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| IMPORTANT UPDATES REGARDING THE NYIOP AUDITIONS:
If you wish to join our mailing list, please click HERE and fill in the requested information. ******************************************** THE FINAL PRELIMINARY AUDITION DATE FOR 2007-2008 SEASON!! To be considered for the May 14-17 NYC Session or the Berlin Auditions, you must sing for us on this date, if you have not sung already!
Please go to the Preliminary Audition Registration Page to register to sing in one of these new preliminary cities! ******************************************** HERE IS THE LIST OF HOUSES CONFIRMED TO ATTEND THE MAY 14 - 17, 2008 NEW YORK CITY AUDITIONS The auditions will take place at the Riverside Church in room 9T. For the final New York NYIOP of the 2007-2008 season , we have put together a great group of houses. Notify us as soon as possible if you wish to sing. The houses expected to attend are (this of course is subject to change - but this is the list as of April 28:
HERE IS THE REPERTOIRE WE HAVE FOR THIS SESSION AS OF APRIL 28: SPECIFIC ROLES Don Carlos: Eboli COMPLETE CASTS SOUGHT FOR: Lucio Silla FEST POSITIONS AVAILABLE FOR NEXT SEASON Spieltenor-pedrillo, Monostatos, etc. If you wish to join our mailing list, please click HERE ***
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ANNOUNCING THE 2008 BERLIN INTERNATIONAL OPERA AUDITIONS to be held June 21-24, 2008 at the Komische Oper Berlin
******************************************** Singers will be selected from two rounds preliminary auditions held worldwide in May and June this year! See the Berlin Section of the website for complete information about the new procedure and preliminary cities! The Berlin International Opera Auditions represent a highly efficient approach to the process of international auditioning: The opera houses travel to hear the singers instead of vice versa. Attended by a number of the largest houses in the world and hosted by the renowned Komische Oper Berlin, these auditions offer a unique opportunity for any professional singer to reach the next step in his or her career – in a very convenient and economical way. Once a year the Berlin International Opera Auditions brings the casting-level representatives of opera houses from all over the world together in Berlin, the heart of the new Europe, and give singers the chance to introduce themselves to a number of major opera houses with just ONE audition! Houses already confirmed to attend in 2008 include the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Hamburgische Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera, Komische Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Greek National Opera Athens, Gran Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, Los Angeles Opera, Palm Beach Opera, ABAO Bilbao, Croatian National Opera, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Theatre du Chatelet Paris, the New York City Opera plus many more... ******************************************************* The Berlin International Opera Auditions are open to any professional opera singer, managed or un-managed, who wish to introduce themselves to a number of houses at one time for a fraction of what it would normally cost - however all singers who wish to sing must go through a preliminary audition procedure. ******************************************************* New Preliminary Audition Procedures for this year!!! MORE SINGERS CAN BE HEARD BY THE OPERA HOUSES!!!! As in the first three years, each singer wishing to audition in Berlin must be heard in a preliminary audition, however this year we have completely restructured the preliminary process so that more singers have the opportunity to be heard by actual opera houses and agencies and then some will have the extra opportunity to be ASKED BACK to sing again on the stage of the Komische Oper Berlin for additional opera houses. The First Step - The Initial Preliminary Auditions! The Initial Preliminary Auditions will be heard in SEVEN MAJOR CITIES across Europe - London (May 18) - Royal Opera House Covent Garden From this round, NYIOP will take many more singers than we have been able to in the past! These singers will be invited to Berlin to sing a Second Round audition for a group of actual casting directors and agents. The Second Round of Auditions held in Berlin for actual opera houses and agencies! The Second Round of Auditions will be held at the Komische Oper Berlin and will be attended by a guaranteed number of opera houses, but not the entire group confirmed to attend. Anyone invited to sing in the Second Round of Auditions in Berlin will be auditioning for actual casting directors!! The Final Auditions on the stage of the Komische Oper Berlin After each singer invited to sing this Second Round of auditions has auditioned, the group of opera houses and agencies attending the second round will select which singers will be invited back again to sing in the Final Round of Auditions, to be held on the stage of the Komische Oper Berlin. These select singers will be presented to the entire list of confirmed opera houses - which we plan on being over 25 opera houses from all over the world!! When will the auditions take place? The preliminary auditions will be held during May and June - see the website for exact dates and locations. The Second Round of Auditions will take place on June 21 and 22, 2008. The Final Round of Auditions, held on the stage of the Komische Oper Berlin, will be held on June 23 and 24, 2008. What are the fees to participate? The non-refundable fee for the Initial Preliminary Auditions is 75 Euros (or 120$US). This amount must be paid when you register for the preliminary round and before you sing in any of the SEVEN preliminary cities across Europe. If you are invited to Berlin to sing for the opera houses attending the Second Round of Auditions there will be an additional fee of 350 Euros due immediately upon notification. If selected to sing for the Final Round of Auditions on the stage of the Komische Oper Berlin, you will pay NO ADDITIONAL FEE! How do I register to sing? If you want to register - just follow the link below and fill out the Registration Form. Once your registration is complete, every singer who registers will be scheduled and will have the opportunity to sing for the NYIOP Audition Representative and, if possible, someone from the opera house hosting the auditions. (Please remember to put your email address on the form and please make sure info@nyiop.com is on your Safe-List for email so we don't go to your junk mail folder)
Just click HERE to register today!!!!
******************************************** THE FIRST EVER NYIOP SAN FRANCISCO hosted at the San Francisco Opera IT WAS A GREAT SUCCESS!! Contracts were offered and a new opportunity was born!! The houses who attended were:
There were numerous contracts offered on the spot! In fact, one young singer was offered THREE contracts before he left the building! It was suh a success we are already looking into dates for NEXT YEAR!!! ********************************************
PRELIMINARY AUDITION DATES All Houses Attending the Upcoming NYIOP Sessions are listed HERE (when available) Dates and Locations for Preliminary Auditions: NEW YORK CITY
OUTSIDE NEW YORK CITY (Proposed locations. Any city with high response, we will will schedule a date)
Click HERE to Register Online for a Preliminary Audition
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David Blackburn is available for private consultations upon request when he is near you. If interested, please send an email to info@nyiop.com to request information. For five seasons, David has been one of the few people in the world who works seamlessly with general directors and casting directors in over 150 opera houses worldwide in recommending singers to watch or to hire. In addition, he is invited to attend and sit on the jury of many of the world's major competitions. Because of this knowledge, he can give you a truly comprehensive idea of were you stand in your competition for contracts as well as help you finely direct your efforts for more effective auditioning. These coaching sessions will be tailored to fit the singer's needs and can be useful for singers just starting out in this career, singers who have established themselves and are looking for information to help them move to the next level or fully-established professionals who want to get a clear idea of what repertoire to present to the biggest houses. In addition, you can simply use these sessions to polish your audition repertoire to get ready for the audition season, or to get a clear idea of how to best present yourself to different levels of houses or to European opera houses as opposed to American houses. He will also be happy to discuss possibilities for European audition tours or other aspects of the business around the world. The fees for these 50-minute long sessions will be $200 dollars. The singer is responsible for paying the pianist and the cost for a studio if necessary (usually about $25 dollars). A pianist will be available for the sessions but you can certainly bring your own. Here is a brief biography of David Blackburn:
*********************************************** KEEP INFORMED ABOUT ALL THE NYIOP AUDITIONS AND EVENTS!!! JOIN OUR ONLINE MAILING LIST About one time per month we send out updates about the NYIOP Auditions and other related projects. If you join our mailing list you will kept up to date at all times Click this link to join our Mailing List and we will email more information directly to you. ******************************************** ***New Procedures and Other Important Information*** A New Home for the NYC Auditions - Riverside Church (91 Claremont Avenue - near West 121st Street) As of the 2007-2008 Season, our home is the Riverside Church located at 91 Claremont Avenue near West 121st Street. Preliminary Auditions for the U.S.-based NYIOP Auditions Due to the number of applications we receive and our experience that no singer can truly be judged from a resume, we will hear preliminary auditions to choose the signers best suited for each session. All singers will have to sing a preliminary audition to sing in a NYIOP Session. Many times in an actual session we hear singers that we find qualified to sing, but are perhaps not ideally suited to the level of houses for which they are singing. In some cases it is simply a matter of knowing when to audition for certain houses and others it can be as easy as offering a slightly different group of arias. Instead of learning this during or after your audition - having spent time, money and that all-important first impression - we will now be able to help a singer better focus their career steps by steering them away from a certain audition, saving them the entire fee, or by offering brief advice before the audition. These preliminary auditions will be held on a regular basis in New York City. We will also make visits to several major cities across the United States to hear preliminary auditions during the season to save singers the expense of an additional trip to the east coast. ***Updated Information about the Preliminary Auditions*** Even though a fee is paid for these preliminary auditions, many singers will save money and time with the NYIOP process. With this new process, each singer pays a smaller amount for the preliminary audition and will not pay the full NYIOP Audition fee unless and until accepted into the final audition. In addition, each singer that sings a preliminary audition will have the option to receive a brief (5-10 minute) general feedback consultation with a member of the panel hearing the preliminary audition. These brief feedback sessions will generally happen immediately after the preliminary audition or soon after the audition via telephone. The fee for the preliminary auditions will be $120 in New York City and $150 for all preliminary auditions outside of New York City - this fee is due upon registration for a preliminary audition. The fee paid for the preliminary audition is non-refundable and pays only for the preliminary audition. It does not guarantee you a space in a final audition. Preliminary Auditions will be held at least once per month in New York City. We will also hold preliminary auditions in Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Denver and the Palm Beach/Ft. Lauderdale area IF THERE IS ENOUGH DEMAND. (Please do NOT pay for an audition outside of New York City until you have been confirmed and scheduled. Preliminary auditions outside of NYC will not be scheduled until there are a minimum of 15 people registered in each city. All checks received will be held and not processed.) Keep checking back here for detailed information including dates and locations. These will be posted as they come available. You can register online for a preliminary audition HERE. Upon receipt of your online registration, we will contact you with more information and to schedule your preliminary audition. You DO NOT need to send in any materials for these preliminary auditions. You will bring your publicity materials with you to the audition. We reserve the right to refuse anyone an audition, preliminary or final audition, solely at our descretion. ******************************************** WHAT TO EXPECT IF YOU SCHEDULE A PRIVATE CONSULTATION: When you request a professional consultation with NYIOP, you are coming to us and asking us to apply our information to your particular situation. What we bring to that room during our time is personal knowledge of the casting desires and trends for over 130 opera houses in the world - from very small German houses up to Covent Garden and Chicago Lyric. What we mean by the personal knowledge is that we discuss with them what they look for in detail, we also sit next to them during auditions and discuss what they hear. In addition to this information, we also bring the knowledge of the tastes and needs of a majority of the agencies in the US and Europe. These include many small, one-person agencies as well as CAMI, IMG, Askonas Holt, Hilbert, and many more. The nature of our auditions are such that we deal with almost all the agencies and hear most of their singers. Add to these things that we have seen over 2,500 auditions and followed through to see who is successful and who is not, in addition we were professional singers and understand rather intimately the process any aspiring artist is perfecting. Plus, this entire operation was founding in great part to help right some of the wrongs and make sense out of a business that we found to be greatly dysfunctional. We feel that the knowledge brougt to bear during the one hour session is unique and unrivaled in its scope. It takes a great deal of understanding to organize this unique knowledge so that it can be offered to a singer and it takes true ability to hear a singer and find what we feel is the most effective information to help you | that singer | find a beneficial career path that will offer real, livable income, since that is indeed the overall goal. Any professional consultation you seek will (or should) differ immensely from a lesson. Simply put, we do not focus on your arc of development in your training | no more than any casting director does when you walk across the stage asking for a job. We focus solely about hearing where you are at this moment and helping you focus a career path that will lead you to your optimal professional level and help you know where you stand at this time in regards to professional work. This is not something one does often. We are not available for weekly sessions. This is something you do to get a clear and concise battle plan and understanding of your immediate and potential professional options and perhaps repeat at another time in the future for a follow-up. This is not an on-going process. How you sing is your business. What you work on with a teacher or coach is your business. What a singer needs to do to make money singing at a professional level in Europe and in the larger houses in the U.S. is our business. The fee for a private consultation with Founder and President David Blackburn is $200. The singer must provide a suitable room and a pianist for the first half hour. You will need to bring a complete audition program of repertoire and be prepared to sing all or part of each piece presented. You are also welcome to bring a long list of questions to which you have always wanted to know the answer. If you wish to schedule a private consultation, please contact us at info@nyiop.com or at (646) 319-9486.
********************************************* FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Here are some plain and simple answers to the questions everyone is asking. We hope that this helps clear up any concerns or questions you may have, but if you need more information, please contact me directly.
When you sing for the NYIOP Auditions you will be singing for casting-level representatives from European opera houses and festivals. The auditions are scheduled at certain time intervals but the actual audition process will vary from person to person according to the choices of the attending representative panel.
Just like any other audition, you will begin with an aria of your choice. After that, as with any other audition, the attending representatives will choose the subsequent arias they wish to hear, if any. We stress to each member of the panel that any ONE person wishing to hear additional selections has the right to make the request and it will be honored. However, you are never guaranteed two arias - you are guaranteed the audition slot.
Due to the large number of cancellations at the last minute and the unwillingness of singers on the waiting list to sing on a few hours notice, we have been forced to adopt a stringent cancellation policy.
We understand that this policy is quite stern, but we have spent a great deal of energy, time and money trying to provide you the very best opportunity possible. It is unfair to all involved when there are last-minute cancellations and during the final days before a session, we simply do not have time to find other singers that would have been happy to sing if given adequate notice.
We have tried to structure the NYIOP Auditions to provide the maximum flexibility with time, thus making it possible for the panel to give specific feedback to a singer should they choose to do so. Each representative is made aware that feedback is greatly appreciated and they are encouraged to offer any suggestions or impressions to the singer after their audition. In addition, when they arrive at the auditions each singer is provided with a complete list of the representatives attending their audition with all contact information. A singer is welcome and encouraged to follow up and request specific information from each of the representatives attending. Please email us at info@nyiop.com and inquire if you need further information.
Some can. Some cannot. Each house runs differently and this issue is based solely on the procedures and policies of the house. Anyone attending the NYIOP Auditions must be either the Intendant, Operndirektor or be a direct designee of the house upper management and the Intendant must complete the NYIOP Casting-Level Representative Commitment to assure us, and you, that only the people that have authority will attend the NYIOP Auditions. In many cases, the person coming will indeed have on-the-spot casting ability and in several cases in the Spring, contracts were indeed offered. In other cases, the person attending can only move you to the final step of a house audition in Europe.
We do not cover the cost of audition pianists. However, NYIOP will provide a list of very accomplished pianists from New York City. This list can be downloaded from the Registration Page. Of course, you are welcome to bring your on pianist if you wish.
The NYIOP Auditions are open to all singers; managed and unmanaged. Please be advised that as of the 2005-2006 season, every singer presented in a NYIOP Session will have to sing a preliminary audition for his or her participation in any given session. This will insure that the NYIOPfs maintain the highest standard of artists presented at the auditions. If you have previously sang a NYIOP audition, we will consider your application accordingly, but we reserve the right to request to hear you at a preliminary audition. The preliminary audition fee is $120 to $150 depending on where you audition. If accepted, the preliminary fee will be applied to your audition fee.
********************************************* THE CASTING-LEVEL REPRESENTATIVE COMMITMENT What do you mean by Casting-Level Representative? All of the people attending the NYIOP Auditions are designated as “casting-level representatives” because each one of them has the authority to make casting decisions and sign contracts in the opera house they represent or is part of the team in the house who does so. In many cases they are the sole casting authority in the house. In other cases, they are one of several people who have a voice in casting decisions. This varies in each house and there is no certain guarantee that anyone attending, even if they are indeed the sole casting authority, will offer contract “on the spot.” However, during the past NYIOP Auditions, a number of contracts were offered on the spot. Many singers were asked to travel to Europe for a final house audition as a stipulation of being offered a contract. *********************************************
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