Introduction

Festival 4 Arts Academica brings, for the first time, an opera production, with “Bastien and Bastienne” by W. A. Mozart, under the management of the famous Silvia Voinea and an operetta production, with “A Night in Venice” by Johann Strauss, under the musical direction of Adrian Suciu (Salzburg, Austria), on the stage of the “Geo Bogza” Culture House in Campina.

Benefits for students

The main purpose of the Festival 4 Arts Academica is to help young artists to attain the stage of “professional”. The project will include orchestra, artistic direction, sets, lights, so as to resemble a show of professionals. The organizers are allowed to make a video of the whole show, without paying any fees for it. They will use it for the purpose of promoting and disseminating the event. A DVD with the film will be offered to all the protagonists.

Basically, the project is meant to help young soloists (high school students, students, masters and graduates who want to enlarge their portfolio) gain scenic experience, learn a full role, interact with the team, with the director and the conductor in an environment that simulates in an exact way the working of the great opera and opera theaters. The soloists will be accompanied by the orchestra, thus benefiting from the opportunity to improve their technique and interpretive discipline. They will work under the guidance of the conductor – Adrian Suciu (Austria) and the director – Mihai Bisericanu. The preparation and refinement of the role will be done under the guidance of the mezzo-soprano Claudia Codreanu.

Thus, we offer a unique opportunity for young singers and actors to work in a well-organized production, staged (sets, costumes, lights, professional orchestra), during 11 days spent in Campina and enjoying a wonderful experience.

Participation in this project involves training stages together (stage rehearsals, musical rehearsals, orchestra rehearsals, performances) all integrated into the Masterclass. The musical theater is the ideal environment where dramatic art meets music, voice with instruments, image with sound. The kind of operetta, often underappreciated, represents an ideal environment for practicing both vocal and acting skills, through the play of extremely lively and demanding scenes, by alternating music with dialogues.

The operetta production at the Festival 4 Arts Academica will have two distributions. The show will be performed in German, and the dialogues will be in Romanian.

Casting for the main roles

The selection for the main roles in the operetta “A Night in Venice” lasts until March 16, 2020. For this, the candidates must submit a short biography, a recent video recording with 2 areas, or a Youtube link (for singers) and a poem (for singers and actors), as well as the proof of payment of the selection fee of 50 lei by email: festivaluldearte@gmail.com until 1.03.2020. The answers to the selection will be received by email on 16.03.2020. Money will be sent on the account written below.

Fees for the Operetta Masterclass

The fee for the Festival 4 Arts Academica – Masterclass Operetta (singing and acting) is differentiated depending on the complexity of the roles and the performance of the students. So:

• the first 4 roles – Barbara Delaqua (Soprano lirica), Count Guido de Urbino (Tenor), Annina (Sopranaolirico coloratura), Caramello (Tenor), first distribution – 600 lei
• the first 4 roles, the second distribution – 1200 lei
• The following 5 roles, regardless of distribution – Pappacoda (Baritone), Senator Bartolomeo Delaqua (Bass), Ciboletta (Alto), Agricola Barbaruccio (Alto) and A Herald (Baritone) – 1000 lei
• The 6 spouses of senators and actors, regardless of distribution – 800 lei

The Masterclass Operetta fee includes study hours with the piano accompanist, the canto professor, rehearsals with the orchestra, the conductor’s and director’s guidance from August 21-31, 2020. The DVD of the show and the graduation diploma are also included.

Those selected for the production of operetta at the Festival 4 Arts Academica, will pay 200 lei in maximum 14 days from the date of the email in which they were notified of their admission. The rest of the fee for the Masterclass can be paid in installments, each 200 lei / month, every month from April until the full payment. If the payment of the whole tax is made in April, then the student benefits of a 20% discount. The fee does not include the accommodation and food expenses of the students.

The students applying for the choir will pay a tuition fee of 400 lei. They can be students of music schools from the 5th to the 12th grade.

The instrumentalists who participate in the masterclasses of the Festival 4 Arts Junior, June 26 – July 3, 2020 and are selected during that period as the best performers, will be invited to the Festival 4 Arts Academica, August 21-31, 2020 without paying any course fee. They will have to pay for their accommodation and food expenses.

Payment will be made to the organizer Best Bridge Services SRL account opened at ING Bank, Bucharest, IBAN: RO22INGB0000999903782351.

Awards

Due to a generous donation, Master Adrian Suciu will award 5 prizes of 2200 lei each. Prizes will be awarded for outstanding performances during the entire training period and shows and target all categories of trainees involved, except those in the choir.

Rehearsals

Those selected for the Festival 4 Arts Academica – Masterclass Operetta will be called for a first rehearsal period between April 6-16, 2020. A second training period will take place during the Festival 4 Arts Junior, June 26 – July 3, 2020, at Campina, where the students will pay only the costs of accommodation and food. Failure to participate in the rehearsal stages entails the exclusion from the project of the respective participant without refund of the participation fee.

We want the first rehearsal stage to take place in Salzburg. For this trip, each participant must allocate about 1500 lei (300 euros) for transportation, accommodation, food (the exact cost of the trip will be announced after casting, no later than March 20, 2020). In this case, the second distribution will participate in the internship between April 6 and 10, and the first distribution, between April 10 and 16. Those selected for the first distribution will be invited to sing in Missa in C Major KV 337 by W. A. ​​Mozart on April 12 and they will receive a fee for it. If the selected ones cannot afford to pay for the travel costs, the first rehearsal will take place in Bucharest.

Masterclass Accompaniment

At the Festival 4 Arts Academica – Masterclass Operetta we offer Masterclass Accompanying for students who attend the masterclasses at the Festival 4 Arts Junior, June 26 – July 3, 2020. At the end of this period, 2 of the most performing pianists will be chosen as accompanists of operetta production. In order to enter the selection, the pianists who wish to become accompanists in the production of operetta must master the reduced score of the operetta until the end of the courses of the Festival 4 Arts Junior, June 26 – July 3, 2020. The score must be requested by email: festivaluldearte@gmail.com and will be offered only after proof of payment of the course fee for the Festival 4 Arts Junior, June 26 – July 3, 2020, Professor Adrian Suciu. For the Festival 4 Arts Academica – Masterclass Accompaniment no course fee is required, the participants will pay the costs related to accommodation and food throughout the period.

About the operetta “A Night in Venice”

The masterpiece of the Viennese waltz king Johann Strauss (son) “One night in Venice” is an operetta in three acts. The libretto written by F. Zell and Richard Gene is based on “Le Château Trompette” by Eugène Cormon and Richard genes. The comic romantic story presents tangles created due to cheating plans, in which the characters’ identity is misunderstood.

The play was premiered in 1883 in Berlin and then in Vienna. It is one of Strauss’ best-known three stage plays, successfully performed in New York, London, in all major cultural centers and adapted for film.

Synopsis

The Venice Carnival and a masked ball represent the context of the comedy in which the plans of betrayal in love are foiled. The Duke of Urbino, an unscrupulous conqueror, set out to conquer Barbara’s love, the wife of a local senator, Bartolomeo Delacqua. The senator hires a gondolier to remove Duke’s predatory eyes from his wife. However, she intends to run away with her lover, her husband’s nephew, Enrico. The Duke’s accomplices, Caramello, pay the gondolier to take his place and take the senator’s wife straight to the Duke. He doesn’t know, however, that instead of Barbara is his neglected girlfriend, Annina. Bartolomeo Delacqua comes to the dance with “Barbara” at his arm, this time in the person of the cook Ciboletta. With this last confusion, the cheatings of the protagonists are revealed and the farce is complete.

The main roles in the operetta “A Night in Venice”

The roles are:

• Barbara Delaqua (Lyric Soprano)
• Count Guido de Urbino (Tenor)
• Annina, fisherman’s daughter, Caramello’s lover (Soprano lyrical coloratura)
• Caramello, the barber of the Court (Tenor)
• Pappacoda, maccheroni cook (Baritone)
• Senator Bartolomeo Delaqua, husband of Barbara (Bass)
• Ciboletta, the maid of Delaqua family (Alto)
• Agricola Barbaruccio (Alto)
• A Herald (Baritone)
• Six wives of senators (Soprano and Alto)
• Senator Barbaruccio (Actor)
• Senator Testaccio (Actor)
• Constantina Testaccio, a seantor’s wife (Actress)

Choir and various small roles

Schedule of shows

The performances of the Festival 4 Arts Academica – Masterclass Operetta and Accompaniment will be presented to the public at the end of the period. Depending on the offers and the negotiation with host institutions, the production will possibly go on tour in the country and abroad.

We want to create a new tradition in the city of Campina and to develop a small summer season with opera and operetta production, symphonic and chamber vocal concerts in the church of St. Anthony of Padua and at the “Geo Bogza” Cultural House.

Cancellations

We regret that the participation fees are not refundable and therefore participants are advised to properly schedule their time. Fees are reimbursed in full only if the project is canceled by the organizers.

Other information

We can give directions about pensions in Campina only by email or by phone to the people who make this request to us.

For more information about this great project, please contact us by email: festivaluldearte@gmail.com.