New Zealand soprano Sophie Sparrow studied at Royal Academy Opera with Kate Paterson, Marcus van den Akker and Jonathan Papp where she was supported by the Fishmongers’ Company, Kiwi Music Trust and a Help Musicians Sybil Tutton Opera Award. Opera roles while at Royal Academy Opera included, among others, Sarah/Sun Witch in Freya Waley-Cohen’s recently commissioned opera WITCH, Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Despina (Così fan tutte), and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) with Opera Otago. In 2021, Sophie was awarded the ROSL Music Competition Tait Memorial Prize. She was also a Kathleen Ferrier semi-finalist that year, and in 2023 she reached the ROSL Vocal semi-finals. Sophie worked in the 2022 Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and covered Barbarina in Glyndebourne’s Le nozze di Figaro. She joined Mascarade Opera as an emerging artist for the 2022/23 season.
The Florence Choral Course as an annual summer course, which thanks to our supporters is made entirely free for participants and dedicated to the study, performance and promotion of Italian choral music. Up to 25 singers from all over the world have the unique opportunity to come to Florence for in immersive period of daily rehearsals, choral technique workshops, individual singing lessons, archival tours, history lectures and masterclasses with world famous practitioners, including soprano Dame Emma Kirkby and director of Milan Cathedral Choir Maestro Massimo Palombella.
The week culminates in concert and ecclesiastical performances in some of Florence’s most iconic buildings, including Palazzo Tornabuoni, Santissima Annunciata and Santa Maria Novella, as well as a sung mass in the great cathedral of Milan.
In addition, the programme’s advanced choral course for aspiring professional singers provides students a unique opportunity to come to Florence for an intensive programme of study, rehearsals, masterclasses and performances, as well as historical lectures and tours in the heart of the most important city of Renaissance.
In addition, the programme’s advanced choral course for aspiring professional singers provides students a unique opportunity to come to Florence for an intensive programme of study, rehearsals, masterclasses and performances, as well as historical lectures and tours in the heart of the most important city of Renaissance.
HOW TO APPLY
Applications for the Florence Choral Course July 2024 will open on 1 January 2024.
To apply please send two recordings and your CV to thesacredmusicprogramme@mascaradeopera.com