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From:  Rome Festival <romefestival@y...>
Rome Festival <romefestival@y...>
Date:  Sun Nov 26, 2000  4:56 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist-temporary] Re: Answers to questions about Rome Festival

 

Dear Isabelle,

Thank you for specifying your concerns. I am going to have the chance to explain a few details which I normally I do not have the chance to explain.

About old buildings being "very dusty": We have learned that dust and germs can ruin performances. The maids of the small hotels mop every day the sleeping rooms, bathrooms, and reception lounge our singers use. The stage crew washes all the surfaces of the cortile (courtyard) with disinfectant prior to building the multiple stages of the unit set and theatrical lighting system. Thereafter the crew mops the floor surface of the cortile and all the hallways and bathrooms every day.

Our letter invites a singer to perform one or more roles (and if an ensemble role, to understudy a role). Our letter guarantees the opportunity to perform providing the singer has memorized the roles prior to arriving. When our charity seeks contributions and grants to support that singer, it specifies that the singer will perform. The Festival prints the names of the singers in the program booklet during late May, three to four weeks before the performances. Sometimes understudies, who are memorized, replace singers who are not memorized. No singer can fool Italian opera lovers with made up Italian words, a surprising common practice outside Italy.

Our casting policy is time tested. We believe in the integrity of our policy. We prefer to invite a singers to perform a role that he/she has already performed. Or we ask the singer to memorize a role that he/she can market later to any size opera house. Specifically, the color of the voice and age of voice must suit the role. For example if we know that Mozart intended Pamina to be a young, innocent girl, we know that we are looking for a voice that sounds, and a woman who moves like a young, innocent girl.

If we cast a singer in an ensemble role and that singer chooses to go elsewhere to sing a lead role, we know absolutely that the singer is not ready for support from our charity. We are looking for singers who want to learn how to perform by performing with high quality artists in front of a knowledgeable European audience.

Thank you again. Molly Barber



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