10th Sieggraben Summer Workshop for Singers: August 16 - 29 2009

This workshop is designed for singers of all types and levels of achievement. The course is open to all singers regardless of age and nationality. Singers wishing to audition in Europe face formidable problems:

• language
• lack of understanding of the system of agents and opera houses as they operate in Europe, of how to obtain an audition and what will be expected of them.

Those who have studied privately will lack the necessary training in stagecraft and movement. Their voices may me ready but they do not have the experience to present their audition arias in such a way that they will stand out from the multitude.

Singers who have been engaged and sung roles in opera houses may also have little or no training in stagecraft and movement, and have been forced to acquire this "under fire". A busy artist needs a little time:

• to re-establish his connection with the works he has sung, or is going to be singing,
• to get new ideas and insights into characters,
• to get rid of bad habits (pointless gesticulation, staggering instead of walking, engaging the back muscles in the same way to express dirfferent emotions) - all of the tricks with which one rescues oneself when one has to learn a new role quickly and without detailed direction.

The course consists of intensive classes in movement, improvisation, acting and stagecrsft, solo and ensemble vocal coaching and singing lessons.

10th Anniversary Sieggraben Summer Workshop 2000-2009

To celebrate 10 years of the Sieggraben Summer Workshop, and coincidentally the Hadyn Jubilee Year, we are changing our format slightly. For this one workshop we will be studying and presenting an opera by Haydn, the name of which we will be selecting as soon as registration is complete. Each workshop participant will be assigned a role, according to his/her voice classification. The participant will undertake to come to the workshop with the role learned, and will receive individual and group coachings, individual singing lessons and movement/dramatic training as usual. In intensive rehearsal this opera will be fully staged by Andrea Mellis. We will be presenting this opera at the final concert, and are planning to take it on tour in the Winter of 2009. Performances in Toronto, Canada are also being planned.

New Course Fee is €650. Accomodation costs €15 per person, per night. Most accomodation includes a kitchen, and there is a general store and a bakery in the village, as well as a few restaurants and „Heurige“ which serve the local wine and meals.

The workshop lasts two weeks, beginning on Sunday evening,August 16 and running until and including August 29.

The course is structured so that every participant receives maximum individual attention. Each participant has 6 individual lessons with Andrea Mellis, 6 individual coachings with William ShookhoffThe work day usually runs from 9 am to 9 pm, every day except the middle Sunday, where lessons only take place in the afternoon.

Only 8-10 singers will be considered for this course. Participants will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis, age or nationality do not play a part in the selection process. Participants will only be officially registered for this workshop when the fee is paid in full. This must be done by the 30th of June, 2009. If the participant cancels after this date, for whatever reasons, the fee will not be refunded. The fees for accomodation are to be paid directly to the landlord/landlady at the end of the Workshop.

The workshop ends with a public concert on August 29th, and it is expected that all participants will take part in this concert.