Facilitator Bios

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CHIARA TOSCANO

Sound healer, art therapist with an integrated psychophysiological orientation, advanced gong master and Holistic Voice Therapy practitioner qualified at the British Academy of Sound Therapy. Through her project "Ametista Blu - Sound&Voice Healing," she offers experiences of energy integration and rebalancing for both individuals and small groups. Sound baths, which she also facilitates in English and French, as well as in Italian, are experiences that promote deep relaxation through listening to sounds and vibrations of the Voice and its harmonics, along with the sounds and vibrations of ancestral instruments such as gongs, Tibetan bowls, shaman drums and many others. 

Chiara is a member of the International Therapeutic Sound Association (ITSA) and a registered holistic practitioner of ASPIN Code CS-0881-OP-P

IG: @ametistablu.voicehealing

CHIARA CORTEZ

Teacher, lyricist, vocal improviser, promoter and facilitator of circlesinging and Nonviolent Empathic Communication. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Stanford University in California, during which time she also gained experience as a singer and arranger in the world music a cappella group "Talisman". In Italy, she studied jazz singing with Susanna Stivali at Saint Louis College of Music and sang for 10 years with the female vocal ensemble "The Sessions Voices", with whom she recorded two albums, "Songs of Freedom" (2011) and "Tender You Back"(2017). As a songwriter in collaboration with Maurizio Filardo, she has written and sang for the soundtracks of various films and TV series  (“Beata Ignoranza”, “The Place”, “Non ci resta che il Crimine”, “Domani è Un’Altro Giorno”, “Immaturi”,  "I Migliori Giorni"). She discovered the world of circlesinging and Rhiannon's Vocal River forms of collaborative vocal improvisation in 2014 and has been studying these forms of vocal improvisation since, traveling to train with masters in the field and to research various styles and approaches. Among the trainings she has completed are: Rhiannon's annual masterclass on vocal improvisation “All The Way In” (2017),  Música Do Círculo’s annual training for leaders in São Paulo, Brazil (2022-2023) and she has attended Bobby McFerrin's Circlesongs School (2016, 2018, 2022).

She is a founding "seed-spreading", "gardening" member of "The Well" - the global vocal improvisation network, that was founded by Rhiannon and named by Bobby McFerrin, and the Italian group "Collettivo CantinCerchio". 

She facilitates regular circlesinging gatherings and teaches courses and workshops on circlesinging (circular singing) and vocal improvisation practices. She on the faculty of the first two editions of the French festival Le Cercle Enchanté (2021, 2022). She is part of the Vocal River Murmurations project that premiered in Montreal, Canada, in October 2023, under the artistic direction of Rhiannon and Margie Gillis. She has been studying and practicing Nonviolent Communication since 2017, training with and assisting various trainers, mainly with Yoram Mosenzon's Connecting2Life school and community, and is constantly looking for ways to combine Empathy with collective music improvisation practices. Chiara is co-founder of the "Circlesinging Roma" initiative, the first open circlesinging community in the Italian capital, active since 2015, which she continues to manage together with co-founding partner Daphne Nisi and colleague Cristina D'Arcangelo. 

www.chiaracortez.com