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OperAffinity Festival

Todi - Festival - Opera Program 8-14 SEPTEMBER 2025

Opera and Vocal Program

An opportunity for a select number of emerging international singers to participate in the second edition of the OperAffinity Festival in Todi, Umbria, Italy, from the 8th to 14th September 2025.

Following the success of our inaugural festival in 2023, where 12 singers participated in the opera program—many of whom went on to perform in Europe's leading opera houses—we are expanding our program. This year, we are thrilled to collaborate with some of Italy's leading musical institutions, including musicians from the Accademia Chigiana and L'Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

Singers will have the opportunity to perform for leading Italian opera agents and representatives of prestigious global music institutions, while honing their vocal technique with a faculty drawn from the world’s premier opera houses and conservatories.

“Participating in the OperAffinity Musica Festival was an incredible experience that prepared me perfectly for my La Scala debut a few months after the festival, which led to an international career. It showcased the very best in international talent, offering a unique experience to both the audiences and the local Umbrian communities."

– Claire de Monteil, French Soprano, 2023 Opera Program

Opera/ Vocal Studio: Performance and the

Art of Auditioning

 

  • Program Overview

  • Masterclasses with internationally renowned professionals

  • Vocal coaching and audition preparation

  • Movement and diction coaching

  • On-stage performance opportunities

Our coaching and conducting faculty have worked at Covent Garden, Arena di Verona, The Met, Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Frankfurt Opera, Berlin State Opera, and many more.

Professional Development

Singers will have the chance to create a professional audition package, including a recording session in an Italian opera house, resulting in a polished, high-quality audition video.

Public performances will take place throughout the festival in stunning historic venues across Todi.

During the previous Festival, singers from our opera program were featured on RAI national Italian television. This year, we aim to expand on this media exposure as we welcome musicians from Accademia Chigiana and L'Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

Daily concerts throughout the festival will allow singers to perform alongside top musicians, network with institutional professionals, and experience everything the beautiful town of Todi has to offer.

An Opera Gala Performance will be held at the historic Teatro Comunale di Todi, built in 1876, with a seating capacity of 501, spread over four levels of galleries.

Application Information:

Deadline to Apply: May 15, 2025

To apply, please send two arias in two different languages (one in Italian), a headshot, and your CV to info@operaffinity.com

For further inquiries, please contact info@operaffinity.com

Faculty - Opera Program

MARIE MCLAUGHLIN


Distinguished soprano Marie McLaughlin has enjoyed more than four decades of performance at the highest international level. Over that time, she has collaborated with some of the world’s greatest conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Sir Antonio Pappano as well as such legends as the late Leonard Bernstein and Giuseppe Sinopoli. A wide repertoire of core roles took McLaughlin around the world at an early age including to the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Opéra National de Paris, and the Salzburg and Glyndebourne Festivals. Her substantial discography includes many of those roles including Zerlina with Sir Neville Marriner for Philips, Despina with James Levine for Deutsche Grammophon as well as Micaëla and Violetta under Bernard Haitink. 
Key roles in today’s repertory include Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro) which has been heard at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Opéra National de Paris, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, at the Salzburg and Ravinia Festivals and at the Metropolitan Opera, La Ciesca (Gianni Schicci) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Glyndebourne Festival, Madam Larina (Eugene Onegin) at Teatro Regio di Torino, Glyndebourne Festival and Opéra de Lille, Despina (Cosi fan tutte) at Scottish Opera and the Spoleto Festival, Alisa (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Mrs Grose (The Turn of the Screw) at Teatro Real Madrid and Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Linden, and Miss Jessel in the highly-acclaimed co-production by the late Luc Bondy at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, conducted by Daniel Harding and released on DVD by BelAir Classique.

Equally at ease in contemporary repertoire, Marie McLaughlin has recently created the characters of Lilian Disney in Philip Glass’ The Perfect American at Teatro Real Madrid, Mother Needham in Iain Bell’s The Harlot’s Progress at Theater an der Wien, Abigail Simpson in the world premiere of Julian Grant’s The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare for Boston Lyric Opera, and latterly Annie Chapman in Iain Bell’s Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel for English National Opera. 

Recent highlights have included Meg Page in Robert Carsen’s production of Falstaff for the Royal Opera House under Nicola Luisotti, Older Woman in Jonathan Dove’s Flight for Scottish Opera, and Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress with London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski. Most recently Marie joined Daniel Evans’ hit production of The Light in the Piazza on tour to LA Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago following its critically acclaimed debut run in London, as well as singing Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro at Salzburg’s Mozartwoche under Sir András Schiff. This season Marie returns to LA Opera and to the role of Marcellina in James Gray’s new production under James Conlon. 

LAETITIA RUCCOLO

French-Italian pianist Laetitia Ruccolo is one of the most sought-after vocal and diction opera coaches. She is the cofounder of the company Bare Opera in New York City. 

She regularly works for opera companies all over the world, and she has taught masterclasses in several American universities such as Mannes College of Music, Manhattan School of Music or Wellesley College, and she has been a vocal and diction coach for numerous young artists programs. She is often called by the Metropolitan Opera Education department to play for their performances, or for the masterclasses of Met artists. She is a faculty member of the Mascarade Opera Studio in Florence. 

Ms. Ruccolo has performed widely as a solo artist, as well as a collaborative pianist with chamber ensembles, singers and with orchestra in France, Italy, England, Germany, Austria, Portugal, and Israel. In New York, she has performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the New York Historical Society, the Museum of the City of New York and at the Metropolitan Opera Guild. She played for concert hosted by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and violinist Joshua Bell. 
Also passionate about art songs, she performed at SongFest in California, and was invited twice at the Schubert Institute in Austria, where she worked with pianists such as Julius Drake, Helmut Deutsch, Roger Vignoles, and Graham Johnson, as well as singers Christa Ludwig, Robert Holl and Elly Hameling. 

Laetitia was a Young Artist at the National Opera Studio in London, and she has been in residence at the Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera and Opera North. She graduated from the Ecole Normale de Musique of Paris, University Mozarteum in Salzburg, and Mannes College of Music in New York, and she also earned a degree in foreign languages and litterature from the University of Aix-Marseille. She is fluent in five languages. 

FELICE VENANZONI

Felice Venanzoni,  born in Italy, studied piano at the conservatory in Pesaro under the guidance of Lorenzo Bavaj, later refining his craft with Sergio Fiorentino, Viktor Merzhanov, and Pier Narciso Masi.


Mr. Venanzoni has dedicated his career to working with singers and developing young operatic talent. He began his professional journey as a musical coach in 1994 at the Macerata Opera Festival, later collaborating with AsLiCo in Milan and accompanying Master Classes for esteemed artists such as Leyla Gencer, Renata Scotto, Rockwell Blake, and Edoardo Müller. His early work also included opera productions across Italy, in Como, Brescia, Bergamo, Novara, Pavia, and Salerno.


Since 1999, Mr. Venanzoni has been a key figure at Oper Frankfurt, where he initially served as a coach before assuming the role of Director of Musical Studies in 2002. At Oper Frankfurt, he has played a pivotal role in preparing singers for a diverse repertoire, specialising in Baroque and bel canto operas. His conducting credits include Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea and Orfeo, Händel’s Agrippina and Ariodante, Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso, and Almeida’s La Giuditta, among others. Beyond Frankfurt, he has led productions at Dresden’s Semperoper, the Salzburg Festival, and the Baroque Festival "Winter in Schwetzingen."


Mr. Venanzoni has also collaborated with world-renowned conductors and ensembles, including Jean-Christophe Spinosi’s Ensemble Matheus, working on opera productions and concerts in major venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Théâtre du Châtelet, and the Theater an der Wien. He has frequently worked as a continuo player and musical assistant at the Berlin State Opera, notably for Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea and Vivaldi’s Il Giustino under René Jacobs.


A passionate educator, Mr. Venanzoni has been shaping the next generation of opera singers through his teaching position in Recitative Presentation at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts since 2009. He has led Master Classes and training programs for institutions such as the Opera Studio in Strasbourg, NRW Opernstudio, and the Mediterranean Opera Studio in Sicily. Since 2017, he has been responsible for the artistic development of the Opera Studio at Oper Frankfurt, where he continues to mentor young artists in their operatic careers.

Maurizio Scardovi

Maurizio Scardovi is the founder and president of Punto Opera, one of the leading artistic management agencies in Italy.


Over his career, he has managed and developed the careers of numerous world-renowned opera singers, including Josè Carreras, Renato Bruson, Leo Nucci, Marcelo Alvarez, Ruggero Raimondi, Daniela Dessi, Fabio Armiliato, Juan Pons, Jorge de Leon, Roberto Aronica, Carlo Ventre, Renato Palumbo, Olga Peretyatko, Adina Nitescu, and Gunter Neuhold. His agency collaborates with major opera houses and institutions worldwide, providing exceptional guidance to emerging and established artists.
 

Before becoming an agent, Maurizio studied singing with Gianni Raimondi, Carlo Bergonzi, Paride Venturi, and Luciano Pavarotti. He has given masterclasses in Vienna, Leipzig, Palermo, Bologna, Rome, and Sydney. He is also the creator and artistic director of the Festival Respighi in Bologna.

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