Constanta National Theatre

OPERA CONSTANTA (Romania), one of the leading opera houses in Eastern Europe, announces an International Masterclass for Vocal Artists and Conductors on the Operas of Giuseppe Verdi (Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, and La Traviata), to be held July 8-21, 2002 in Constanta, Romania.

Romania's second largest city, the seaport of Constanta has a Mediterranean flavor (given its location on the Black Sea), a population of approximately 400,000, and is 3 hours by train or car from Bucharest and its international airport (Otopeni). OPERA CONSTANTA performs in the acoustically-excellent Ovidius Theater, a hall that has a seating capacity of 400, and a medium sized pit for the company's professional orchestra of 55 musicians. The stage is ample for the company's large chorus, ballet division, and traditional sets.

The Masterclass will accept experienced applicants only: 6 conductors and 13 vocalists (as well as a number of qualified auditors) to work with OPERA CONSTANTA's orchestra, chorus, ballet, pianists, and directors. The Masterclass will culminate with public performances of each of the three operas (fully-staged and sung in Italian).

Selected participants may be engaged for future (paid) performances with OPERA CONSTANTA. Several European concert agents may also be in attendance, which may result in engagements in other opera houses in the region.

VOCAL ARTISTS will have the opportunity to sing a principal and complete role in one of the three operas at a public performance (fully-staged and sung in Italian), and will receive coaching and stage direction. Preparation will include work with the cast and conductors in a piano rehearsal, and with the full company in a Sitzprobe, tutti rehearsal, dress rehearsal (Generalprobe) and performance.

Please submit a videocassette (either VHS or PAL SECAM format) cued to the 10-15 minute section you most wish Maestro Stanciu to view. Please identify yourself within a group or scene (e.g. "man in red cloak"). Please note length of entire tape submitted and point at which it is cued. Operatic performance (any) is preferable, but singing in other vocal contexts is also acceptable. A CD and/or audio cassette is optional but may also be submitted.

Audio and video application materials will not be returned. For audiotapes and compact discs, please cue to a 3-5 minute section you most wish Maestro Stanciu to hear. For compact discs, please indicate two tracks. On a separate sheet, please submit the following information for each sample (for both video and audio): title, applicant's role, date and place recorded, recording conditions (if relevant), length of entire work, a brief description of work.


CONDUCTORS will work extensively with OPERA CONSTANTA's orchestra, chorus, pianists and soloists, and will conduct all three operas during the Masterclass. Coaching and instruction (including video review) will be provided by Maestro Gheorghe STANCIU, general music director and principal conductor of OPERA CONSTANTA. Each conductor will conduct two acts of one of the three operas in a public performance.

Please submit a videocassette (either VHS or PAL SECAM format) cued to the 10-15 section you most wish Maestro Stanciu to view and include both rehearsal and performance footage if possible, please. Operatic conducting is preferred, but choral/orchestral and symphonic conducting is also acceptable. A CD or audio cassette is optional but may also be submitted. Application materials will not be returned.

Audio and video application materials will not be returned. For audiotapes and compact discs, please cue to a 3-5 minute section you most wish Maestro Stanciu to hear. For compact discs, please indicate two tracks. On a separate sheet, please submit the following information for each sample (for both video and audio): title, applicant's role, date and place recorded, recording conditions (if relevant), length of entire work, a brief description of work.


AUDITORS will observe all sessions and may participate in a limited number of conducting and/or coaching sessions. They will be responsible for their own accommodation costs (which will be available at very reasonable rates through OPERA CONSTANTA).


The Masterclass fee is 2000 USD for conductors and vocal artists and 500 USD for auditors. This includes coaching, ground transportation to and from the airport in Bucharest, and accommodation (for the 6 Conductors and 13 vocalists accepted).

GENERAL DIRECTOR
AND CHIEF CONDUCTOR OF OPERA CONSTANTA

Born in Romania in 1950, Maestro Gheorghe Stanciu was trained as a cellist and orchestral conductor at the Music Conservatory "George Enescu" in Iasi, in northeastern Romania. He subsequently enhanced his training in Bayreuth, Germany with conducting studies with Eric Berger and Masterclasses with the legendary Romanian conductor, Sergiu Celibidache. Since then, his rise in the ranks of European conductors has been significant. In 1976 he was engaged by the Lyric Theater in Constanta, Romania after winning a contest there for conductors. He has broadened his repertoire to include more than 30 titles of opera, ballet and operetta, in addition to most of the standard symphonic works with and without voice. His focus on operatic repertoire led to his being engaged as the general director of Music Theater in Galati (where he was born), and since 1998, as the general director and principal conductor of Opera Constanta (Romania's second largest city). There he leads performances of the major works by Verdi, Puccini, Bizet, Donizetti, Mascagni and others, sung in their original languages. He frequently appears as a guest conductor in major European capitals and tours with Opera Constanta in such countries as Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, Holland, Russia, Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine, etc. Maestro Stanciu has recorded three CDs with the orchestra and chorus of Opera Constanta: the Requiem Masses by Verdi and Faure, and the "Paulus" Oratorio by Mendelssohn.