Francis Parham

Francis Parham

Inspiring the next generation
Francis Parham co-founded the Mascarade Opera Foundation with Roger Granville and Max Fane.
As an opera and music festival producer, credits include The New Generation Festival, in collaboration with the 23Arts initiative, and Andermatt Music, a programme designed for a brand new concert hall in Switzerland that included, among others, Daniel Barenboim, Maxim Vengerov and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Other producing credits include represent.’s production of Trueman and the Arsonists by Max Frisch in a new version by Simon Stephens with songs by Chris Thorpe at the Roundhouse, Much Ado About Nothing at the Rose Theatre Kingston, the UK première of Luce by JC Lee at the Southwark Playhouse and an international tour of Henry V for OUDS/Thelma Holt. He has also worked for the RSC, Cheek by Jowl, Shakespeare’s Globe, Theatre Royal Plymouth, the Sovremennik Theatre, Antic Face and Shakespeare in Italy. Francis read Classics and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, after which he studied Law at both SOAS and BPP University in London. He qualified as a solicitor with White & Case LLP and worked for the firm in London, Moscow and Paris.

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