REPERTOIRE

• La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini
• Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi

Both operas are fully-staged and sung in their original language. Our Opera Conducting Masterclass is limited to the first eight conductors who apply, are accepted, and confirm their places with a deposit. An unlimited number of auditors will be accepted at the reduced rate of EUR 480.

PROBABLY THE BEST TRAINING IN OPERA CONDUCTING IN THE WORLD

EACH CONDUCTOR RECEIVES

• private and group coaching
• 60 minutes of orchestra rehearsal time
• 45 minutes of choir rehearsal time
• 60 minutes of Sitzprobe/Italiana rehearsal time
• ca. 1/4 of rehearsal with piano and cast / soloists for the opera they conduct in performance
• 1/4 of Generalprobe / dress rehearsal for the opera they conduct in performance
• 1/4 of an opera to conduct in public performance

In our suggested and standard format, each active-participant conductor conducts a full act or ca. 1/4 of one of the operas in a public performance, in addition to having much rehearsal time on the other.

HOW TO APPLY

Please send us the following:

• your CV
• links to recent examples of your conducting
• if accepted, a deposit of €750 will guarantee your place

MASTERCLASS FEES AND PAYMENT

€750 – deposit, refundable if the conductor cancels before 1 January 2025 for any substantial reason, such as health problems, impossibility to get a visa or any other such reasons. In case of refunds, a waiting period of 4 – 6 months is to be expected.
€2.000 – balance fee no later than one week before the first day of the Masterclass if sent. This may also be paid in cash on site on the first day. The balance fee, once paid, is non-refundable due to the financial obligations to the institution.

A limited number of passive participants / auditors will also be accepted for a fee of €480, exclusive of accommodation, transport or meals.

BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION FOR BANK WIRE TRANSFERS

Bank name: Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG
Name on account: Blue Danube Violins – Streichinstrumentehandel u. Musikimpresario GmbH
IBAN: AT03 2011 1851 8917 0500
BIC: GIBAATWWXXX
Reason for payment: Masterclass deposit fee (please send EUR only).

Photos from the Opera Conducting Masterclass in May 2024 & February 2025

DAY-BY-DAY CONDUCTING MASTERCLASS SCHEDULE

Thursday, 5 February	10.00 – 12.00 13.00 – 16.00 17.00 – 20.00	Orchestra / Choir Rehearsal, La Boheme 1 Cast Rehearsal, La Boheme Orchestra / Choir Rehearsal, La Boheme 2
Friday, 6 February	11.00-13.00 16.00-19.00	Sitzprobe / Italiana, La Boheme 1 Sitzprobe / Italiana, La Boheme 2
Saturday, 7 February	11.00 16.00	Stage Rehearsal, La Boheme General probe / Dress rehearsal, La Boheme
Sunday, 8 February		Free day!
Monday, 9 February	10.00 – 12.00 15.00 – 18.00	Orchestra / Choir Rehearsal, Nabucco 1 Public Performance, LA BOHEME
Tuesday, 10 February	10.00 – 13.00 15.00 – 18.00	Orchestra / Choir Rehearsal, Nabucco 2 Cast Rehearsal, Nabucco
Wednesday, 11 February	11.00-13.00 16.00-19.00	Sitzprobe / Italiana, Nabucco 1 Stage rehearsal, Nabucco 2
Thursday, 12 February	11.00 16.00	Stage rehearsal, Nabucco General probe / Dress rehearsal, Nabucco
Friday, 13 February	19.00	Public performance NABUCCO

TRANSPORT AND ACCOMMODATION

The closest airport to Stara Zagora is the Sofia International Airport in the Bulgarian capital. State Opera Stara Zagora will organize free / gratis ground transport from the airport to our accommodation and back for all conductors (2 hours and 20 minutes by car/minivan).  Please arrive or be at the airport on Sunday, 2 February.

VLADIMIR BOSHNAKOV

Vladimir Boshnakov  is a conductor with a distinguished career on the opera and concert stage. A graduate of the Bulgarian National School of Arts, he earned a Master’s degreein Choral Conducting and Clarinet at the National Academy of Music “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” in Sofia, later specializing in Opera and Symphonic Conducting under Vassil Kazandjiev.

Since making his professional debut at the age of 27, he has appeared with leading orchestras and opera houses throughout Bulgaria, including those in Plovdiv, Ruse, Varna, Burgas, Stara Zagora, and Veliko Tarnovo, where he was Principal Conductor of the Music and Drama Theatre “Konstantin Kisimov” (2006–2010). He has also worked with eminent stage directors,

including Plamen Kartalov, Svetozar Donev, as well as choreographers Andrey Bosov and Vassiliy Medvedev.

Boshnakov has conducted at prestigious Music Festivals and since 2014, and in collaboration with Schlote & Partner GmbH in Salzburg, Austria, has toured annually throughout Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg with acclaimed productions of La traviata, Il trovatore, Un ballo in maschera, Tosca and Madama Butterfly.

In his native country, he currently serves as Artistic Director of the Stage of the Ages Festival – Veliko Tarnovo; General Manager of State Opera Stara Zagora; Conductor at State Opera-Ruse;  and Professor at the National Academy of Music in Sofia.

ANTHONY ARMORE

Anthony Armore has conducted professional opera theaters and symphony orchestras in the United States, China and much of Europe. After studies in the U.S. and Europe in piano, conducting, horn and violin, he gained performance experience as an orchestra member, and later as a conductor.

Since 2004, he has been based in Vienna, and active conducting concerts, opera performances and recordings (including numerous world premieres), as well as concert tours. Between 2001 and 2004, he was an associate director and staff conductor for Opera Constanta in Romania under Gheorghe Stanciu. Constanta was also the home of the Filarmonica Marea Neagra (Black Sea Philharmonic), where Armore was artistic adviser and resident conductor during the same period.

Prior to his relocation to Europe, Armore was the music director/conductor of the Portland Chamber Orchestra (Oregon, USA) where he conducted standard repertoire, modern music and chamber opera. Upon his appointment as the orchestra’s director in 1997, he launched a series called Composers of Oregon, and embarked on a cycle of music by the region’s most important composers.

In 1990, Anthony Armore co-founded two musical organizations in Oregon that, under his direction, were remarkably successful: the Ernest Bloch Music Festival; and the Newport Symphony Orchestra. As artistic director and conductor of this Festival, he introduced programming that blended standard repertoire with contemporary music (works were commissioned for the Festival). As music director of the Newport Symphony Orchestra (1990-1997), Armore developed an orchestra that quickly became prominent in the Pacific Northwest. During the same decade, he was the assistant and later associate conductor of the Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Portland, Oregon) — an orchestra performing large repertoire.

More recently, Maestro Armore has recorded and concertized with the Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava (Czechia), the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra (Slovakia), the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra (Prague), the Sofia Philharmonic and the Madlenianum Theatre and Opera Orchestra (Belgrade), where he has championed works by composers from around the world. His opera conducting in Europe has been in houses in Serbia, Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria

Please note! Master teacher, repertoire and dates subject to change. Blue Danube Musikimpresario reserves the right to cancel its masterclasses and/or competitions due to insufficient enrollment, illness of the coach, force majeure, or any other circumstance or event for which Blue Danube Musikimpresario cannot be held responsible. In case of illness or death of the coach, we reserve the right to provide a substitute teacher and cancellations are not accepted.