Taking place July 12-23rd, 2015, Brott Opera is a brand new program designed to give singers an opportunity to get onstage. Brott Opera is the brainchild of Artistic Director Boris Brott, celebrated conductor and founder of the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, and Program Director Taras Kulish, bass-baritone and Executive Director of the McGill Chamber Orchestra. "Boris and I make a great team cause we both have very different careers and yet both have a huge passion for opera. Boris's experience is from an orchestral point of view and mine is from a singer's point of view," says Kulish. "Our main goal in creating this program is to simply create an exciting opera experience for the singers as well as the audience members."

Brott Opera is looking for singers of various levels of experience to take part in a concert production of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, and in Popera, a concert of operatic excerpts, both with full orchestra. They provide accommodation and stipends ranging from $500-$1000, a stand-out quality that's hard to find among Canadian opera programs.

In the post-Opera Hamilton era, Brott Opera is an encouraging prospect for mid-level houses in Canada. Says Kulish, "Our goal with this program is to begin with a young artist program, make it the best we can within the small means, and hopefully see it grow into something bigger. The best feature is that the Brott Music Festival already has a wonderful young professional orchestra, add some hot young singers into the mix and you've got a recipe for some great opera. We feel there is a strong audience for opera in Hamilton. Time will tell."

Applications are due on January 19th, and auditions take place on January 30th in Toronto and January 31st in Montréal. Click here for more details.