Vocal Institute-Texas Music Festival

APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED TO APRIL 14, 2023

Building Your Craft: From Studio to Stage, May 29-June 16, 2023

The Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival® invites applications for its Vocal Institute: Building Your Craft: From Studio to Stage, at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. This intensive program for college freshmen, sophomore, and junior vocal students builds a foundation in stagecraft through classes in acting and dramatic interpretation, language and diction, solo and ensemble coaching, stage movement, dance, and body awareness. Led by a stellar faculty with years of international experience, participants prepare and stage scenes from opera and operetta for public performance.

Daily Classes and Sessions (up to 35 hours per week) include:

• Dance and Movement for the Stage
• Techniques in dramatic interpretation and theatrical presentation
• Diction and Language
• Daily individual and ensemble coaching
• Staging of scenes
• Lectures (Vocal Health, Collaboration: You and the Pianist, Performance Anxiety, Learning Orientations)
• Individual voice lessons will be available for participants. (Lessons are voluntary and offered with the approval of the individual’s voice teacher.)
• Performance(s) of opera/operetta scenes. Final performance is Friday, June 16, 7:30 p.m.
• Limited enrollment, generous tuition fellowships.

Faculty:

• Zachary Averyt *
• Richard Bado, Houston Grand Opera
• Debra Dickinson, acting
• Lauren Pastorek, movement
• Melanie Sonnenberg,* institute director
• Hector Vázquez *

* Moores School of Music faculty

Fees (all fees are non-refundable):

• Application Fee: $80 (due with application)
• Registration Fee: $1500 

• Optional Room and Board Fees: 
  • Room and meals: $1460 (UH Cougar Village I—double room/two-room suite, shared bath, kitchen, and laundry. Three meals daily in UH cafeteria.) Must be requested no later than April 11, 2023. 
  • Optional Parking Pass: $35 (Vehicles must be registered in advance through UH Parking directly. Parking information will be sent to all participants by the TMF office.)
•  Participants who chose to live off-campus are responsible for their own housing/meals and must have reliable transportation.

Important Institute Dates:

• Arrival/Housing Check-In (if staying on-campus): Sunday, May 28 AFTER 12 noon AND BEFORE 5 p.m. at UH Cougar Village I,  located on the University of Houston campus at 4385 Cougar Village Dr., Houston, TX 77004. (Housing is NOT available before May 28 - please plan your arrival in Houston accordingly). Participants are responsible for transportation to Houston and also to the UH campus  – airport transportation is not provided.
• Institute Start Date: Monday, May 29 
             Registration: Afternoon, Time TBD, Moores School of Music, Room 108
• Final Concert/Institute End Date: Friday, June 16, 7:30 p.m., Dudley Recital Hall
• Dorm Check-out: Saturday, June 17 by 12 p.m. Participants are responsible for own transportation.

Deadlines: 

• Recorded Audition/Application Deadline: April 14, 2023
• Acceptance Deadline: April 21, 2023
  • This includes your completed Acceptance Reply form, your $1500 Registration Fee payment, and the optional Room and Meals ($1460) Fee payment, all submitted through Acceptd.

For more institute information: 
Melanie Sonnenberg, director msonnenb@Central.UH.EDU

TMF Covid 19 Health and Safety Statement: The health and safety of all students, faculty, and on-campus guests are our primary concern. We continually monitor the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic, following all university, city, and state guidelines.  Current UH protocols are HERE.

 For technical questions, please visit the Acceptd Help Desk.