- Three teachers of international stature
- Wonderful setting, memorable experience
- A select group of 20 students
SALBEK OPERA FESTIVAL
Masterclass 2023
The Salbek Opera Masterclass (23-27 August 2023) is held on the Salbek Castle Estate, Petriș, Arad County, Romania, and entails a series of masterclasses taught by internationally renowned soloists invited to the Salbek Opera Festival. In 2023, the soloists will be Ruxandra Donose, Ramon Vargas and Leontina Văduva.
The classes will conclude on 27 August 2023 with an open-air Opera Gala in the plaza in front of Arad City Hall, featuring the Arad Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor David Crescenzi, soloists Ruxandra Donose, Ramon Vargas, Leontina Văduva and three of the students from the Salbek Opera Masterclass.
The courses will be held on locations around Salbek estate from 23 to 26 August. During the breaks, there will be informal meetings between teachers and students on the esplanade in front of the castle.
The first International Salbek Opera Masterclass (23-27 August 2023) is an international event held at Petriș, Arad County, where twenty preselected participants will, over the course of three days, have the opportunity to study canto and performance techniques with three internationally renowned musicians: mezzosoprano Ruxandra Donose (Austria/Romania), tenor Ramon Vargas (Mexico/Austria), and soprano Leontina Văduva (Switzerland/Romania). Leading figures from Romanian opera will be invited to Petriș to meet them.
The final gala of the course will take place in front of Arad City Hall, in an open-air concert featuring the Arad Philharmonic conducted by David Crescenzi.
Maximum twenty selected participants
The young musicians, aged between eighteen and thirty, will be selected from April to June, following a public call for applicants that will be published on the project’s website and Facebook page and in the online publications of the project’s partners.
Working in such international groups will foster an exchange of cultural traditions, working practices and personal experiences, which will contribute to good mutual understanding within the intercultural dimension of the project. The gala finale will be organised in partnership with the Arad Municipal Cultural Centre and the Salbek Castle Association.
Study, recreation, visibility
The location chosen for the event—the village of Petriș, Arad County—will provide participants with a setting suitable for study and recreation. The Castel Salbek Association provides accommodation, meals, local transport, and accompanying pianists – more details about the conditions, below.
The musicians will have the opportunity to work with three co-rehearsal teachers on the piano, allowing for complex and continuous study. To ensure the greatest visibility and significant sustainability, representatives of national and international cultural organisations will be invited to attend, as well as two or three specialist journalists.
At the end of the series of courses, the teachers will highlight the strengths of the participants and the improved areas. They will choose three participants for the Opera Gala.
Present and future opportunities
The masterclasses will cover various topics, including subjects concerning Romanian and East-European traditional music and the influence of traditional themes on classical and contemporary music, combining modern techniques of interpretation with musical methodology. The project will therefore be both innovative and attractive, thanks to its interdisciplinary and multicultural approach. The masterclasses will give rise to collaborative projects between the young musicians and teachers, which will also be able to be presented before audiences on other occasions. Likewise, musicians taking part will be able to return to the counties of Arad, Hunedoara, Alba, and Timiș as part of other projects.
The Association will continue the Masterclass in the years to come and aims to expand it with opera performances and galas at prestigious European venues.
The young musicians will be able both to specialise and to benefit from the project’s exposure in their future careers. In addition, the project will be able to guide audiences attending the concerts towards music of the highest quality, and likewise to create national interest in the Arad, Hunedoara, Alba, and Timiș regions, as well as greater international interest in the Romanian cultural space.
The Salbek International Opera Masterclass wishes to offer young musicians the chance to meet outstanding teachers who will contribute to their artistic and personal development and create future opportunities for them.
DATES
Masterclass 2023: 23–27 August
Final date for applications: 31 May
Selection and results: 1–10 June
PRICES
1500 RON – Romanian nationals
500 EUR – Other nationalities
RESTRICTIONS
Participants must be
between 18 and 30 years old.
The maximum number of selected participants is 20.
CONDITIONS
The Castel Salbek Association provides the following for 20 students:
• accommodation in “twin” room at a 4* hotel;
• 3 meals daily;
• coach transport Bucharest-Deva-Arad-return on August 22 and 28;
• transportation from the hotel to the place where the course takes place every day;
• accompanying pianists;
Notes:
• 20 course participants will be selected on the basis of the materials submitted in their applications.
• The selection process will take place from 1 to 10 June and successful applicants will be contacted by telephone or e-mail with further details.
• The courses will take place between 23–26 August in Salbek-Petris, and will continue between 26–27 August in Arad.
• Initial travel from the participant’s home to Bucharest and back is not included in the price.
BONUS
Three of the twenty selected students will have the opportunity to sing in the Gala on August 27, 2023 at ARAD, together with the three master-teachers.
If you have questions, please contact us by email at [email protected] or by phone at +40744535089
APPLY FOR THE MASTERCLASS
You can register your interest for the Masterclass – 2023 edition – using the dedicated form.
SALBEK OPERA FESTIVAL
The extraordinary gala Salbek Opera Masterclass 2023
Arad – Extraordinary Opera Gala • 27 August,
Piața Primăriei / City Hall Square • open air
Arad Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: David Crescenzi
Soloists: Ruxandra Donose, Leontina Văduva, Ramon Vargas
…and three of the Salbek Opera Masterclass 2023 students
Arad – City Hall Square
Arad – City Hall Square
City Hall Square • Arad, România
SALBEK OPERA FESTIVAL
2024 & 2025
From 2024, the Salbek Opera Festival will, for the first time in Romania, hold an opera picnic event. It will also be the first festival to invite institutions with the status of national operas from Romania and neighbouring countries to present productions before an élite audience and in an original format.
The programme will include productions staged by leading opera theatres from Romania and Central and Eastern Europe—Czechia, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria—to be staged in August 2024 and 2025.
From 2024, the gardens of Salbek Castle will every summer host a festival featuring three operas and a gala, produced by theatres from Romania and other countries.
The festival will give audiences the direct experience of operatic performances by internationally renowned Romanian theatres, stages alongside productions by their counterparts from neighbouring countries. It has the potential to become an annual event which, within three to five years, will increase in scope, as we move in the direction of models such as the United Kingdom’s Glyndebourne and Grange Park festivals.
Aerial view of the Salbek castle and estate, as well as the beautiful surroundings • Periș, Arad, România
If you have questions, please contact us by email at [email protected] or by phone at +40744535089