection and clarity
posture, gesture and body language
dealing with nerves
Mission Opéra
Mission Opéra is a unique musical and pedagogical project that uses opera as a transformational learning tool. Participants learn a series of operatic pieces over a reduced time period, culminating in a public concert. The project targets audiences with limited access to the arts with no prior musical experience. Since 2019, Caroline has worked with over 350 young people from vocational high schools in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. In 2023 she founded the charity Mission Opéra France to enable the project to become a national initiative. MOF aims to :
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democratise the world of opera by working on a purely classical programme with an audience that has little or no experience with this art form.
Allow participants to enjoy all the benefits of singing: good breathing and posture, a freer spoken voice, greater ease in public speaking, confidence, communication, taking pride in a collective project, an open mindset….
Promote long term partnerships between educational establishments, businesses (including sponsors) and public institutions which are actively recruiting young talent.
Mission Opéra works in partnership with National Education and the different regions in France. It is the subject of a national study led by an independent research body that will serve to measure the impact of the project in terms of key skills such as discipline, confidence and cooperation. The findings will give the project greater credibility whilst also allowing businesses and potential sponsors to support the national development of the scheme.