Bel Cantanti Opera and Catholic University of America joint Summer Music Festival 2012

About the Festival

Singers will have workshops, master classes and individual attention from some of the leading teachers, coaches and professionals in the area.. A variety of classes will be offered in such areas as vocal technique, acting in opera, Italian, Russian and German diction in opera and art song, audition technique, Italian recitative and more. The purpose of this valuable workshop is to focus on developing the singing actor. The singer, their dramatic intentions and their voice will be the primary focus in each opera. We hope this opportunity will be of interest to you and we encourage all to apply.

The operas being considered for performance are:

Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (abridged).

Bizet’s Carmen (abridged).

Festival will also produce an Opera Workshop (selected scenes from the operas) for younger singers.

Dates: June 1-17, 2012

Venue: Catholic University of America.

Who: College-age and Young Professionals.

Materials: 1. Application fee $36.50 (PayPal)
2. Application (download)
3. Head shot (online and bring a hard copy for auditions)
4. Current resume (online and bring a hard copy for auditions)
5. Recent mp3 recording, Youtube or DVD if available
6. Costume measurements (download)

sent to auditions@belcantanti.com marked "Summer Festival".

Tuition: $1300 (Tuition is Non-Refundable after March 1, 2012).

Housing for out of town singers will be provided on campus of CUA ( $550 not included in tuition).

Food: Bel Cantanti Opera provides a full dinner for the students and faculty every night and lunch (selected days).

Payments: Pay an audition fee online with your credit card through PayPal (PayPal). You do not have to have a PayPal account and can use any major credit card.
Audition Fee is $36.50 ( $35 plus $1.50 PayPal fee).
Tuition is paid by check sent to Bel Cantanti Opera, 13007 Prairie View Pl. Germantown, Md, 20874.
Check has to be postmarked not later than February 20th, 2012.

Festival Performances: June 15, 16 and 17, 2012 at the Ward Hall of Benjamin T. Rome School of Music. All operas as well as opera scenes are fully staged, in costume. Accompanied by BCO chamber orchestra.

Roles

Carmen- performed in French with English Dialogs

Carmen, mezzo-soprano
Don José, tenor
Escamillo, Toreador , bass-baritone
Zuniga, bass
Morales, baritone
Frasquita, soprano
Mercédès, mezzo-soprano
Dancaïre, baritone
Remendado, tenor

Le Nozze di Figaro- performed in Italian

Count Almaviva, baritone
Countess Almaviva, soprano
Susanna , soprano
Figaro , bass-baritone
Cherubino , mezzo soprano
Marcellina , mezzo-soprano
Doctor Bartolo , bass
Don Basilio , Don Curzio,
Barbarina , soprano
Antonio , baritone

Sample Day's Schedule

9:45 am - Check In.

11:00 am - Yoga session

11:00 am - Coachings / voice lessons / music rehearsals / staging rehearsals

2:30pm - Short break, Lunch

3:00pm - Guest-Artist Event / Master Class / Performance seminar

5:30 pm - Short Break / Dinner.

6:00pm - Voice lessons / Music Coachings / Staging rehearsals

10:00 pm - Participants released.

Each individual schedule will be different depending on participation.

Mission of the Festival

Members of Bel Cantanti Opera company strongly believe that giving a chance to young singers to develop their talent makes a big difference in the future of Opera.

Our mission was greatly understood and supported by late critic emeritus of the Washington Post, Joseph McLellan, who wrote:

"As often as I have enjoyed rich costumes, elaborate scenery, spectacular stage effects and a virtuoso orchestra in opera productions from Vienna to San Francisco, I keep coming back to the idea that the voices are what matter the most, the reason that people choose to go to an opera rather than a spoken play that is likely to come across with more clarity and logic.
Next to voices, I would put acting skills: the ability to portray character and tell a story while singing, usually, in a foreign language.

Opera Bel Cantanti reaffirmed my long-held belief that we are living in a golden age of opera. And my hope that opera, specifically opera in America, has a promising future. Bel Cantanti is not prominent among America's thousand-plus opera companies, and perhaps never will be. But it makes the special magic of opera happen."