The Verbier Festival Academy’s Atelier Lyrique stands out among professional training programmes by offering a unique blend of opera role and song repertoire studies in a supportive and inspiring environment during an intensive three-week summer programme. Singers benefit from the opportunity to perform and form valuable connections as part of the Verbier Festival.
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Falstaff
Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra
Vincenzo Milletarì — Conductor
Dafydd Jones — Fenton
Luna Seongeun Park — Nannetta
Salle des Combins (Verbier), 4 August 2024
at a glance
- Public and private masterclasses in singing, acting, and text analysis with an exceptional faculty
- Audition masterclasses with conductors, artistic directors, opera directors, and agents
- Private coaching in vocal technique and languages
- Integration with the Academy’s 21C Artist Curriculum, including sessions on international taxation, concert programming, and media training for professional development
- One opera aria recital and two song recitals as part of the Verbier Festival’s Mainstage programme
- Semi-staged opera performance with orchestra
- Collaboration in the Festival’s headline opera production
- Cabaret performance on the UNLTD Concert Club stage
- Global exposure through medici.tv broadcasts of Verbier Festival operas
- Professional audio recordings of Festival recitals and opera performances
Up to 15 singers are selected from around the world for coaching in vocal technique, acting, language, stagecraft, and audition preparation, delivered through private sessions and public masterclasses. Singers collaborate with leading figures in the world of lyric performance.
opera
Atelier Lyrique singers are invited to perform in a public recital of arias and opera scenes during the first week of the Verbier Festival. Singers who are selected for a role in the Atelier’s featured opera — Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in 2025 — will perform in a semi-staged production of the work in collaboration with the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra and conductor Stanislav Kochanovsky on the Festival’s final weekend. Singers are also invited to share the stage with renowned artists in the Festival’s headline opera production. Both operas are broadcast by medici.tv, which provides valuable profile for any young artist.
song
Singers can expect to work through six to eight songs in masterclasses and will have the opportunity to work on additional repertoire in private coaching sessions. Repertoire choice is free, although students are encouraged to bring a variety of songs in different languages and styles, including groups of songs in German, English (British and American) and French, as well as repertoire in other languages of their choice. Singers will perform in two recitals as part of the Festival’s afternoon Mainstage programme, one for voice and piano and another in collaboration with chamber musicians from the Academy’s Soloists & Ensembles Programme. Singers are also regularly recruited for creative cabaret projects produced by UNLTD, the Festival’s creative laboratory.
programme dates
includes arrival and departure dates
2025
13 July – 4 August 2025
2026
12 July – 3 August 2026
how to apply
Applications to the 2025 edition of the Academy’s Atelier Lyrique are open starting 10 September at noon EST.
Please read the guidelines at the following link before sending any questions to the Verbier Festival Team.
guidelinesapply
Application deadline: 01.11.2024
mentors 2025
Benjamin Appl
James Baillieu Head, Song
Tim Carroll
Caroline Dowdle Head, Opera
Barbara Frittoli
James Garnon
Véronique Gens
Thomas Hampson
Stanislav Kochanovsky
Ken Noda
Additional mentors to be announced.
alumni mentors
In its quest for excellence, the Academy has developed collaborations with some of the greatest mentors and coaches. Returning 2025 mentors are marked with an asterisk.
Thomas Allen
Emma Abbate
Theo Adam
James Baillieu*
Barbara Bonney
Tim Carroll*
Diego Cossu
Lise Davidsen
Stéphane Degout
Claudio Desderi
Caroline Dowdle*
Gian-Carlo del Monaco
Dan Ettinger
Brigitte Fassbaender
Renée Fleming
Barbara Frittoli*
James Gaffigan
James Garnon*
Véronique Gens*
Hàkan Hagegàrd
Thomas Hampson*
Gundula Janowitz
Stanislav Kochanovsky*
Yannis Kokkos
Vincenzo Milletarì
Jonathan Miller
Alexandre Naoumenko
Ken Noda*
Leo Nucci
Sandrine Piau
Elena Pankratova
Dimitri Platanias
Franziska Roth
Thomas Quasthoff
Peter Schreier
Andreï Serban
Neil Shicoff
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
Anna Tomowa-Sintow
Roger Vignoles
Anne Sofie von Otter
Susannah Waters
masterclasses
Information for students
Only singers accepted to the Academy’s Atelier Lyrique will perform during masterclasses. Singers will take part in both opera and song classes, regardless of whether they have been cast in a role in the Atelier’s opera of study.
Each student’s masterclass schedule is determined only at the very beginning of the training period, after preliminary coaching sessions with the programme heads.
Information for the public
The masterclass schedule will be announced in March 2025.