The January issue of Classical Singer highlights summer programs, and here is a sneak peek at some of the great articles you’ll be able to read. We asked summer program directors to share highlights of their 2012 program and tell us what to watch for in 2013.
If you attended a summer program in 2012, please take our Summer Programs Survey.
Lyric Opera Studio Weimar (LOSW) is a comprehensive opera training program designed for emerging professional singers considering a career in Europe, with a focus on the German theater system. LOSW develops singers through intense daily German language and diction coaching, training in singing, movement, rehearsal process and role study, masterclasses, individual lessons, and stagecraft. Participants benefit from sessions in audition techniques and career management. Students’ participation in the program culminates with the performance of a role in a fully-staged Mozart opera. Scholarships available. Session 1 is June 30-July 24 featuring Die Zauberflöte, and session two is Aug. 10-Sept. 3 featuring Don Giovanni.
Loveland Opera Theatre’s two-week 2013 summer workshop, Finding Truth in Singing, incorporates one-on-one lessons, as well as group sessions in Alexander Technique and acting improvisation and culminates in a final public performance of opera scenes. The program runs from June 16 to June 30 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo. The program selects a maximum of 18 participants from high school, college, and professional level singers and costs $800. www.lovelandopera.org
World-famous mezzo-soprano Mignon Dunn will once again join Music Theater Bavaria’s voice faculty in Germany in 2013, along with many other outstanding teachers, including MTB’s Director, baritone Richard Owens, and the highly respected voice teacher and soprano Barbara Honn. In their exit interviews, students from both the Opera Studio and the Musical Theater Studio described their intensive month-long training and performing experience at MTB 2012 in terms such as “eye-opening,” “amazing,” “life-changing,” and “the best experience of my life.” MTB 2013 will again offer top quality teachers in all areas of performance skills, expert career advice, and German instruction.
In 2012 Lied Austria International celebrated its 11th and 12th Sessions in its eight year history, welcoming singers and pianists for three and a half weeks of intensive Lieder study from Schubert to Schoeck. LAI’s signature Work with Words class, performance classes, private lessons, and musical and text coachings created once again an unforgettable experience of deep personal insights, which led to an inspired and enthusiastic artistic community and many magical moments. We look forward to more of this in 2013 in two exciting and beautiful new venues. “LAI changed my life. I am eternally thankful,” wrote one participant.
The Daniel Ferro Vocal Program will be celebrating its 19th year in Greve in Chianti, Italy. The four concerts in splendid castles and historic churches are a highlight of the three weeks of intensive study and feature past participants as guest artists. The international atmosphere created by singers and faculty from around the world has fostered many lasting friendships and memorable experiences. To quote one past participant, “The program and Greve changed my life!”
The joint Bel Cantanti and Catholic University of America Summer Opera Festival is a highly professional training opera program for rising professionals. Singers selected to participate in the program this year, receive individual attention from the leading professionals in the area. Three weeks of the festival include coachings, Italian, French, German diction, daily yoga sessions, various workshops, masterclasses and vocal performance seminars. A variety of classes will be offered in such areas as vocal technique; acting in opera; Italian, Russian, and German language; audition technique; and more. The workshop’s purpose is to develop the singing actor. The singers, their dramatic intentions, and their voice will be the primary focus in each opera.
The best moments of Estill Voice Training™ usually occur during open coaching sessions when our course instructors offer solutions to many participants’ challenges to their rock tunes, opera arias, jazz ballads, or Broadway belts. But, the Quebec 2012 open coaching, under video stroboscopy by Dr. Gagnon at the College of Notre-Dame-De-Foy, was twice as exciting as the participants actually watched what happens in the larynx while hosts Julie Racine and Lyne DeFoy sang and spoke in opera, belt, sob, twang, speech, and falsetto qualities. We all found a new way to see, hear, and feel the voice!
The 2013 Harrower Summer Opera Workshop celebrates its 30th anniversary with an electrifying visit from the world-favorite Frederica von Stade and with exciting productions of Weill’s Street Scene and Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann. The 2012 Harrower Summer Opera Workshop was nothing less than stunning with productions of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, directed by Artistic Director Carroll Freeman and conducted by German guest Frank Hube, and A Little Night Music, directed by Copeland Woodruff and musically led by Reed Woodhouse and Christy Lee. Sylvia McNair was the special guest with a delightful performance at the annual opera gala and two sensational masterclasses.
Opera Viva! offers young singers, conductors, and accompanists the opportunity to experience the musical and cultural riches of Italian opera through study and performance in Verona, Italy. Students immerse themselves in a three-week comprehensive seminar offering a full range of professional classes and activities, culminating in performance opportunities. The 2013 sessions will be offered June 26-July 16 and July 18-Aug. 7. The faculty features world-famous artists, including June Anderson, Cecilia Gasdia, and Ashley Putnam.
Programs for High School Aged Singers
Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival is designed for band, orchestra, choir, piano, and pipe organ students completing grades 8-12 from across the U.S, and is taught by more than 30 world-class faculty artists and guided by a team of dedicated counselors. This four-week residential training and performance program for students of all religious backgrounds offers musical study, rehearsal, and performance opportunities rooted in an intentional community that supports musical and personal growth. The program runs June 23-July 21, 2013 at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Early enrollment discounts, financial aid, and merit scholarships available.
French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts is located on a private lake in the western Catskill Mountains of New York State near the Delaware River on the Pennsylvania Border. For 2013 we have a very exciting schedule of more than 66 musicals and plays plus music, jazz, rock and roll, and vocal concerts, all performed by children from 7-17 years of age in the most exciting individual choice summer camp program that also includes circus, dance, sports, horseback, magic, art, and traditional summer camp activities.
Each summer, young artists from around the world gather at Interlochen Center for the Arts to learn, create, and perform alongside leading artists and instructors. Interlochen offers a wide range of summer music programs, including musical theatre, rock, singer-songwriter, vocal artist, and more.
Held June 24-29, Lee University Music Camp 2013 is for vocalists and instrumentalists entering grade 9-12 and rising college freshmen in 2013, desiring an in-depth study of music. Four tracks of participation are offered: the Music Lovers Track, the College Prep Track, the Jazz Track, and the Worship Leader Track. In each of these tracks the campers participate in an ensemble, as well as study music theory and history and private or specialized study in desired performance area. Members of the Lee University faculty and visiting professionals serve as faculty for the camp.
The Walnut Hill Summer Opera Program provides intensive training for vocalists in the art of vocal and opera performance. Working with world-renowned performers and teachers, this inspiring program brings together accomplished young vocalists to form various scene study and performance groups. Students spend two weeks on the Walnut Hill campus rehearsing, as well as attending coachings and masterclasses, and then approximately eight days in Italy experiencing opera culture. Students visit La Scala, the Verona Opera Festival, and perform at Casa Verdi in Milan. They also have the chance to visit the birthplaces and museums of Verdi and Donizetti. The culmination of the program is a final performance given by the Summer Opera Program participants back on the Walnut Hill campus.
Summer Program Highlights – Part 3
