Dear Isabelle,
I am delighted to answer your questions.  I also invite you to email the following singers who performed roles during the summer of 2000 : Cori Scotti, divacori@aol.com   , Marika Kyriakos kyraikos@tarleton.edu

Let me know if you need more email addresses or telephone numbers.

We are currently building a new web page on  geocities.  As soon as we finish the web page, I shall announce the new address.  Until 30 November 2000 I invite you to visit our current web page which has a lot of information but is not fully functional, especially the "Contact Us" feature. www.astroatlas.com/romefestival/welcom.htm

What I am about to write to you reflects what happened during the summer of 2000 (and most of the recent summers).  I can guarantee that we provided every activity described in the global schedule which we sent to every artist three to four weeks before his/her arrival.  I can guarantee that my answers to your questions are candid and true.  I can also guarantee you that our staff will tell the artist the truth no matter how painful to his/her ego.  I can guarantee you that every singer who is memorized, who attends the required coaching sessions, and who respects the authority of the conductor, will perform.  I can also guarantee that singers who are not memorized, who skip rehearsals, or insult the conductor will not perform.  These later singers are encouraged to leave the program.  Statistically they are 2% to 6% of the artists participating in the Festival.  While several of the postings in the earlier CC forum are obviously planted misinformation, some postings may be from singers who were unprepared or uncooperative. 

While we agree that all serious artists remain students of life and art all of their lives, we prefer to describe all of our participants as artists (or singers, ballet dancers, etc) rather than students. We expect them to have the intense curiosity of fine students, but the attitude and professionalism of dedicated performers. 

In our system every singer in an opera performance is creating a unique character  who reacts to what is happening at the moment on the stage.  Every singer is given one or more roles.  Singers invited to perform major roles also perform minor roles or ensemble roles.  Singers invited to sing an ensemble role only frequently are invited to understudy minor roles.  Our goal is that every singer performs in every performance in a major, minor, or ensemble role.  We teach stagecraft to the singers performing ensemble roles because we expect them to create unique characters on the stage even though they sing as a group. 

Singers are required to arrive at the first rehearsal with the roles memorized. The singers do three or four performances which are coached, staged with pianoforte and conductor, sitzprobed with orchestra, dress rehearsed with orchestra, and performed in costume fully staged with sets and orchestra.

  The average age of the orchestra is 29.  Over 90% receive pay when playing with other orchestras.  Mozart operas orchestras have between 25 and 30 musicians.  Verdi and Humperdinck opera orchestras have between 35 and 50 musicians.  Most singers and ballet dancers describe the orchestra as excellent.

During the month of July all opera in Italy is performed under the stars.  Our first concern is that the site is intimate, with acoustics which flatters the voice, and that the area around the site has minimal traffic noise.  As the site must be central so that both Rome opera lovers and tourists can arrive, finding a really good site, which will agree to host the Festival for two months, takes extensive research, a solid artistic reputation, and very delicate negotiations.  Currently the performance site is Cortile Auditorium "Regina Margherita" at via Anicia n. 22, which seats an audience of 300.  It has wonderful acoustics, minimal traffic noise (mostly an occasional airplane), and a charming ambiance.

The Rome Festival is the only activity at Cortile Auditorium "Regina Margherita"  during the summer. About 70% of the rehearsals take place on the main stages there.  In addition to scheduled rehearsals singers practice their physical action individually on  the main stages almost every day. 

Singers live with roommates in small hotels in the historic center of Rome so they can walk to the cultural, rehearsal, practice, and performance sites.  Most of the artists walk to arrive more quickly and to enjoy the sights.  A few wait for the bus and ride it two stops.  When a cultural visit requires taking a public bus, the Festival provides not only the entrance fee and a guide, but also the bus tickets.

The hotels where we house our artists often house artists, scholars, and students.  Several of the hotels are recommended in guide books.  Their best feature is their location in central historic Rome.  Our artists are not required to live in the hotel room the Festival provides.   The festival gives a housing rebate to any artist who lives elsewhere. 

The historic center of Rome has few or no "new" buildings. We do not encourage anyone requiring a new hotel building or whose first concern is the class of her/his hotel to audition for the Rome Festival.  In response to the requests of several major schools over ten years ago, we ceased distributing materials with pictures in an effort to deglamorize the Festival.  We use simple, inexpensive materials to emphasize that we are an educational charity. 

Artists eat as they prefer.  Near their hotels they enjoy all options from visiting the open air markets to top class restaurants. The expenses of food, as all expenses, can be covered by tax deductible contributions and grants. 

Depending on the repertoire the "staff" of performers varies annually from about 110 to 150.  Of those about 40%-45% are native Italians, about 40% to 45% are from the USA, and the remaining performers come from wherever European opera is performed, usually 7 to 9 different countries.  While most of these come from Europe, some come from South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. 

Among the "production staff", which prepares the performers, 100% have had successful performances in major Italian cities over many years and most are native born or residents or partial residents of  Italy for many years.  The exception to this is the German language coach, who is a native German who stage directs German theater performed by German language students in suburban New York.

The ratio of production staff to performance staff is about 1 to 7.  All singers must take coaching, may take master classes, and are encouraged to perform individually in internal recitals with coaching preparation.  All singers are encouraged to sing in every coaching and master class.  The coaching and classes range in size from two or three singers to eighteen to twenty singers.

Typical day - Mornings - Vocal and language coaching, individual practice, characterization, blocking and/or cultural visit; Afternoons - Opera or chamber music rehearsals; Evenings - performances, cultural visits, and/or organized social activities.

Average age of singers performing major roles - 31, average age of singers performing minor roles- 23, average age of entry level singer - 21.  Oldest singer in 2000 - 57.  Youngest singer in 2000 - 17 (she was a ballet dancer who sang in the chorus)

I am happy to mail or fax you an application and letter of instruction.  Each singers records two arias, one of which must be in Italian.  Singers auditioning for roles in German must sing one Italian and one German aria.  The operas in 2001 are "Cosi fan tutte" and "Hänsel und Gretel" (with children's chorus - a special program).  The operas for 2002 are "Don Giovanni", "L'elisir d'amore", and "Dreamnotes" (world premiere).  The Festival tries to multi-cast all roles.  The Festival casts enough singers to cover the performances and no more.  Every singer, who is memorized, attends rehearsals, and respects the conductor is guaranteed a performance unless the singer is too ill to sing any of the scheduled performances.

We want all artists to have the facts about the Rome Festival.  We also have the facts about a lot of other "activities" offered to singers.  When these are requested, we provide them only to a private email address. Thank you again for your questions.  Cordially, Molly Barber