Cours For Assistant Conductors

The Accademia del Belcanto “Rodolfo Celletti” of Martina Franca is promoted and organised by the Fondazione Paolo Grassi in collaboration with the Festival della Valle d’Itria. It was founded in 2010 to provide young opera singers with high education in the different aspects of the technique, style, and performance of Italian Belcanto (from Monteverdi to proto-Romanticism), including the analysis and practice of several other aspects of Western music theatre, including some of its most modern music expressions.
Supported by MiC by means of the Fondo Nazionale per lo Spettacolo dal Vivo, the “Celletti” Academy is one of the Italian organisations to have received the recognition of “School of national excellence operating in the field of the highest music education” from the General Management of Libraries and Cultural Institute by the Ministry for cultural assets and activities.The programme includes several performance practice workshops, combined with technical and aesthetic belcanto specificities: from seventeenth-century “recitar cantando” to expressions of the Apulian/Neapolitan School; from the technique of coloratura to the art of Italian early nineteenth-century variation. Students may enjoy hands-on practical artistic experiences with the Festival della Valle d’Itria, trained by established coaches, performers and musicians. The programme also boasts sections for further study dedicated to Baroque belcanto, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Neapolitan school, and the Lieder repertoire, with specific master-classes and one-to-one lessons with teachers and artists of international fame.
Maestros Silvia Colasanti and Fabio Luisi, respectively Artistic and Music Directors of the Accademia del Belcanto and of the Festival della Valle d’Itria, will coordinate the teaching and artistic plan.

The course is dedicated to the training of Maestri Collaboratori, who will build awareness also in relation to the specific necessities of the singing techniques, and to the characteristics of opera theatre, with its dramatic and musical values and the professions connected to it, so as to favour an efficient inclusion into the professional world. The study programme includes classroom lectures on theory and technique, as well as work experience activities in collaboration with the Festival della Valle d’Itria.

Academic year 2025 is made up of 40 days of study divided in three sessions:• SESSION ONE: from 18th February to 4th March 2026
• SESSION TWO: from 23rd April to 4th May 2026
• SESSION THREE: from 10th to 23rd June 2026

These days of study will be complemented by work-experience during the 52th Festival della Valle d’Itria, as well as concerts and music productions by the Fondazione Paolo Grassi, and will result in a contract of collaboration, and compensation commensurate with the commitment.

Art and technique of seventeenth-century vocality
Art and technique of belcanto coloratura
Art and performance of belcanto
Basics of belcanto
Style and technique of belcanto
Score analysis
History of Opera performance
Vocal technique
Physiology and hygiene of the vocal instrument
Diction and interpretation of musical dramaturgy
Acting technique and recitation workshop
Opera coaching
Performance master-class
Performance practice of the baroque repertoire
Culture of the operatic performer as a profession
Career training

The course for Maestri Collaboratori is dedicated to candidates in possession of the artistic qualities and an inclination for the profession, as well as a general preparation on theory and technique such as may benefit from perfecting and hands-on experience, with a view of facilitating the inclusion into the working world in the field of opera theatre.
Courses are free and with limited enrolment; admission is subject to a selection. There are three places for maestri collaboratori. The candidates who have not been selected may step in in the event of the selected candidates’ withdrawal.The Board will select the candidates on the basis of their qualifications, and after having passed an audition, which will be held in Martina Franca at the Fondazione Paolo Grassi (main venue of the Accademia) from 12th to 15 th December 2025 and in Zurich from 23rd to 25th January 2026
Further details on the convocation to the audition will be communicated directly to the enrolled candidates. The decision of the Board is final.

Applications are welcome by candidates who are:
• 18 years old at the date of the audition and who are born after 31 December 1990
• in possession of a Diploma, or a three-year- or two-year piano course qualification at a state Conservatoire or equivalent Music Institution. Qualifications obtained in foreign institutions will be considered only if equivalent to the above.
• Candidates with professional experience as piano accompanists for opera singers will be at an advantage in the selection process.

The Board reserves the right to grant access to the course to pianists who have shown particular artistic merit during music productions, competitions, or ex-tempore auditions.
The applications, complete with CV, must be sent by 1 st December 2025 by e-mail at the following address:
accademia@fondazionepaolograssi.it

The subject of the e-mail must read “Iscrizione audizione per Maestri Collaboratori 2026”.
In the same e-mail, candidates must also indicate the repertoire chosen for the audition.

All candidates must come prepared to the audition with a solo piece of their choice, and two opera arias complete with recitative and cabaletta (where relevant), with hints to the song line:
• an aria taken from one serious operas by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi;
• an aria taken from a baroque opera (for example by Händel, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, etc.).We also require first-sight reading of opera extracts from the Italian opera repertoire, chosen by the Board.
The examining Board has the right to listen to the whole or part of the programme indicated on the application form.

Participation to the courses is free for all admitted students, but attendance is mandatory, that must be 70% of total hours of lessons expected.
Any absence for serious health reason must be backed by medical documentation and communicated immediately to the Director’s Office.
Lack of attendance will result in exclusion from the course.
At the end of the course, once the verifications of the attendance and participation are complete, the attendees will receive a certificate of attendance.

The lessons will take place at the headquarters of the Fondazione Paolo Grassi in Martina Franca.
The work experience will take place in the venues of the Festival della Valle d’Itria, as well as in the offices mentioned above.
The staff of the Fondazione Paolo Grassi and the Management of the Accademia may, upon necessity, provide advice and indications for accommodation at corporate rates.

In accordance with D.Lgs. 30 June 2003 n.196 (Regulation of personal data protection), all personal data provided by the candidates in the enrolment forms will be collected by the Fondazione Paolo Grassi for the management of the present selection procedure. Candidates may assert their rights in accordance with D.Lgs. 30 June 2003 n.196 against the holder of data treatment of the Fondazione Paolo Grassi.