Hervé Goffings is a native French speaker and French language coach specialising in opera and classical singing. He works with professional singers, young artists and conservatoire students on French diction and pronunciation, text, interpretation and performance, as well as opera role preparation, French mélodie and concert repertoire.
Hervé is a French language coach for the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House and works regularly at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He has also coached singers for the Royal Danish Opera, Welsh National Opera, Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Opera Holland Park, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus, and has given French repertoire masterclasses in Mexico, most recently at the Estudio de Ópera de Mérida.
A trained classical singer, Hervé studied at the Royal Northern College of Music before gaining an MA in Musical Theatre (Performance) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His background as a singer, actor and theatre director informs his approach to language coaching: he works not only on accurate French pronunciation, but on connecting the text to meaning, character, dramatic intention and music.
Alongside his coaching work, Hervé has had an extensive career as an actor and performer. His stage work includes Peter Brook’s The Prisoner, and he has appeared at venues including the National Theatre and Royal Festival Hall, as well as on television for the BBC and Netflix. His autobiographical one-man show HERVÉ was nominated for a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.