Advanced and specialisation courses
opera singing course
The course aims to train professional opera singers specialising in Puccini’s repertoire, providing them with a solid grounding in vocal, musical and dramatic skills.
The teachers’ objective is to explore certain specific aspects of the opera singer’s role, such as the ability to interpret a musical text using one’s voice as an instrument, either independently or according to the instructions given by the pianist and/or conductor; to interpret the character linked to the theatrical text on stage, either independently or according to the instructions given by the stage director; to explore the style, interpretation and study of Puccini’s repertoire.
By June 2026, the Artistic Director will also hold auditions reserved for student singers, who will have the opportunity to perform solo roles in operas and concerts featured in the summer program of the 2026 Puccini Festival and the 2026 Puccini Month.
Who is it for?
Opera singers aged between 18 and 35, with a diploma in singing or suitable certification as per the announcement published on our website www.puccinifestival.it
When does the call for applications expire?
Students will be admitted following an audition to be held on February 16, 2026, at 10:30 a.m.
The deadline for submitting applications for admission to the auditions is February 16, 2026, at midnight.
Course duration
According to the following schedule
Lessons with Prof. Maria Pia Ionata
February 19 and 20, 2026
March 5 and 6, 19 and 20, 2026
April 23 and 24, 29 and 30, 2026
May 14 and 15, 21 and 22, 28 and 29, 2026
Masterclass with Maestro Gregory Kunde
April 7 and 8, 2026
72nd Puccini Festival 2026
Opportunity to attend rehearsals and performances of the 72nd Puccini Festival 2026 between 23 June and 5 September 2026.
Costs
80 euros to participate in the admission audition for the course; attendance fee 1,450 euros.
Gregory Kunde - Bio
Considerato come uno dei più eleganti e completi cantanti belcantisti sulla scena lirica di oggi, è apparso in tutti i più grandi teatri del mondo: Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera di Chicago, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerishe Staatsoper di Monaco di Baviera, Théâtre des Champs-
Élysées and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Opernhaus in Zurich, Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Semperoper in Dresden, Teatro Regio in Parma, Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Liceu in Barcelona, etc.
He regularly collaborates with the world’s leading conductors and directors, including:
Roberto Abbado, Richard Bonynge, Daniele Callegari, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Sir Colin Davis, Hugo de Ana, Giancarlo del Monaco, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Davide Livermore, David McVicar, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, John Nelson, Gianandrea Noseda, Antonio
Pappano, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Michel Plasson, Georges Pretre, Stefano Ranzani, Sir Simon Rattle, Luca Ronconi, Claudio Scimone, Jeffrey Tate, Alberto Zedda, etc…
After dominating the international scene in the bel canto repertoire (Bellini, Rossini, Donizetti), in recent seasons he has triumphed in: La Damnation de Faust with the San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Welsh National Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw; Benvenuto Cellini with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis;
Norma (Pollione) at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome conducted by Nagano, in Barcelona, Venice, Munich, Liège, and Bilbao; Das Lied von der Erde at Carnegie Hall in New York; Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in Lima, Palermo, and conducted by Chung in Florence; I vespri siciliani in Turin conducted by Noseda, in French in Naples, Bilbao, and Valencia; Les Huguenots in Strasbourg; Un ballo in maschera in Turin and Bologna; Verdi’s Otello at La Fenice in Venice, in Japan and at the Palazzo Ducale conducted by Chung, in Valencia conducted by Zubin Mehta, in Turin conducted by Noseda, in Genoa, Seville, Madrid, London, Pamplona, and Paris; Aida in São Paulo, Brazil, at the Arena di Verona, and in Madrid; Peter Grimes conducted by Pappano at Santa Cecilia and in Valencia; Les Troyens with Pappano and McVicar at La Scala in Milan; La forza del destino conducted by Zubin Mehta in Valencia and Dresden; Il Trovatore in Venice, La Coruña, and London; Luisa Miller in Liège; Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci in Bilbao; Samson et Dalila in Turin, Valencia, Seville, Moscow, and at the Metropolitan in New York; Manon Lescaut in Bilbao, Turin, Barcelona, in Japan with the Rome Opera, and in Dallas; Andrea
Chénier in Rome and Bilbao; Turandot (Calaf) in concert in Tel Aviv conducted by Mehta and, directed by Zeffirelli, at the Arena di Verona.
He made his European debut as a conductor at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo with Maria di Rohan (released on DVD by Bongiovanni) and conducted Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice and a symphonic concert at the Opéra de Nice.
Among his recent and upcoming engagements: Ernani in Lisbon, Piacenza, Ferrara, and Reggio Emilia; Turandot, Otello, Luisa Miller, and Andrea Chénier at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna; La forza del destino at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Il Trovatore and Aida at the Los Angeles Opera; Turandot at the Real in Madrid.
at the Arena di Verona, the Opéra de Paris, and the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago; Otello at the Liceu in Barcelona, the Vienna State Opera, Munich, Covent Garden in London, Dresden, Piacenza, Modena, Reggio Emilia, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, the Bellini in Catania, and the Colón in Buenos Aires; Aida, Andrea Chénier, and Il Trovatore in Vienna; Le Prophète in Berlin; Don Carlos in Liège; Messa da Requiem conducted by Zubin Mehta in Tel Aviv; Aida, Turandot, La fanciulla del west
and Die große Stille in Hamburg; I Pagliacci in Dresden, Parma, Bologna, and Venice; Aida at the Cincinnati Opera, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, and the Arena di Verona; Les Troyens in Munich; Il Tabarro (Luigi) and Tosca at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome conducted by Michele Mariotti; La
Juive and Andrea Chénier at the Teatro Regio in Turin; Billy Bud at the Vienna State Opera; Andrea Chénier at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and in Parma.
Maria Pia Ionata - Bio
She graduated with honors at the age of 21, having previously debuted the role of Amelia in Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra.
Shortly thereafter, she made her debut in leading roles in Carlo Coccia’s Caterina di Guisa, Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Gian Francesco Malipiero’s Ecuba, and in Puccini’s repertoire in La Bohéme, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, which marked an important and definitive turning point in her subsequent professional career as the “Puccinian voice par excellence.”
This was followed by many other debuts in leading roles in the repertoire that suited her well, in Giacomo Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, Turandot, and La Rondine, Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc, Otello and Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi, with “forays” into the operettas The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár and Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss.
Among the major theaters where she has performed are La Scala in Milan, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, the Vienna State Opera, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Frankfurt Opera, the Teatro Bellini in Catania, the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, the Finnish National Opera and Ballet in Helsinki, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, the Teatro Principal in Valencia, the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, the Bonn Opera House, the Lima Opera House, the Greek National Opera in Athens, and the Las Palmas Opera House in Gran Canaria.
Maria Pia Ionata has sung under the baton of renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Daniel Oren, Zubin Mehta, Maurizio Arena, Gary Bertini, Donato Renzetti, Lorenzo Viotti, Yuri Ahronovich, Niksa Bareza, Gustav Kuhn, Paolo Carignani, Josè Maria Cervera Collado, Antonello Allemandi, Steven Mercurio, Giuliano Carella, Renato Palumbo, Alain Guingal, Tiziano Severini, Peter Maag, Marco Armiliato, and Gianfranco Masini.
He has also collaborated with internationally renowned directors including Luca Ronconi, Giancarlo Del Monaco, Gilbert Deflo, Robert Carsen, Sonja Frisell, Mario Monicelli, Rolando Panerai, Johan Landis, Antonello Madau Diaz, Filippo Crivelli, Alberto Fassini, Pier Francesco Maestrini, Mauro Bolognini, Vitaliano Trevisan, Renzo Giacchieri, Roberto Laganà Manoli, Joseph Franconi Lee, Maurizio Scaparro, Klaus Kirschner, and Gabriele Vacis.
She also has film experience, playing the role of Tosca in the film Tosca e altre due alongside Franca Valeri and Adriana Asti.
A few years ago, he embarked on a career in teaching, first as a lecturer at the Accademia di Alto Perfezionamento della Fondazione Festival Pucciniano in Torre del Lago, then at the Boccherini Conservatory in Lucca, and since 2019 at the Vecchi Tonelli Conservatory in Modena.
She is currently involved in the ‘Turandot T4T’ project in collaboration with the ‘Giuseppe Verdi’ Conservatory in Milan for the production of the four finales of Puccini’s opera, which will be performed in Korea, China, Milan and the United States.
He has also held several singing masterclasses in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, Shenyang and Tianjin.
MASTER COLLABORATORS course
The advanced and specialisation course for assistant conductors covers the following topics:
– study of Puccini’s repertoire with particular reference to the piano performance of orchestral scores;
– analysis and practice of the various skills required of an assistant conductor: work in the hall, on stage and at the lights, the work of the prompter and the conducting of musical interludes;
– Study and practice of accompanist and musical coach work in collaboration with the advanced and specialisation course for opera singers.
Who is it for?
pianists aged between 18 and 35, with a diploma in piano or suitable certification as per the announcement published on our website www.puccinifestival.it
When does the call for applications expire?
Students will be admitted following an audition to be held on 22 January 2026. The deadline for submitting applications for admission to the auditions is midnight on 19 January.
Course duration
According to the following schedule
Lessons with Maestro Silvia Gasperini
3 and 4, 19 and 20 February 2026
19 and 20, 25 and 26 March 2026
9 and 10, 23 and 24 April 2026
12 and 13, 21 and 22 May 2026
Opportunity to attend rehearsals and performances of the 72nd Puccini Festival 2026 between 23 June and 5 September 2026.
Costs
€80 to participate in the admission audition for the course; attendance fee €700.
Silvia Gasperini - Bio
She graduated with honours in piano and
harpsichord. After specialising in both instruments, she attended a professional training course
for accompanists and piano accompanists at the
‘P. Mascagni’ Conservatory in Livorno. She also studied
orchestral conducting with Piero Bellugi and, more recently, with
Marco Boni at the International Academy of Imola.
He then embarked on a career as a rehearsal pianist and stage pianist, working in theatres such as the Arena in Verona, the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Teatro Coccia in Novara, the Teatro del Giglio in Lucca and the Teatro Goldoni in Livorno.
Particularly significant is his collaboration with the Fondazione
Festival Pucciniano in Torre del Lago as an orchestral pianist
from 2000 to 2005, as a collaborative maestro from 2007 to 2010 and, after
winning the selection process for the role, as stage musical director
from 2014 to the present.
She also collaborates on a regular basis with the ‘Fondazione Simonetta Puccini per
Giacomo Puccini’ as a pianist and as a speaker for ‘Conversazioni
sull’opera’, a project she promoted and created, which consists of
a series of in-depth monographic meetings dedicated to the works
of Giacomo Puccini.
Highly regarded as an accompanist, she has collaborated with
numerous prominent artists, including Mirella Freni, Aprile Millo, and Sonia Ganassi,
and has performed in many opera recitals in Italy and abroad.
On May 25, 2024, in a piano recital commissioned and organized by the
Michel De Montaigne Foundation in Bagni di Lucca, she was the first
performer ever to play the complete edition of Giacomo Puccini’s piano compositions
In 2024, he made his debut as conductor of the
Orchestra del Festival Puccini in a program entirely
dedicated to the composer from Lucca on the centenary of his death,
conducting two opera recitals (the opening concert of the “2nd Varzi Festival” and
the opening concert of the season at the Teatro Guglielmi in Massa).
From 2020 to 2023, she taught the advanced and specialization course for Maestri Collaboratori at the Accademia del Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago and for the project “Le Stanze dell’Opera” promoted by the Fondazione Guido D’Arezzo.
CLASSICAL AND CONTEMPORARY DANCE course
The Classical and Contemporary Dance Training and Advanced Studies Course is a programme of excellence designed for young dancers who wish to turn their academic studies into a solid professional foundation.
The programme combines technical rigour, artistic sensitivity and stage presence through intensive training in classical ballet, pointe work, repertoire, men’s technique, pas de deux, character dance, contemporary technique, choreography workshops and other workshops.
The course is coordinated by Sabrina Brazzo and Andrea Volpintesta, dance department coordinators and resident tutors. They are joined by professionals from the national and international dance scene, who offer students direct exposure to the professional world.
Who is it for?
The course is aimed at young students aged between 10 and 19 who wish to turn their academic studies into a solid professional foundation, combining technical rigour, artistic sensitivity and a focus on professionalism.
When does the call for applications expire?
Students will be admitted following an audition, which will take place on 4 October 2026 at the Enrico Caruso Auditorium, Gran Teatro Giacomo Puccini, Torre del Lago Puccini. Applications to take part in the auditions must be submitted no later than 12.00 on 25 September 2026 at the following address:
infocorsi@accademiapucciniana.
Course duration
The course will run from 24 October 2026 to 23 May 2027, spanning 10 weekends spread over 8 months.
Provisional timetable:
24–25 October 2026
14–15 November 2026
12–13 December 2026
16–17 January 2027
30–31 January 2027
20–21 February 2027
13–14 March 2027
10–11 April 2027
15–16 May 2027
22–23 May 2027
Costs
The fee for taking part in the entrance audition is 80 euros.
The course fee is 1,500 euros, payable in three instalments of 500 euros (the first instalment to be paid before the course begins)
Sabrina Brazzo – Coordinator and lecturer
Sabrina Brazzo, an Étoile and former Prima Ballerina at La Scala, graduated from the La Scala Ballet School and was appointed Prima Ballerina in 2001. She has performed the leading roles in the classical, neoclassical and contemporary repertoires, working with masters such as Rudolf Nureyev, George Balanchine, Roland Petit, Maurice Béjart and William Forsythe.
She has danced at leading international theatres and alongside artists such as Roberto Bolle, Massimo Murru, Maximiliano Guerra and José Manuel Carreño. A Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, she now serves, alongside Andrea Volpintesta, as coordinator and resident teacher of the dance department at the Accademia Pucciniana.
Andrea Volpintesta – Coordinator and lecturer
Andrea Volpintesta,
Andrea Volpintesta, Principal Dancer, Artistic Director and teacher, trained at the Teatro alla Scala Ballet School. Following his time as a soloist with Aterballetto, he spent almost twenty years as a member of the Teatro alla Scala Corps de Ballet, performing mainly in solo and principal roles in the most important works of the classical and contemporary repertoire.
She has worked with masters such as Rudolf Nureyev, Roland Petit, Maurice Béjart, John Neumeier and William Forsythe, performing at leading international theatres.
Ermanno Sbezzo – Lecturer
Ermanno Sbezzo is an international choreographer and freelance teacher. A graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Danse de Cannes – Rosella Hightower, he began his career in Germany with BallettPforzheim and the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, performing leading roles in narrative and abstract ballets.
He was a dancer with Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, performing in theatres of international renown. As a choreographer, he has created works for companies and institutions including BallettPforzheim, Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, Ballets Jazz Montréal, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome.
Michael Fuscaldo – Lecturer
Michael Fuscaldo is a choreographer, teacher and founder of NAC Ballet and MGR Events. He trained in Italy and abroad, at the Staatliche Ballettschule in Berlin and the National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Chisinau.
He has worked with companies and institutions in Italy and abroad and has been a guest choreographer for organisations such as the Brussels International Ballet. His work combines movement research, a contemporary sensibility and a focus on training young dancers.
Alessandra (Lexa) Romano – Lecturer
Alessandra (Lexa) Romano is dedicated to the study of academic classical ballet using the Vaganova method and academic-based character dance, whilst also exploring techniques in folk dance, contemporary dance and the American Horton method.
She obtained a degree in Theatre Arts, specialising in Choreography and Folklore, from the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts of the Republic of Moldova. Her choreographies have received national and international recognition, particularly in the fields of character dance and folklore.
