Performances

Assisi Performing Arts participants will perform in many choral, chamber and orchestral concerts. Participants will also have the opportunity to attend Institute-sponsored concerts performed by visiting touring choirs.

Assisi performers will also be given ample opportunity for solo performance at Sala San Gregorio, equipped with a Bechstein grand piano, and at other venues.

Solo Opportunities

There is no competition for solos. Everyone who is qualified will be given solo opportunities that are suited for their growth and development. The faculty recognize the importance of individual performance. Therefore, each participant is guided in the selection of repertoire and venue for their performance. Since one's decision to participate may be based on solo opportunities, participants may discuss this matter with the Artistic Director before making the decision to enroll. The goal of the festival is not to determine who is the best musician. Rather, the goal of the festival is to provide all musicians with a curriculum of classes and performances that will inspire and energize them in all their musical endeavors.

The Goals

Assisi Performing Arts is a program designed primarily to encourage musicians to understand and explore the the opportunities that are available in sacred music programs, especially in churches and synagogues. Religious institutions have recently experienced a "renaissance" with regard to music. Many church positions that were formerly held by volunteers are now well paying part-time and full-time positions. Our curriculum emphasizes classes and repertoire that relate directly to this situation. We hope that musicians who participate in the festival will find that they have been given the opportunity to learn more about sacred music, and have been inspired to consider sacred music to be an important part of the music career. We are in Italy, however. We cannot miss the opportunity to perform opera! So, the performance schedule typically includes a staged opera and concert performances of arias, duets and opera choruses. There is also one concert emphasizing American music, especially Broadway.

Repertoire

Assisi Performing Arts emphasizes sacred music, and yet opera, broadway, jazz, spirituals, and other styles of music are performed regularly.

Rehearsals

Rehearsals will take place daily for 2 - 4 hours. Singers will concentrate on choral and other vocal music. Instrumentalists will concentrate on orchestral and chamber music.