IN OCTOBER 2004, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the NAJP launched its first two-week Institute for classical music and opera critics and writers who live outside the nation’s ten largest cities. Participants from 20 states, attended classroom sessions on the history and concepts of classical music, met with experts, heard concerts and took part in workshops led by top music critics.

The Institute faculty included such noted classical music scholars and critics as Michael Beckerman, Henry Fogel, Walter Frisch, Joseph Horowitz, and Elaine Sisman. Among the attended performances were James Levine’s first appearance with the Boston Symphony in New York at Carnegie Hall, an extraordinary concert by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra, Julie Taymor’s Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera, a concert featuring the works of Conlon Nancarrow at Columbia’s Miller Theatre, and Robert Wilson’s “Temptation of St. Anthony” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Reviews by the Institute participants following these concerts were discussed in workshops led by such leading critics as Justin Davidson, Anne Midgette and John Rockwell. The participants learned about current issues in classical-music management in meetings with the top leadership of Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera, BAM, American Symphony Orchestra League and other presenting organizations. They homed their own music skills during a memorable voice-coaching session led by MET Opera choir master Raymund Hughes.

What the participants are saying about the NEA Institute in Classical Music and Opera.

This Institute is part of a national NEA initiative. A program for journalists who cover theater is being hosted by the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The American Dance Festival at Duke University is hosting an Institute for journalists who focus on dance.

The NEA Institute in Classical Music Opera will be offered annually to eligible journalists. Applications deadline for the fall 2005 Institute will be in mid-summer 2005 – check this space for updates.

NAJP : Fellowships : NEA Institutes