A total of 170 young artists from 33 countries have applied to take part in the 7^th  Opera (e)Studio. This is a 50 per cent increase over last year. Auditions are starting on Monday, 4 February in Bologna, and will continue in Tbilisi and Madrid, ending at Auditorio de Tenerife on 16 February.

This year -funded by the European Commission under the Creative Europe programme- the singers chosen to take part in this project, led by Ópera de Tenerife in partnership with Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre will put on stage L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti. Artists can compete for more than one role which are divided as follows: Adina and Gianetta, for sopranos; Nemorino, for tenors; Belcore, for baritones and Dulcamara, for baritones or bass.

Over half of the applicants have registered to attend auditions at Teatro Comunale di Bologna, reason why three days have been allowed for them. The tests in Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre (Georgia) are taking place on the 8^th and 9^th, followed by auditions at Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid on the 11^th and ending on the 16^th at Auditorio de Tenerife. All the auditions will be supervised by Opera (e)Studio artistic director, Giulio Zappa.

The artists registered come from 33 countries in America, Europe and Asia. Most come from Italy, with 64 candidates followed by Spain, with 24, and Japan with eight. The singers chosen will travel to the Island in early September to get comprehensive professional training on all the disciplines included in the opera genre, from musical to stage aspects. In addition to musical education, Opera (e)Studio pays particular attention to training singers in acting and body language.

The opera L’elisir d’amore will open the next Tenerife opera season in October and will be performed four times at Sala Sinfónica in Auditorio de Tenerife. In 2020, it will be put on at Teatro Comunale di Bologna and at Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre. This show by Ópera de Tenerife has Antonio Méndez as music director, who is the Principal Conductor of Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, in Tenerife and Bolonga; and Zaza Azmaiparashvii, Principal Conductor of Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, in Georgia. Stage design is by stage director Pablo Maritano.

Ópera de Tenerife has started working on the production of L’elisir d’amore, the title of the 6^th Opera (e)Studio to be premiered in October at Sala Sinfónica in Auditorio de Tenerife. Work started with the presentation of the drafts for the stage design and will be followed by the auditions in February to take place in Bologna, Tbilisi, Madrid and Tenerife to choose the participants in this year’s production.

The Cabildo’s island director for Culture, José Luis Rivero, welcomed stage director Pablo Maritano, who explained the details of the stage design proposed for L’elisir d’amore. Their meeting was also attended by set designer Serena Rocco, costume designer, Lorena Marin, Ópera de Tenerife’s intendant, Alejandro Abrante, and Auditorio de Tenerife’s technical director, Jorge Cabrera, among others.

Maritano (Buenos Aires, 1976) is one of the most renowned Argentinian stage managers of his generation. He has carried out his career in America and his presence in Tenerife next October is his debut in Europe.

The singers to take part in this production will be chosen in auditions to be held in February. The tests start in Bologna from 4 to 6 February, to then go on to Tbilisi on 8 and 9, Madrid on 11, 13 and 14, and finally Tenerife on 16 February.

Opera (e)Studio 2019 is supported by the European Union through Creative Europe. The project, led by Ópera de Tenerife in partnership with Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre, was awarded the maximum funding available. This initiative includes the production to travel to Bologna and Tbilisi next year after its premier in Tenerife next October. Further information here.

Ópera de Tenerife’s academic project is chosen by Creative Europe funding programme

Auditorio de Tenerife has received a subsidy from Creative Europe, the EU programme that supports cultural and film industries on the continent. The funds received are for the Opera (e)Studio project, the international learning academy that is part of the Ópera de Tenerife season. This transnational project, which has been granted 200,000 Euros, is led by Auditorio de Tenerife in partnership with Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre in Georgia.

The European Commission chose the project presented by Tenerife out of 493 candidates. Ópera de Tenerife entered L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti, to be produced by the Opera (e)Studio programme and performed at Auditorio de Tenerife in October 2019, and in Bologna and Tbilisi in 2020.

Opera (e)Studio is an innovative programme in Ópera de Tenerife’s season where we work with young professionals to develop a high specialization school. This is the sixth year running and, in just five years, it has become an international model with the participation of more than 700 singers from 55 countries. The candidates chosen at the auditions go on to do two months of intensive work in Tenerife to produce the first of the eight titles that make up the opera season. The young singers work with maestro Giulio Zappa, who is the artistic director of Opera (e)Studio and supervises the whole process. In addition, they attend workshops in management for opera markets and in artistic marketing.

As a self-funded initiative it had far-reaching effects, welcoming candidates from four continents and establishing collaborations with other international venues. The fact that it is in one of the outermost regions of the EU is no obstacle. On the contrary, it encourages connections with other cities, like on this occasion, when Tenerife leads this transnational scheme along with Bologna and Tbilisi.

Having on average more than 125 applications per year encourages Opera (e)Studio to go on training international young singers. We are confident this number will be considerably increased with the auditions that will take place in Tbilisi, in addition to the usual tests in Bologna, Madrid and Tenerife.

Ópera de Tenerife, as a member of Ópera Europa and Ópera Latinoamérica, follows a policy of international co-productions, both with other European and Latin American theatres. Creative Europe is aware of the quality work that has been carried out for years and supports Tenerife as a great training centre for young performers.

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The second phase of Opera (e)Studio’s auditions took place in Tbilisi, Georgia on 8 February. They were chaired by Opera (e)Studio’s artistic committee led by its artistic director, Giulio Zappa, and the artistic and general director of Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre, Badri Maisuradze.

A total of 17 candidates competed to be cast in Ópera de Tenerife’s upcoming production of ‘L’elisir d’amore’ by Donizetti. This title will open Ópera de Tenerife’s season and will be also performed at Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre in 2020.

The 7^th Opera (e)Studio, sponsored by the European Commission’s Creative Europe Programme, is led by Ópera de Tenerife in partnership with Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre.

Ópera de Tenerife’s coproduction L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti, is reaching Italian Teatro Comunale di Bologna next week. This is a transnational project that is supported by the European Commission’s prestigious grant Creative Europe. Auditorio de Tenerife, which is under the Department of Education, Youth, Museums, Culture and Sport of the Cabildo de Tenerife, run by councillor Concepción Rivero, is the leading theatre of the project in partnership with Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre in Georgia.

The performances at the Italian theatre were originally scheduled for June but had to be put off due to the health crisis. They are now taking place on 29 and 30 September and 1, 3, 6 and 7 October, and are the first opera performances of this institution after the pandemic. L’elisir d’amore opened at Auditorio de Tenerife’s Sala Sinfónica with Pablo Maritano as stage director on 24 to 27 October 2019 and was on at Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre on 26, 27 and 29 February and 1 March 2020.

The cast was selected in auditions held by the Opera (e)Studio high specialisation academy in February 2019 in Bologna, Tbilisi, Madrid and Tenerife, which were attended by 181 candidates from 33 different nationalities. The singers who took part in the original performance were María Rita Combattelli (soprano); Beatriz de Sousa (soprano); Klodjan Kaçani (tenor); César Arrieta (tenor); Alberto Bonifazio (baritone); Jacobo Ochoa (baritone); Givi Gigineishvili (bass); Matteo Andrea Mollica (bass); Sofía Esparza (soprano) and Leonora Tess (soprano). The Italian cast also includes singers David Astorga, Alberto Bonifazio and Givi Gigineishvili.

The project as a whole, which includes the coproduction, the tour, the auditions, the training and several other activities, is what the European Commission’s Creative Europe has singled out from the hundreds of projects received. The goal of this European programme is to support the cultural and film industries of the continent.

Opera (e)Studio is Ópera de Tenerife’s high specialisation academy for artists and has had Giulio Zappa as artistic director since 2012. This project was set up with the aim of providing training to young artists in all the opera disciplines while at the same time meeting the demands of the present work market.

L’elisir d’amore is a melodramma giocoso by Gaetano Donizetti and libretto by Felice Romani, based on Eugène Scribe’s text Le philtre for the opera by Daniel François Esprit Auber. It is one of the composer’s best-received opera buffa thanks to unforgettable melodies like ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ and a lively plot that tells us about the love affair between beautiful Adina and naïve Nemorino. It was premiered at Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan on 12 May 1832.