Canto Vocal Programs has launched Canto Opera Studio, a new online opera program and has announced its guest artists for the 2020-21 season.

Participants will engage in three-day sessions that include two days of intensive work with Canto Faculty members Lucy Arner, Sharon Mohar, and Liora Maurer on a wide range of performing subjects including repertoire, style, interpretation, and singing in front of the camera. Artists will also perform online and receive feedback from invited guests.

Among the invited guests for the 2020-21 season are Nashville Opera Music Director Dean Williamson, Chautauqua Opera General and Artistic Director Steven Osgood, Kentucky Opera General Director Barbara Jamison, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis General and Artistic Director James Robinson, Bayerische Staatsoper Casting Consultant David Lomeli, Wolf Trap Opera’s Music Director Grant Loehnig, Metropolitan Opera Director of Music Administration Thomas Lausmann, and internationally-renowned conductor Marco Armiliato.

“Auditions during Covid-19 have radically changed from singing live for a person/s to submitting video recordings. Besides the additional stress and expense involved in making the videos, it has become very much like singing into a vacuum, where the singer has no idea what is good, what is not, what needs improvement, or why they are rejected or accepted,”  Each singer in the Opera Studio will give a private performance for an important industry professional who will listen and then provide their personal feedback to the singer. Technology is well and good and even necessary these days, but it needs a human touch as well,” Lucy Arner, Artistic Director of Canto Vocal Programs, told OperaWire.

Participants will get a chance to perform for Williamson and Jamison Nov. 20-22; for Osgood between Dec. 11-13; for Robinson on Jan. 8-10; for Lomelí on Jan. 29-31; for Loehnig on Feb. 19-21; for Lausmann on March 12-14; and for Armiliato on April 16-18. Artists will also get a chance to speak with artists via a live Q & A.

For more information and to apply, please visit: www.cantovocalprograms.com.