• Master classes with Nancy Stokes-Milnes and Barbara DeMaio Caprilli

• Stage and Audition Make-up

• What to look for in a headshot

• How to decide if you need management

• Classes on opera history and great singers of the past and present

• Movement classes

• Staged opera scenes chosen expressly for the students in the program not yet ready to perform an entire operatic role

• Fully staged and costumed "Le Nozze di Figaro" in Italian with English recitatives and with at least two casts

• A recital of staged arias for all participants in the program

• Exposure to professionals involved in all aspects of an operatic career

• Private coachings with world-famous coaches

• Mock auditions

• Participation in an organization that provides ongoing support and networking opportunities for participants

• Performance opportunities in ASOP-sponsored events for all alumni

Chelsea Opera began in April 2004 when two former ASOP alumnae, Lynne Hayden-Findlay and Leonarda Priore came together to discuss a similar idea reached independently. Their idea was to mount a production of Suor Angelica. Both being singers and performers themselves, their overriding wish and intention was to provide an opportunity for some of the many truly talented and special singers they each knew to perform a complete role in a fully staged production with chamber orchestra . What began as a single-project collaboration grew into an opera company, a direct result of the love for the art form and respect for colleagues that they continue to instill into the company.

Previous efforts have all been one acts: Cavalleria Rusticana, Amahl and the Night Visitors and Pagliacci. Now entering the second half of their third season, they are taking a giant leap by producing their first two act opera: Mozart’s Don Giovanni. They have been very careful not to overextend the company, and have attracted an extraordinary caliber of singers and technical staff to work on each production. A hallmark of their work is the recognition each production’s volunteer ensemble has received from audience members and the media alike. Principal singers, who are paid an artistic honorarium, have gone on to sing roles with larger companies and have come back to Chelsea Opera to appear in new productions as have many orchestra members who now form the core of the Chelsea Opera Chamber Orchestra, led by Maestro Carmine Aufiero, Music Director.

Please visit their web site at: www.ChelseaOpera.org