ECP‑Arts is a one-month intensive for emerging opera singers who have completed their training — master’s or post-graduate level. A faculty of working professionals — répétiteurs, conductors, casting directors and artist managers — teaches what the conservatoire leaves out: how to audition, how to find and work with an agent, and the business of building a career. Three weeks in Germany and a final week in Tuscany, ending on a real stage — with live auditions before agencies and casting directors and a professionally filmed final performance.
Est. 2026 · Edition I
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Not a conservatoire
ECP-Arts begins where your training ended.
And teaches the one thing the conservatoire never did — the profession itself
The Gap
Training perfects the voice. It does not teach the career.
How do you find representation? How do you negotiate? How do you win an audition? How do you truly inhabit a role, so that meaning, mood and intention ring true? That is the work of the month.
I
Career Craft
Finding representation, negotiating engagements, professional auditioning and self-presentation — the business of a singing life.
II
Interpretation
Role and repertoire preparation in the original language, so that mood and dramatic meaning are true — not merely performed.
III
Foundation
Score interpretation and tradition praxis — the bedrock that turns a fine voice into an informed, complete artist.
IV
Masterclasses
Time with leading figures of the profession, drawn from our network of respected coaches and artists.
The Programme
Four weeks, planned to the hour.
Three weeks in the heart of Germany, one week in Italy’s Tuscany region. Individual lessons every morning, repertoire and industry in the afternoon, rehearsals and auditions towards the end — closing with a concert on a real stage.
The full programme, week by week.
We share the detailed programme with singers who are genuinely considering the 2027 edition. Leave your name, email and telephone number and it opens right here on this page.
The Finale · On Stage
The month closes on a real stage.
A public concert · filmed for agencies and your portfolio · not an exam, a debut
The 2027 Edition
One month. Three weeks in Germany. One week in Tuscany, Italy.
The first ECP-Arts edition is deliberately small and hand-picked: a cohort of singers, coached intensively, finishing with a filmed concert. Reduced in scale, uncompromising in attention.
Intensive preparation and coaching in Germany, a residency week in Tuscany, Italy, and a final performance on a real stage — seen by the people who matter.
i24 May – 18 June 2027 · one month
iiThree weeks in Germany + one week in Tuscany, Italy
iiiAccommodation and meals included
ivA professionally filmed concert
Weeks I–III · Germany
Magdeburg
A cathedral city on the river Elbe in the heart of Germany, with its own opera house and an hour from Berlin, Leipzig and Hanover — capital of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, with an eventful history of more than 1,200 years.
Week IV · Italy
Tuscany
Ochre hills and olive groves between Pisa and the Mediterranean Sea — Puccini’s country, where he wrote by the lake at Torre del Lago. Here the month ends: a week of rehearsal in the warm light, and a concert before an Italian audience.
Excursions
Beyond the studio.
The month reaches outward. Between lessons and rehearsals, the cohort travels to the stages and places that shaped the repertoire.
iBerlin — the opera houses of the German capital.
iiLeipzig & Dresden — two of Saxony’s great historic stages.
iiiPisa — arrival in Tuscany.
ivThe Puccini Festival and Puccini’s villa at Torre del Lago — the composer’s own lakeside.
vFlorence — where opera was born.
Accommodation & Full Board
A focused mind needs the right environment.
The best work begins with feeling at ease. We arrange comfortable accommodation and full board throughout the month, so that participants can give their attention to what matters most — their artistic and professional development.
When everyday worries are taken care of, there is more room to learn, to grow and to prepare for the next step of an artistic career.
Participants are hosted in two elegant residences: Villa Böckelmann in Magdeburg, and Villa Elena in Guardistallo, Tuscany.
Villa BöckelmannMagdeburg · Germany
Villa ElenaGuardistallo · Tuscany
When
24 May – 18 June 2027
Format
One month3 weeks Germany + 1 week Italy
Cohort
Small & selective6–10 singers
Finale
Filmed concertFor agents & portfolio
Who It’s For
Master’s and post-graduate opera singers.
Emerging artists at the threshold — completing or just beyond their formal training, ready to make the leap into the profession. A small, hand-picked cohort, welcomed from anywhere in the world; the stage is in Europe.
Admission by selectionECP-Arts is deliberately exclusive. A maximum of ten places per edition, awarded after a personal review of recordings and résumé — and an interview.
Répétiteurs and emerging opera managers: a few places are open on separate terms — write to us.
The Difference
A name the industry will know.
ECP-Arts does not represent artists and is not an agency. Instead, we become a trusted interface: those we train arrive prepared, ready and connected.
Agencies and houses come to recognise what an ECP-Arts singer brings to the room — a reputation earned through results, not a certificate.
iPrepared, audition-ready professionals
iiDirect exposure to agencies at the final showcase
iiiA network that opens doors, in Europe and beyond
Interpretation
It is one thing to sing the notes. It is another to know the story.
The depth that separates a trained voice from a working artist
The Fee
One figure. No second bill.
for the month · per participant
VAT already included.
The programme fee can be paid in instalments — just ask us.
One figure, paid once, covers the month itself — the teaching, a bed, meals, the travel we organise, the stage. What it cannot cover is what happens before you arrive and after you leave.
In the fee
iIndividual lessons, coaching and masterclasses
iiAccommodation for the full month, Germany and Italy
iiiMeals
ivAll travel within Europe during the month, Germany to Italy included — with checked baggage up to 23 kg (50 lb)
vRehearsals, the public concert and professional filming
You arrange yourself
iYour journey to the programme and back home
iiVisa fees (Schengen, type C), paid at the German embassy in your country
iiiHealth insurance — compulsory; we can put you in touch with partners
ivScores and personal spending money
vOpera tickets — should you wish to attend a performance during the month, we are glad to arrange it, but the cost of the tickets is yours to bear
Applying is free. The fee falls due only after a place has been offered and accepted; payment terms are set out in the participation contract. The figure is the final price: any German value added tax is already included. Répétiteurs and emerging opera managers are quoted separately.
Timetable
You will know where you stand.
Applications close in December. From there the path is fixed, and you will know where you stand at every step.
Applications close in
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The dates
20 December 2026Applications close
20 – 27 December 2026Evaluation and selection
28 – 31 December 2026Interviews
by 10 January 2027Written confirmation: a place, or a decline
11 – 17 January 2027Contract signature
18 January – 14 February 2027Payment of the first instalment — by arrangement in two or three instalments
24 May – 18 June 2027The month itself — please book your flight in good time
Apply
Begin your career — not another course.
This is the application to take part in the 2027 programme — not a job application. If you would like to join the faculty, please write to office@ecp-arts.com.
