Longborough’s Emerging Artist roles provide a unique performance opportunity with a world-class opera company.
The scheme is ideal for singers that have recently finished, or are about to finish, their vocal studies; performers at the beginning of their careers; and those returning to the profession.
"The programme was invaluable in terms of improving musicianship, stagecraft and physical awareness. It provides a very positive and helpful start to our careers"
Chorus and Emerging Artist applications for Longborough’s 2025 season are now open.
If you would like to apply for any of these opportunities, please submit the form by Friday 2 August 2024.
Please complete your application before Friday 2 August 2024.
As part of the form, you will be asked to provide a link to a 30-second recording of yourself. Please upload it to a platform that we can access such as Google Drive, YouTube, Soundcloud or similar. This can be video, or audio only, and it doesn't need to be a professional recording - on a phone is fine. This is an opportunity to show off and show us what you can do. If accompanied, we do not need more than a couple of bars of piano introduction.
If you are successfully shortlisted for an audition, you will be contacted by a member of the Longborough team. Auditions will take place in London at the end of September / early October 2024.
The project will be led by Bjarte Eike, one of the world’s leading exponents in Baroque fiddle playing, and directed by Norwegian stage director and choreographer, Erlend Samnøen.
We are auditioning for an ensemble of 12 singers to form the company for this show, performing all the roles and solos, as well as singing the choruses. The show will also feature the Longborough Youth Chorus.
A bit more about Bjarte and the band:
Barokksolistene, under the direction of Bjarte Eike, offer a compelling case for contemporary engagement with Baroque music. “It’s just old pop music” they say. They make it live through a direct and unpretentious approach. They are the highly successful group behind the Alehouse Sessions, as featured on BBC 4, which frequently perform at Southbank Centre and touring around the UK and internationally.
This production will offer fresh and vibrant arrangements of Purcell’s score, created by Eike and his band, and played from memory so that the music and the musical performance becomes an integral dramatic, scenic and choreographic device for the storytelling. Eike and Samnøen will use interpolation and detailed manuscript study and dramaturgy to expand and explore this rich work into a full evening of music theatre.
The project is structured with tiered learning and development in mind. The Longborough Youth Chorus participants will learn from working and performing side-by-side with the cast of twelve Emerging Artists, while the Emerging Artists will gain mainstage, and soloistic experience in this iconic opera, supported by a mould-breaking baroque ensemble.
Thank you for applying!
Every year we provide supportive coaching and mentoring from professional creative and technical teams. Ticket sales alone do not cover the cost of this ambitious programme; your support makes a real difference to our Emerging Artists as they begin their careers.
To find out how you can support the work we do with emerging artists and invest in the future of opera, please contact Saskia Ross on saskia@lfo.org.uk or on 01451 830292.
