DATE: Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival Summer Program will be held from June 24 through August 3, 2019 (Arrival Catania Fontanarossa Airport June 23rd, and departure August 5th).
Role Availability: Roles are assigned to qualified individuals on a first come first serve basis. We do not have participants compete for roles. If you are qualified and are accepted into the program, you will receive the role applied for.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: March 1, 2019 (while deadlines are fluid, role availability will diminish with time).
AUDITIONS: If you are applying for a principal role in one of our opera productions, YOU MUST send a video of you singing the aria/selection from your selected role. However, even if accepted for the role, you must send by June 1 a video of the entire role OFF BOOK to jlivigni@2uarts.com. Failure to do so will automatically disqualify you from singing the role. The video is simply proof that you are off book. Any singer arriving in Sicily not completely off book will become immediately a cover in the role.
Program details
Opera singers, orchestra musicians, conductors, stage directors and managers – all have the chance to collaborate in bringing to life the MOS Festival in Eastern Sicily. MOSF is first and foremost a training program. Our training program has the goal of preparing artists for Opera, and not solely giving performance opportunities. Performing is part of our training, but not the essential ingredient.
Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival’s program gives training opportunities to:
- Opera singers seeking to perfect their vocal and artistic abilities and wishing to perform in opera roles
- Opera singers seeking technical and artistic development, but not interested in performing in the opera festival
- Orchestra musicians seeking the opportunity to expand their experience and understanding the uniqueness of opera orchestras.
- Assistant conductors and stage directors have the opportunity to collaborate with conductors and directors that have worked with major opera companies to bring to life our productions and play an active role in their realization.
Work in a collaborative way with your mentor and develop a greater understanding of both artistic and practical aspects of your art.
Check all competing programs. See who their instructors are compared to ours. Check how many days their program lasts and see how much it ends up being per day compared to ours. Consider we do not have singers compete for roles. When you are accepted for a role, you sing that role. 6 WEEKS intensive training under the guidance of teachers and coaches from The Met and Covent Garden.
Repertoire 2019
2019 Festival Schedule includes:
- Carmen by George Bizet
- La Rondine by Giacomo Puccini
- Don Giovanni by W.A. Mozart
- Opera concerts featuring selections from operas
- Opera overtures, chamber music, and solo pieces for orchestra and orchestra members.
Singers will receive assignments to roles in their welcome letter. We will run the operas on our first day and establish who is off book. All those not completely off book will automatically be moved to cover status and consequently latecomers to enrollment previously assigned to cover status will then be moved into active role assignment (meaning they will be performing and not covering).
ALL PARTICIPATION AS LEAD ROLE SINGERS IS ENTIRELY AT THE DISCRETION OF MOSF. You are selected to sing a role, but if you are sick, or the role seems at the time to be jeopardizing your long term vocal health in our opinion, we will not allow you to go on stage and risk the integrity of your vocal instrument. Because there are multiple casts and covers for any given role, if you cancel your performance you will not have a chance to make it up in a subsequent performance. All soloist will sing chorus in their assigned opera on the nights they are not lead singers. You must know your chorus part (E.G. if you have a role in Carmen, you must also know your Carmen chorus music).
Costs
(Plan A Vocalists) $6,000 [includes breakfast and lunch at our facility every day, housing (single occupancy room), weekly laundry service, transportation to and from airport*, all training (including Italian and recitative training), all performances, transportation to MOSF events, programmed tourism].
(Plan B Vocalists) $5,500 [does not include housing, laundry, breakfast or lunch]
(Auditing Only) $3,500 [Includes all of plan A except studies. These participants will audit all MOSF events.]
Assistant Conductors: $3,500 (Includes benefits of Plan A)
Stage Managers/Assistant Directors: $3,500 (Includes benefits of Plan A)
Orchestra musicians: Orchestra musicians will only pay a significantly discounted housing fee for their room and board – a total of $300 (approx. $7/day), which includes all benefits of Plan A above. However, all orchestra members must pay a $500 security deposit to secure their position in the program. Therefore, the initial enrollment deposit is $800. The $500 security deposit will be returned to the orchestra musician in Sicily at the completion of the program. Housing deposit is NOT refundable under any circumstance, and security deposit can be refunded if participation is cancelled by April 15.
All participants are responsible for their own airfare to Catania.
Failure to follow timetable of tuition payment will result in your exclusion from program.
Tuition is non-refundable under any circumstances.
* In order to be eligible for airport transportation, you must arrive within a specific window on check in day as follows:
- Arrival Catania Fontanarossa Airport June 23rd, pickup at 3:00pm and 7:00 pm
- Departure Fontanarossa August 5th.