Applications for the 2024 Young Artist Program are now closed. To inquire about possible late applications, please write to auditions@teatronuovo.org. Inquiries will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Program Information:

Restrictions

All positions listed here must be filled either by US citizens or permanent residents; by singers with sufficient credentials to qualify for an artist visa; or by singers with OPT/CPT eligibility. Other non-US candidates should inquire about positions for auditors.

Age Limit

No limit

How To Apply

Deadline

Received By Wed Sep 15, 2023

Materials Required

Two recent recordings (made within the last 24 months) and a current résumé must be included as part of the completed application form.

At least one of the recordings should be in video form. The selections may be in any genre (opera, song, or oratorio), any period, and any language, but please bear in mind that we specialize in 19th-century Italian opera, and take a moment to read the section “what we’re looking for” below.

Application Form Location

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfkP0jcxXos_ulEJXE5yjJTMjW68MZEXDUabgTrypHl7G-Zsw/viewform

Late applications

Anyone wishing to apply after September 15 should not fill out the audition form, but instead should write to us at the address below to inquire about the possibility. We will evaluate such requests on a case-by-case basis.

Audition Information

Audition Requirements

If granted an audition, you should bring repertory that shows the following (whether in separate pieces or together in a single piece):

Long, slow, legato, romantic lines
Coloratura agility
Recitative in Italian

Some things to note about choice of repertory:

Baroque, Classical, and Romantic repertory are all welcome
We don’t mind if you sing some pieces on-book
Oratorio, song, and opera are all welcome

Audition location and dates:

We will hold three weekends of auditions in New York City (Oct. 14-15, 21-22, 28-29) for which we will provide a pianist (see below). Each applicant should select a first-choice audition date, and if more than one date is possible, please indicate second and third choices as well. Some offers may be made before the end of the audition period, so it is an advantage to choose an early date if possible.
Applicants who cannot make any of these dates should select “Off-cycle audition” on the Application Form. We will accommodate any date in October 2023 that you are able to be in New York, but if it is a date outside our scheduled weekends you will need to bring your own pianist.
Applicants who cannot travel to New York at all should select “Remote audition” on the Application Form. In some cases we may schedule a virtual audition via Zoom, or in others we may arrange for a TN representative to hear you in person in another location.
Callbacks: On our New York audition weekends, we will be holding callbacks for selected singers on the evening of the second day of each audition block (Oct. 15, 22, 29). If you are auditioning in New York, please make every attempt to hold those evenings open for a possible callback.

Pianist Provided

Applicants auditioning within our three scheduled weekends may bring their own pianists, or may use the pianist provided by Teatro Nuovo for a fee of $25 payable to the pianist directly at the time of audition.

Opportunity Information

Location

New York, NY USA

2024 Season Information

Our repertory for the summer of 2024 will include I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (Bellini) and Anna di Resburgo (Uccelli), as well as concert programs to be determined.

Program Dates

June 06, 2024 - July 25, 2024 [see explanation below]

Program Information

Please note: The program will last for 6 weeks within the seven-week period listed above. Exact start and end dates will be determined once we have scheduling confirmation from our theater and campus partners.

Who we are
Teatro Nuovo is an opera company presenting performances in and near New York City, accompanied by an innovative training program designed to provide opportunities and information not generally available elsewhere. Its unusual features include the collaboration of a period-instrument orchestra under the direction of Berlin violinist Jakob Lehmann; in-depth seminars and lessons in historical performance practice and ornamentation by Will Crutchfield; and an intensive Italian-language program directed by Lucy Yates. For more details about our goals and faculty, please visit TeatroNuovo.org. The operas performed since our debut season in 2018 are Mayr’s Medea in Corinto; Rossini’s Tancredi, La Gazza Ladra, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Maometto Secondo; Bellini’s La Straniera; Donizetti’s Poliuto, and the Ricci brothers’ Crispino e la Comare.

What we offer
Our summer training program supports the overall mission of Teatro Nuovo: cutting-edge interpretation of classic Italian repertory. We see a need for a program that does not try to focus on the “everything” of opera, but instead works with the greatest possible depth and intensity on a very narrow group of topics, all directly related to the performance of the score. For more about our curriculum, see https://www.teatronuovo.org/vocal-program.

What we're looking for
Among the many qualities that can make a successful opera singer, we are looking for certain ones that fit with Teatro Nuovo's style and mission. What we're detailing below is the kind of singer we are best equipped to help. If this describes you—or the singer you think you can become—then you and TN may be right for each other.

We want you to be a strong musician. The singers who get the most out of our program are generally good sight-readers who can grasp typical Bel Canto passages easily and execute them accurately without prolonged study. Some exceptionally fast ear-learners can reach the same result, but in either case, we need singers who can "get the notes right" quickly as we try out different ornaments and cadenzas.
We want you to be an independent thinker. We are looking for singers who do not need a coach to teach them the music or spoon-feed its interpretation. We will challenge you, and we hope the accumulated knowledge of our team will have something to teach you, but we want you to bring your own expertise and opinions to the table.
We want you to be technically ambitious. A fundamental part of TN's mission is to uphold demanding standards of vocal function: perfect legato; consistency and strength of tone throughout the range; mastery of registration; fine control of dynamics without compromise of vocal timbre; easily intelligible vowels and consonants; crystal-clear agility. We want singers who are eager to remedy any weaknesses in these areas and eager to take the strengths they already have to the highest possible level.
We want you to love Italian. High-level interpretation of Italian opera requires understanding its poetry—which means, eventually, an ability to read and speak the language. We are happy to welcome beginners as well as those who already have some fluency, but we need you to be committed to learning (or learning more about) the mother tongue of Bel Canto.
We want you to be open-minded and imaginative. Teatro Nuovo presents interpretations that are in many ways "non-standard" for the mainstream opera world. We are not very interested in "the way it's usually done." We are very interested in "the way(s) it was done at the time," because performance styles of the distant past open up such a wide field for creativity and expression.

A few other notes about our selection process

We are diverse and inclusive. Teatro Nuovo welcomes singers of all backgrounds, origins, orientations, and gender identifications. We are interested in your voice, your chops, your expressiveness, your musicianship, and your capacity for hard work. We are not so interested in your school, your look, your clothes, "who you know," or what programs you have done before.
Queremos mucho a los hispanohablantes. Su herencia lingüística y cultural aporta un ingrediente precioso a la mezcla del Bel Canto. Si logramos inscribir un grupo suficiente, ofreceremos clases de "italiano basado en español." Además nos interesaría investigar el repertorio poco conocido de canciones y romanzas con letra castellana en estilo operístico del siglo XIX.
If we are right for each other, don't let money or timing stand in the way. Although live auditions are always preferable, we recognize that not every qualified singer has a travel budget, and we also recognize that other responsibilities may prevent you from being in New York during our audition period. If either of those is your situation, please take advantage of the option to request a remote audition.

Compensation

All artists are hired as employees of Teatro Nuovo for the entire six-week period. Total salary for Resident Artists is $4,500, and for Studio Artists the total salary is $3,250. Please note that all applicable employment taxes will be deducted from your paycheck automatically.

Resident Artists sing or cover mainstage principal roles. Studio Artists may sing or cover secondary roles, and participate in an active program of "study cover" work on principal roles. Studio Artists also have opportunities to appear as soloists in other concert programs.

Housing
Teatro Nuovo does not provide free housing for its Resident or Studio Artists, but we can arrange for you to rent a room on the Montclair State University campus (where our training program and rehearsals take place), at the published campus rates. This rate was $50 per night in 2023 and we expect the same or similar for 2024. On-campus housing at Montclair State University consists of an individual air-conditioned bedroom in a shared apartment, with a full kitchen, shared living room, and two full bathrooms.

Participants who have access to housing within commuting distance of Montclair may choose instead to live off campus. Free parking is available to both commuters and residents near the residence buildings (there is also paid parking available next to the rehearsal area). Commuting via public transportation is also possible from anywhere in the New York area.

Meals
Reasonably priced dining is available on-campus on weekdays. Teatro Nuovo provides full kitchen equipment for each on-campus apartment so that meals can be prepared “at home” when necessary or desired. Grocery delivery services are available to facilitate in-apartment cooking.