Maurice Finnell

Maurice Finnell was a rare human being, a witty and erudite gentleman from another era and a Teacher of Music for over 50 years in New York City. He taught Sight-Singing and Musicianship and was a vocal coach to thousands of students. He was on staff at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA), Turtle Bay Music School, The American Theatre Wing and at NYU's Gallatin Division, and also taught at Guild Studios at the Ansonia Hotel and at his private studio at home. He was still teaching until a few weeks before his death, and had planned to start again in January after recovering from a fall. Born in Trenton, New Jersey to parents who immigrated from Eastern Europe and Russia, and the youngest of 8, he was musically precocious, and sang at age 12 in local vaudeville theaters. A baritone, he studied to be an opera singer, and sang in regional opera in his home town, but World War 2 interrupted his studies and he went off to serve at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Finnell started singing as a boy, performing the theme song for Douglas Fairbanks film "Reaching For The Moon" at the RKO Lincoln and Capital Theaters at the age of 16. He performed on radio networks in New York and Philadelphia, and made his opera debut with the Trenton Opera Company in 1941. During WWII he served as a music instructor for soldiers. After the war, his song "A Lonely Town" was recorded by Herb Lance and the Ray Charles Singers and he directed the musical department of Camp Wigwam in Harrison, Maine, which was attended by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, the Selznicks and the Zukors.

He began teaching in 1947 and continued until the time of his death, teaching sight-reading and musicianship at the American Theatre Wing, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, NYU, The Vocal Arts Foundation and the Turtle Bay Music School, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera House, Carnegie Hall, and the Ansonia Hotel. At the end of the War he resumed his musical training through the G.I. Bill by studying at the American Theater Wing in New York City. To supplement his singing career, he taught Sight-Singing, and was such a success that he abandoned his singing for teaching, and built an illustrious career. His students perform on Broadway, Television, Films and Opera, and include many famous names as well as others who continue to teach his methods.

Teacher, composer and vocal coach Maurice Finnell, taught talent including Tony Bennett, Bette Midler, Tyne Daly and Warren Beatty.