The new international call for Biennale College Music

La Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, announces the 5th edition of the Biennale College – Music, with the new international call to be launched on Monday, December 18th 2017 and open through February 12th 2018.
Participation is open to composers and librettists, aged 35 and under, who present a joint project.
For the year 2018, the Biennale College – Music project intends to promote and support the production of a maximum of 4 micro-budget chamber musical theatre works based on a comical, surreal, fantastic and/or playful theme, lasting no longer than 20 minutes, and composed for an ensemble of 9 instruments (flute, clarinet, trumpet, horn, 2 violins, cello, percussion, piano or MIDI keyboard), and 4 voices (choice of soprano, mezzosoprano, tenor, baritone, bass). The short operas will be presented as part of the 62nd International Festival of Contemporary Music.

The selected teams will be supported in the development and production of their projects through a sequence of four phases of training and production, coordinated by the Director of the Music Department Ivan Fedele assisted by a team of tutors. The innovation this year is represented by the figure of the stage director, suggested by the Director of the Theatre Department Antonio Latella.

1 – during the month of March 2018, a first session of workshops will be held in Venice with artists and masters, focusing on the general themes of traditional and contemporary musical theatre, especially as they concern the relationship between text and music.

2 – during the month of April 2018, there will be a second session of workshops with the Biennale College team. During this phase, auditions will be held for the singers who will participate in the project.

3 – between the end of May and the beginning of June 2018: there will be a third session of workshops with the tutors of the Biennale College. At this time, the complete score must be submitted, and the teams must formalize the pre-production of the works, which will entail verifying and drafting the final budget, and developing a production plan that includes the stage and musical rehearsals;

4 – between the end of September and the beginning of October 2018, in view of the premiere performance during the 62nd International Festival of Contemporary Music, and with the support of the tutors of the Biennale College, the stage and musical rehearsals will be held, leading to the final production of the works (tentatively a two-week work session).

The official full-length text of the international call for the 5th Biennale College – Music may be consulted online at: www.labiennale.org/en/music/2017/biennale-college-music-2018.

Biennale College is an innovative and complex experience that engages all the Departments of the Biennale di Venezia – Cinema, Dance, Music, Theatre – to promote young talents and offer them the opportunity to work closely with masters to develop creations.

The first edition of the Biennale College – Music selected and produced 4 projects for short chamber operas presented at the 58th International Festival of Contemporary Music 2014; the second edition involved a selection of 23 young musicians from around the world who, under the baton of Michele Carulli, performed the final concert of the 59th Festival of Contemporary Music 2015, dedicated to Sinopoli; the third and fourth editions focused again on musical theatre, presenting short chamber operas as part of the International Festival of Contemporary Music (60th and 61st editions) in 2016 and 2017.

Biennale College – Music, organized by the Biennale di Venezia, enjoys the support of the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities – General Direction for the Performing Arts.