DIRECTEUR ARTISTIQUE MIR OPERA
Ambrogio Maestri
The idea for MIR OPERA (Music International Resources) was born among a few professionals in the sector who chose to showcase their professionalism for the benefit of young artists who are taking their first steps in the world of opera.
I had the chance to work with various artists who were the most important representatives of lyrical art of yesterday and today and who were able to communicate to me the great passion that gives me enthusiasm for this project. I have followed many artists in this journey and now I am happy to be by their side in this didactic experience with the hope that my contribution will relight the torch of this art.
In all fairness, the road will not be easy. But accompanying and guiding young people in a work that is made of passion, but also of deepening, sacrifice and effort is necessary to highlight their talent.
We are ready and well motivated to take up this challenge with the desire to see our students shine on the stage, following the principles and our idea of opera; the one that we love and want to contribute to make perpetual.
Objective
Our aim is to help young people who choose this type of expression to develop their personality through in-depth knowledge and to promote the
most capable students to the professional world.
Vocal technique, interpretation, choice of repertoire, acting, are among the main topics that will be discussed, but also diction, poetic and musical metrics, the physiology of the phonatory system.The history of opera, the interaction with the theatrical world, and the artistic confrontation between singers, directors, conductors and all the figures of the theatrical structure will be offered within MIR OPERA.
Reason for the project
Around this project that will take place in Brussels, the capital of Europe, some of the greatest performers of opera will come together to renew the practice of this art. The common vision of performing is the glue of this group of artists who want to offer their contribution for the future. In the name of modernity, we often witness the distortion of the original idea of the authors.
Our intention is to establish paradigms that will form a solid foundation for young people who demonstrate professionalism for their future careers. The authors’ thinking, the stories they tell, the transformation of their stage representations over time must be deepened in order to build up a knowledge base allowing them to take a decisive step forward.
The program is intended to be inclusive of all subjects that are the key to mastering artistic practice.
The use of vocal instrument and technique, musical sense, poetry, performing arts, phonology will be developed during preparation.
The possibility of confrontation with the current great figures of the professional world of opera is the specificity of our project.
During the project some opera agencies, conductors and theater directors will be invited to follow the path of young singers.
Selection of young artists
The age of young artists will range between twenty and thirty-five, depending on the voice register, considering that female soprano voices mature earlier and bass voice later. The invitation to participate in the project is therefore mainly addressed to young artists. They will have to pass an online audition to demonstrate their level of preparation and talent to the jury. The selections will be based on the presentation of the arias chosen from the proposed works, in particular the Verdian trilogy Rigoletto-Il Trovatore-La Traviata.
Shortlisted artists will be invited to participate in public or streaming auditions.
The jury for the auditions will be composed of the artistic director and the masters of interpretation and vocal technique. For the final, the Masters will also be invited.
MISSION
Profession: opera singer
VISION
New aesthetics of the Opera, new artists for a new audience
BY THE PRESIDENT
Francesco Medda
Profession: Opera singer
MIR OPERA offers to the young opera singers a musical development project for high-level artistic performances.The project is addressed to the young artists from all over the world who will be selected on the basis of their preparation and talent, who have already followed a regular course and who wish to improve themselves to face the scene.
Currently, the opera industry is experiencing a sharp slowdown due to the COVID pandemic. Our project wants to give a strong signal of resumption of activity by bringing together a team of several international opera stars.
The famous baritone Ambrogio Maestri, the greatest Falstaff of the last twenty years and recognized protagonist of the most important international stages, will provide artistic direction. Great contemporary artists who regularly perform on stages such as the Scala di Milano, Covent Garden, the Grand Opera in Paris, Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, will also put their experience and knowledge at the disposal of young performers wishing to improve their skills in the profession of an opera singer.
Opera is an art that dates back several centuries. From its first appearance on the stage, it has followed a path through different eras, never ceasing to arouse emotions and enthusiasm. Opera is in search of new attractions and we feel the urgency to establish new paradigms that would project it into the future without altering its intrinsic values.
MIR OPERA wants to help young people understand all levels of stage performance and the deep meaning of the themes dealt in the works. Great composers showed that their works are timeless and universal. These are not the ideas and messages conveyed that change, but their interpretation, adapting to each era. The opera is lyrical, and therefore poetic. Poetry is the echo of all human feelings, it is the art of reference, capable of arousing emotions deep in our soul.
The artist’s journey consists of devoting his intelligence, his sensitivity, his talent to a discipline that allows him to find a personal interpretation, by developing his own qualities, different for everyone in the image of the singularity of each voice.
The opera is the sum of many art forms: music, poetry, theatre, scenographic architecture come together to tell stories, representations of our history.
MIR OPERA offers an innovative program that develops all these artistic disciplines, essential in the practice of the art of opera but that also addresses other subjects such as physiology and health of the vocal instrument in order to preserve it while obtaining the maximum of its interpretive potential.