L'Accademia

The Academy of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the international training center of the homonymous Opera Theater of Florence, was established with the aim of guaranteeing the most thorough and prestigious professional preparation of young talented artists who intend to dedicate themselves to the arts and crafts of opera theater.

The courses are directed at young opera singers, répétiteurs, conductors, set designers, iron workers, carpenters, prop masters, stage hands, audio/video technicians, theater tailors, as well as those who intend to learn and develop specific skills in the field of theater organization and management.

The training programs aspire to the achievement of specialized and innovative skills and expertise, while maintaining a close link with the tradition of musical theater. The educational and training proposal is distinguished by a strong integration between classroom training and work experience in the field (learning by doing), as well as by an effective interaction between the various professional profiles involved.

Classroom and laboratory activities are therefore followed by  significant stage experience that, under the guidance of internationally renowned artists, allows for the verification of the results achieved and gives students the opportunity to experience the complex dynamics of producing an opera.

The quality of the training program is guaranteed by a teaching staff consisting of renowned artists and professionals of the field. Over the years, the professors of the Academy have been illustrious figures of opera, including Monica Bacelli, Bruno Campanella, Fabrizio Carminati, Natale de Carolis, Fiorenza Cedolins, Sonia Ganassi, Bruno de Simone, Barbara Frittoli, Leone Magiera, Bernadette Manca di Nissa , Chris Merritt, Ernesto Palacio, Renato Palumbo, Rolando Panerai, Roberto Scandiuzzi, as well as Zubin Mehta and Riccardo Muti. The orchestral training courses have been entrusted to the principal players of the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

The strategic lines of development and the synergies realized with the Foundation of the Theater of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino ensure young people in training a context of professional growth of the highest level, in which they can live on a daily basis the theatrical experience and acquire the art and secrets of the craft according to the “a bottega” (in the shop) method of learning.

Focusing on the new generations, the Academy aims to valorize, pass on and disseminate the rich tradition of Italian opera, which has its roots in Florence, the homeland of melodrama and of the language universally recognized as that of lyric opera.

The Academy also intends to give continuity to the successful experience that was the “Lyric Start-up Center” (Centro lirico di avviamento), active at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino between 1937 and 1950, in which some of the most famous singers of the history of opera were trained, including Fedora Barbieri, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Gino Bechi, Rolando Panerai, Franco Corelli, Gian Giacomo Guelfi and Paolo Washington.

With the objective of promoting and disseminating musical culture among new generations, the Academy has also created the Children’s Choir (Coro delle Voci Bianche) of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the relative school of choral singing for children.

With regard to institutional relations, since its foundation the Academy has carried out educational and cultural cooperation projects with the most prestigious national and international musical institutions, such as the Chigiana Music Academy of Siena, the Music School of Fiesole, the Opera of the Teatro Communal of Bologna, the Fabbrica of the Opera Theater of Rome, the Academy of Belcanto “Rodolfo Celletti” – the Paolo Grassi Foundation of Martina Franca, the Conservatory Pëtr Il’ič Čajkovskij, the Gnesins Russian Academy of Music and the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Center in Moscow, Syracuse University (USA), Victoria University in Melbourne, Music Conservatories in Shanghai and Beijing, Pille Lill Music Fund in Tallinn, and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

The training proposal and the concrete opportunities for career start-up offered have made the Academy a well-known international reality, a valid point of reference for young artists beginning the theatrical profession.

The Academy is a body accredited by the Region of Tuscany for Higher Education and Continuing Education (Regione Toscana per la Formazione Superiore e per la Formazione continua).