West Virginia University piano professor Lucy Mauro and guest artist-in-residence Donald George, a tenor, will offer a Bavarian Summer Voice and Piano Collaborative Workshop in 2011 for advanced singers and pianists.
The eight-day workshop will take place during June 24-July 2 in the beautiful German village of Kiefersfelden in the Bavarian Alps, on the German Rail line, one hour from Munich, Salzburg and Innsbruck.
Participants, selected by audition, will take part in intensive study sessions with George and Mauro in private lessons, master classes and coachings, culminating in a public performance and in an audition for the German agent, Gerhard H�ttl.
This nationally competitive program will accept four singers and four pianists who are ready to embark on careers as opera singers, recitalists and accompanists.
“This is a unique opportunity for singers and pianists to advance in their performing abilities, make important professional connections internationally, and to be introduced to the German system, which offers exceptional performance opportunities for singers in opera and for accompanists in professional work,” Mauro said.
“While we first thought of the workshop as a national program, we are already getting international inquiries from some excellent singers from Europe and India.”
Auditions may be done through CD, DVD, Web link or in person. Auditions will be held at WVU and The Crane School of Music, where George is based, by appointment, with flexible days and times.
The required audition repertoire for both singers and pianists is two contrasting arias and two art songs.
The audition deadline is March 5.
The Bavarian Workshop is also open to those who would like to audit the instruction and attend master classes, lessons, coachings and performances. The 2011 Workshop is scheduled amid many of the major European, Austrian and German music festivals, such as the Tyrolean Festival in Erl, the Salzburg Festival, the Munich Festival, Arena Verona in Italy, the Innsbruck Festival of Ancient Music, the Opera Festival on the Estate Immling and many more both large and small.
Lodging and meals will be in the charming Hotel zur Post in Kiefersfelden, with excellent accommodations and within walking distance of the train station, stores and restaurants.
The workshop is immediately followed by the International Performing Arts Institute, also located in Kiefersfelden.
Donald George’s career has spanned the great opera houses and concert halls of Europe, as well as recordings, radio and television. He has performed at such esteemed theaters as La Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera Bastille, Royal Opera of Brussels, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the State Operas of Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna, and many others. He has sung with conductors Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur, Yehudi Menuhin, Jeffry Tate, Vladimir Jurowski and Simone Young and has recorded for Sony, Naxos, Phillips Classic, Teldec and Bavarian Radio, among others.
Lucy Mauro frequently performs, conducts master classes, workshops and other presentations with Donald George nationally and internationally, specializing in such areas as developing musical expression and communication, the 19th-Century German Melodram, and the art of collaborative performance. Dr. Mauro is also a member of the faculty of the International Performing Arts Institute in Germany, where she is the Director of Collaborative Piano.
For more information about Mauro and George, the Bavarian Workshop, and to download an application form, see the website at http://music.wvu.edu/bavarian_workshop/
Students interested may also contact Lucy Mauro at Lucy.Mauro@mail.wvu.edu, phone (540) 267-5323 or Donald George at donald-george@donald-george.com, phone (540)-808-7722.
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CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu
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