INTERNATIONAL OPERA THEATER
Each summer, young singers and artists from around the world travel to Città della Pieve, Italy, to train, rehearse, and perform in an IOT world premiere opera — alongside artists from more than 20 cultures.
Get Involved
We seek sweet-voiced young sopranos (not opera singers), ages 8–18, from throughout the world. To audition, email a video of your child singing "Pie Jesu" by Andrew Lloyd Webber to karen@internationaloperatheater.org. An informal cell-phone video is perfectly fine, and the text does not need to be memorized.
Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu, domine
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem
Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem
Agnus dei, agnus dei, agnus dei, agnus dei
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem
Dona eis requiem
IOT offers internships in costume design, set design, technical theater, orchestra, chorus participation, and stage directing. To apply, send a resume and interview request to info@internationaloperatheater.org. Interns work alongside IOT's international creative team — including our costume and set designer, fiber artist Mi-Kyoung Lee, and our resident conductors and directors — on a genuine world premiere production from rehearsal through opening night.
What to Expect
Città della Pieve, Italy — a Renaissance hill town in Umbria, about 45 minutes by train from Rome and Florence, near Siena, Assisi, and Perugia.
About one month each summer, with six-day-a-week rehearsals leading up to three fully staged, fully costumed performances with chamber orchestra.
In Teatro Comunale "Accademia degli Avvaloranti," the town's historic Renaissance opera house.
Italian. Young singers work directly with Italian language and pronunciation coaches throughout the program.
Artistic Director Karen Saillant directs, working directly with singers using her own intercultural, self-organizing staging process rooted in Commedia dell'Arte.
Renowned South Korean fiber artist Mi-Kyoung Lee, using re-purposed and surplus materials.
None required. Past casts have ranged from young singers with little formal experience to those who have performed on Broadway or with major opera companies.
Older teens may travel unaccompanied; younger children should come with a family member or chaperone. Many families make it a shared trip.
Comparable Italian training programs run $5,000–$8,000 for a month. Thanks to a scholarship from IOT's artistic director, accepted participants contribute a fraction of that toward training.