ACTING MASTERCLASS
by Aleksandar Nikolić
"Acting through singing method"
VENUE
Casa das Histórias Paula Rego (max. occupancy 195)
DATE/TIME
Tuesday, 9th of April
Morning Session: 11am- 2pm
Number of Active Participants and Listeners
6 participants max.
3 per session
aprox 1h each
Nr of active participants CASCAIS OPERA – 4/6
Nr of active participants GENERAL – 2/6
Nr of listeners:
- 40 reserved for Cascais Opera candidates
- 155 for general audience members
Technical guidelines / repertoire
- Proposal of 3 arias. The tutor will choose 2 arias, with more emphasis on one of them, for the masterclass.
- Please bring 3 copies of the arias for the masterclass
Aleksandar Nikolić – Curriculum Vitae
Aleksandar Nikolić is one of the most active opera and theatre directors in Eastern Europe. He has been collaborating with Belgrade’s National Theater since 2009 and, since the 2018-19 season, also with the National Theater Novi Sad (Serbia’s first National Theatre), having been appointed Principal Opera Director there in 2023.
Mr. Nikolic studied Drama, Audiovisual Arts, Art History and Stage Design in Belgrade and served as assistant director to the 13th revival of Richard Eyre’s original 1994 production of Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’ at London’s Royal Opera House (2016).
From 2019 through 2023, he was general manager at Little Theater Duško Radović, in Belgrade, where he produced a total 22 works.
In Serbia and abroad, he moves with equal ease in opera, theatre and dance, and his work on the opera stage includes Aida, Faust and Rigoletto for the National Theatre Novi Sad, Orfeo ed Euridice, L’incoronazione di Poppea and La serva padrona at the National Theatre Belgrade, Tosca with the Belgrade Philharmonic, Don Giovanni and The Telephone for Sarajevo’s National Theatre, Don Giovanni at Universal Artists Festival (Boston), Pyramus and Thisbe and Die Fledermaus in Jerusalem and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Vrnjačka Banja Summer Festival. Next June, he will be staging Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the final event in Belgrade Philharmonic’s 100th Jubilee Season.
Sergei Leiferkus – Curriculum Vitae
Sergei Leiferkus is considered one of the world’s most renowned and accomplished performing artists. With an international career stretching over 40 years, he made a name for himself in complex opera roles, such as Scarpia (Tosca), Iago (Otello), Rangoni (Boris Godunov), Telramund (Lohengrin) or Alberich (Ring des Nibelungen), to name but a few. He is a frequent guest at the world’s leading opera houses, such as London’s Royal Opera House, Opéra de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Semperoper (Dresden), New York Met, San Francisco, Chicago (Lyric Opera) and Teatro Colón; and at festivals like Salzburg, Glyndebourne or Bregenz.
His repertoire goes on to include famous baritone roles, like Don Giovanni, Nabucco, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Amonasro, Klingsor, Eugene Onegin, Prince Igor or the High Priest of Dagon, and he continues to add new roles, like Schigolch (Lulu) or the Forester (Cunning Little Vixen).
On the concert repertoire, he has appeared with the world’s most famous orchestras, under eminent conductors like Abbado, Solti, Maazel, Levine, Gergiev, Haitink, Muti, Harnoncourt, Tilson Thomas or Ashkenazy. His discography comprises almost 40 recordings, including in opera the roles he is most noted for, and with a particular attention to Russian concert repertoire and the Russian song tradition, from Glinka to Shostakovich.
A native of St. Petersburg, Mr. Leiferkus started his career there (Maly Theatre, then the Mariinsky), before his international breakthorugh in Berlin, in 1980.
VOICE MASTERCLASS
by Sergei Leiferkus
VENUE
Museu Condes Castro Guimarães (max occupancy 15-20 seated)
DATE/TIME
Tuesday, 9th of April
3pm – 6pm
Number of Active Participants and Listeners
6 participants max.
30 min each
Nr of active participants CASCAIS OPERA – 4/6
Nr of active participants GENERAL – 2/6
Nr of listeners:
- 10 seats available for Cascais Opera candidates – registration needed
- 10 for general audience member
Technical guidelines / repertoire
Choice of one aria to work on, ideally from classic or romantic period (18th-19th century).
VOICE MASTERCLASS
by Anna Samuil
VENUE
Centro Cultural de Cascais (max occupancy 112)
DATE/TIME
Friday, 12th of April
3pm – 6pm
Number of Active Participants and Listeners
5 participants (female voices only)
aprox 30min each
Nr of active participants CASCAIS OPERA – 5/5 (female voices only)
Nr of listeners:
- 40 seats reserved for Cascais Opera candidates
- 72 open for general audience members
Technical guidelines / repertoire
- Female voices only
- Choice of one aria to work on.
Anna Samuil – Curriculum Vitae
Soprano Anna Samuil is among the most sought-after singers of her generation and has been steadily engaged as a soloist at the Staatsoper Berlin since 2004.
After her international debut as Violetta (Traviata) at Berlin State Opera in 2003, her career quickly brought her to important stages, like La Scala Milan, New York Met, Bavarian State Opera, Semperoper, Hamburg SO, Valencia, Lyon and Tokyo; and to renowned festivals, like Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh, Glyndebourne, Verbier, Arena di Verona and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
Recordings documenting Anna Samuil’s artistic activities include ‘Eugene Onegin’ from the Salzburg Festival, ‘Don Giovanni’ from Glyndebourne, ‘Das Rheingold’ and ‘Götterdämmerung’ from La Scala, ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ from Berlin SO, Britten’s ‘War Requiem’, Beethoven’s ‘Ninth Symphony’ and her latest CD release, “Il mondo felice”, an homage to Maria Malibran with her violinist sister Tatiana.
Anna has collaborated with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Antonio Pappano, Plácido Domingo, Myung-whun Chung and Gustavo Dudamel, to name just a few. Directors who have guided her career include Franco Zeffirelli, Peter Stein, Jonathan Miller, Achim Freyer, Claus Guth, and Guy Cassiers. Since 2011 she is a Voice Professor at the Hanns Eisler Music University in Berlin.
Jorge Balça – Curriculum Vitae
Over the past three decades, primarily in London, Portugal and Amsterdam, Dr Jorge Balça has developed a strong portfolio of work and a unique combination of skillsets – as a stage director (of theatre, opera, and hybrid forms), a teacher and workshop leader, a presentation skills, acting and creativity coach, and practice-based researcher. His work in all these domains is distinguished by his commitment to and skill in making fantasy and invention emerge from precise knowledge and training – and by his ability to inspire a similar alchemy in his collaborators.
Classically trained as an actor and countertenor, he studied theatre directing in London and Moscow, specialising in Shakespeare, techniques of adaptation, Meyerhold and commedia dell’arte. Jorge also holds a PhD exploring the dramatic training of opera performers.
With a love for site specific projects and collaborative forms, and an equal flair for comedy and drama, his work is dramaturgically inventive, visually striking, and physically engaged. He was the artistic director of Bloomsbury Opera and associate director of The Opera Makers, both in London. In Portugal, he has recently directed L’Heure Espagnole and The Turn of the Screw at Centro Cultural de Belém, and Don Giovanni and La Voix Humaine at Festival de Ópera de Óbidos. Jorge is committed to his work as a teacher, having taught at the Dutch National Opera Academy, Morley College London, Portuguese School for Theatre and Cinema, and other institutions. He maintains an international coaching private practice and is the acting coach at the Neil Semer Vocal Institute in Italy.
Watch Jorge Balça’s TEDx Talk “The Changing Body from Within and Without” here!
ACTING MASTERCLASS
by Jorge Balça
VENUE
Casa das Histórias Paula Rego (max occupancy 195)
DATE/TIME
Friday, 12th of April
Morning Session: 11am- 2pm
Afternoon Session: 3pm – 6pm
Number of Active Participants and Listeners
10 participants
5 per session
aprox 30min each
Nr of active participants CASCAIS OPERA – 6/10
Nr of active participants GENERAL – 4/10
Nr of listeners:
- 40 reserved for Cascais Opera Candidates
- 155 open to general public (Listeners)
Technical guidelines / repertoire
Choice of one aria to work on.
