Charles Webb, Dean Emeritus
Indiana University School of Music

When I directed PELLÉAS ET MÉLISSANDE, I had the luxury of Mona Houston as a French diction coach. Her ear and her kind approach to the singers make her a priceless asset to any production. She was equally helpful with English diction on NIXON IN CHINA. I recommend her to all opera directors.

David Morelock
Stage Director

This is the first time I've ever heard and understood all the words in a French opera.

Bertrand Marchall
Professor at the Université de Reims

This was a fantastic conference [on Mallarmé] and the opera made it perfect.

Marshall Olds
Professor at the University of Nebraska

When Mona Houston coached my choirs in Berlioz and Poulenc, I found they learned the music more easily, more thoroughly, and more dramatically. The singers respected her thoroughly and sounded great when she finished. Dr. Houston not only has the ability to achieve excellent pronunciation from any size chorus, but she understands the poetry and how it informs the music. I have personally learned a great deal from her, especially about Poulenc's phonetics. I find that when she works with the choir on the text first, the choir has a solid understanding of the words, their dramatic impact and delivery , and characteristic French inflection. The rhythms are then easy to learn, and the music makes sense from first run-through.

Jan Harrington, Chair, Choral Department
Indiana University School of Music

Mona Houston is a master teacher with superb qualifications and unmatched success. She is pleasant as well as rigorous. One has but to hear the result of her work to recognize its success.

Thomas Dunn
Conductor Laureate of the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston

Mona Houston brings an incredible enthusiasm coupled with marvelous technique to the art of language instruction. Listening with a keen ear, Dr. Houston allows the singer to fine tune language problems so that barriers fall between singer and audience. Mona Houston's teaching has continued to inform my professional singing and teaching career for over twenty years--I still refer to the wonderful notes given by this excellent communicator.

Harry Musselwhite, bass
Berry College

During my post-graduate work at Indiana University, I had the good fortune to work with Dr. Mona Houston, whose course, "French for Singers," was a tremendous help to me in preparing me for many roles in the French operatic repertoire that I subsequently performed as a professional. Her class was a highly specialized one in which singers worked closely with her in learning to use the French language properly, both in pronunciation and delivery through the music whether in song texts or operatic repertoire. It has proven invaluable to me, and I am indebted to her for giving me a skill in the singing of French texts that I otherwise never would have received in my education and preparation to become a professional opera singer. Her course should be required by all music students who desire to improve their diction abilities, which are so important to the development of an opera singer.

Kevin J. Langan, bass
San Francisco Opera

Her uncanny talent to relate to performers and to convey elements of style place her among the best coaches and directors.

Pablo Corá
The Concord Ensemble

The excellence of her French diction, and her natural charm earned for her the sincere applause of the audience.