Who: UNM Concert Choir, Las Cantantes (the UNM Women’s Chorus), auditioned Albuquerque community members, and auditioning collegiate singers from the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The Chorus is led by Bradley Ellingboe.
What: International Lyric Academy
The International Lyric Academy is a marvelous opportunity for students and emerging young artists. During an intensive three weeks you may participate in a full range of master classes, concerts, Italian language courses, recitals, and rehearsals culminating in concerts of Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum,” and Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater,” all accompanied by symphony orchestra, as well as unaccompanied American choral classics.
For more information on this festival, please visit the festival’s website: http://www.internationallyricacademy.com/initaly.htm
Choristers, please note that this website is mainly geared towards singers who wish to audition for the opera program or sing in the opera chorus. Note that the Choral Program is being run through UNM and therefore all questions and payments will run through the University of New Mexico. For more information about the Choral program please contact choirsec@unm.edu.
Where: This Academy’s home base is in Viterbo, Italy. We will also be visiting and performing in these various locations: Bagnaia, Bagnoregio, Ostia Antica, Piazza di San Lorenzo and Rome.
Viterbo is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It is approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Rome on the Via Cassia, and it is surrounded by Monti Cimino and Monti Volsini.
Bagnaia is a small town on the slopes of Monti Cimino a few miles off Viterbo, known only for its thermal water (Bagno means bath), until it was chosen in the XVth century as summer residence of the bishops of Viterbo. Cardinal Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84), felt the palace inside the walls to be a too modest residence and thought to expand Bagnaia by building a villa in the mountain above the town. Thus, Bagnaia is made of two distinct parts: the old one (città di dentro inside) with a very medieval aspect inside the walls and the new one (città di fuori outside) with three streets departing from the same point and reaching the villa.
Bagnoregio is a comune (municipality) and former bishopric in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Latium, located about 90 km northwest of Rome and about 25 km north of Viterbo. It is located at the center of a low plateau (1,000 ft high) between the sea and the Tiber valley. The edge of the plateau is marked by deep ravines which isolate long and narrow hills of tufa rock. The Etruscans chose these locations for their towns as they were easily defensible and healthy, as opposed to the land near the Tiber river, which was often marshy and exposed to floods.
Ostia: The ancient Roman city of Ostia was in antiquity situated at the mouth of the river Tiber, some 30 kilometers to the west of Rome. The shoreline moved seawards, due to a build up of silt in the river, from the Middle Ages until the 19th century. Therefore Ostia is today still near the Tiber, but now at a distance of some three kilometers from the beach. Ostia is Latin for "mouth," as in “the mouth of the Tiber.” We will perform Orff’s magnificent Carmina Burana in a 2,000 year old Roman ampitheater.
Why: To sing masterworks in beautiful historic locations around Italy! This is the repertoire that is in store for you: Mozart’s Laudate Dominum, Ave Verum Corpus, Exultate Jubilate, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, as well as various unaccompanied choral classics from the American choral tradition.
When: July 10, 2007, to August 1, 2007
How: Anyone who wishes to attend this Academy, and is not already a member of either the University of New Mexico Concert Choir or Las Cantantes must audition. If you are not from the Albuquerque area we ask that you send in a CD recording of two contrasting solos, as well as a two-octave scale, to:
Ceri Gerrish, Choral Secretary
The University of New Mexico
Department of Music
MSC04 2570
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
There is a $35.00 audition fee. Please make checks payable to “UNM Choirs.” CDs must be received no later than May 1, 2007, in order to be considered.
Once you’ve been accepted: 
Cost: Tuition for this academy is $2,200. This includes: A double occupancy room at the historic ISTITUTO NAZARETH, a delightful 15th-century monastery. 3 meals a day are also included. Once you have been accepted, you will receive information on payments to the University of New Mexico, which is the U.S. headquarters of the choral festival.
Airfare: Airfare is not included in your tuition. We are currently researching group rates with airline companies to cut down costs. If you wish to fly from Albuquerque to Italy please let us know immediately. If you do not wish to fly with the Albuquerque group then you will need to make arrangements on your own that are time-sensitive to the group’s pick-up time in Italy.
INTERNATIONAL LYRIC ACADEMY