NEW YORK SESSIONS

FIRST FALL SESSION: October 7-13, 2019

“German Repertory Immersion- The Operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss”

SECOND FALL SESSION: October 16-22, 2019

“Performing Italian Opera: Tradition and Practice”

These sessions will be led by actress Dietlinde Turban Maazel, soprano Elizabeth Blancke-Biggs, and conductor Mo. Michael Recchiuti. Other faculty members will also participate on a daily basis.The curriculum will focus not only on the performance of music with its attendant disciplines: languages, interpretation, body movement, but also on physical and psychological wellness, study techniques, and career planning.

These sessions will be based in the Shetler Studios and Gurari Studios at the National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, New York, a state of the art performance and recording facility, offering the invaluable capacity to record and study performances and classes in the heart of Manhattan under the guidance of a highly skilled recording engineer.

Each session will begin with a video recording session for each singer. This establishes a “baseline” from which to plan each student’s individualized work plan for the week. Jeremy Gerard, Chief Engineer of the Gurari Studios, an engineer with over twenty- five years of professional experience will give a class on the critical skills of how to optimize a singer’s experience in the recording studio. There will be daily private lessons on the singer’s repertory, language coaching, interpretive study, and the overall well- being of the artist. Each evening all participants and faculty will convene at the National Opera Center for a three hour Master Class. The week will culminate in a recital that will be video recorded and live-streamed on the internet. All students will leave with a high quality video of their performance, a necessity today for all applications to schools, competitions, and artist agencies. The video-taping at the beginning and end of each week’s session will provide a comprehensive metric to demonstrate each student’s progress.

Selected students will be invited to Castleton,Virginia, to perform concerts in the Castleton in Performance series during the season.

Applications for the program will consist of a CV or Resumé, 1 to 2 video/audio recordings submitted online OR a live audition in NYC. The classes will be limited to 6-9 active participants, 2 alternates, and 10 auditors.

Live auditions will be held on September 8, 9 & 15, 2019 at Gurari Studios at the National Opera Center, NYC.

Please direct any questions to Kristen Norwark at KristenN@CastletonFestival.org