Standing ovations arose in the filled to capacity concert hall of the Prösels Castle after the recital of Sergey Khachatryan at the 2011 Schlern Music Festival. The star violinist returns this year to the festival to perform all Brahms violin sonatas with pianist Lusine Khachatryan on July 20, 2012.

World famous baritone Vladimir Chernov, who has appeared at nearly every major international theater, including the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, Teatro Colon, Paris Opera, Chicago, San Francisco, Vienna State Opera and many others, will perform and share his formidable experience with vocal students in master classes. Besides arias and art songs singers will have an opportunity to work on opera scenes, including acting skills, with Prof. Thomas Harper, Director of the University of Washington Opera Theatre, and perform these opera excerpts in the festival gala concerts. Italian and German language classes held by native speakers, will include phonetic training for singers.

The workshop “How to win an orchestra audition” will be held by the principle violist of Orquesta Sinfonica de Murcia, Spain, Rumen Cvetkov, who won several principal positions in different orchestras before the age of 30. Rumen Cvetkov will work with the festival participants on all aspects of the audition preparation starting with how to write a curriculum vitae correctly, how to practice concertos and orchestral excerpts, to finally how to behave during the actual audition. On the last day of the workshop, there will be a simulation of an orchestra audition, whereby participants will experience the real atmosphere of the audition. It will help young musicians not to be stressed and unpleasantly surprised by the real audition, but rather to be prepared and aware of their abilities.

On a day trip to Salzburg, the festival community will experience the unique atmosphere of the “Hagenauer House” at Getreidegasse 9, where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born and lived until the age of 17. Maybe you will understand Mozart’s music better after you have seen his apartment, his violin, the clavichord he played, and letters of his family.

During their leisure time between recitals, master classes, rehearsals and practicing, the festival participants will find themselves in the heart of the picturesque nature reserve Naturpark Schlern-Rosengarten, and they will have the opportunity to go on a hiking tour in the Dolomites. You won’t be able to forget the panorama expanding in front of you while rising in a gondola cableway up to the mountains.

Winners of the 2012 Schlern International Competition will perform in a special recital at the 14th century Prösels Castle.

Around 8000 enthusiastic concert goers gathered to listen to the 28 concerts of the 2011 Schlern Music Festival in the Sciliar region. Remarkable and vibrant events were the recitals and master classes of Sergey Khachatryan, Zakhar Bron, Stanislav Igolinsky and the eminent faculty artists.

The participating students from 20 different countries impressed the audience with their talent and a very high level of professionalism. Accordingly high were the standards of the 2011 Schlern International Competition, whose winners, Anna Bulkina (piano) and Sander Geerts (viola), received prizes from the Busoni Piano Competition and the Johannes Brahms International Competition, respectively, later that year.

The final open air concert, which turned into a big party afterwards, brought together the festival participants and young people from Völs in an exuberant and sparkling atmosphere of the festival.

The Schlern Festival, hosted by the town of Völs am Schlern, Italy, is unique not only because of its spectacular location, but also because it offers a three-week intense schedule of private lessons, chamber music coachings, and master classes combined with over 30 professional and student concerts presented in the historic halls and castles of the South Tyrol. This exceptional experience gives participants an opportunity to significantly raise their professional level and further their careers through networking with established artists, along with gaining valuable performance experience. Free Italian and German language classes offered to help you improve your language skills. Additionally, the Schlern Festival presents an International Competition to its participants in the areas of violin, viola, cello, voice, and piano with prizes of up to $1000.

In 2012, Eduard Kunz, named among 10 tomorrow’s great pianists by the BBC Music Magazine, will join star violinist Sergey Khachatryan in giving master classes and performances, along with the festival distinguished faculty from around the world.

The festival program consists not only of intensive training, practicing and performing, but also includes exciting excursions to Salzburg and Venice, where historical places are reminiscent of Mozart, Vivaldi, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tizian, Giorgone and others.

The Schlern Music Festival is the kind of experience that leaves deep impressions upon its participants. Listening to live performances of outstanding artists and interacting with them daily creates an environment where ideas, performance and nature unite to bring renewed meaning and understanding to participants’ musical lives. It can also be the beginning of something unimagined as people from around the world meet, form friendships, and make music, as evidenced by four young talented musicians who once met here, worked together, formed a common bond, and became the Völs String Quartet, and are now touring the United States.

And, you can’t visit such an idyllic town without taking time to enjoy all it has to offer! Völs am Schlern recreation opportunities range from simply relaxing or walking in Voels and surrounding areas and absorbing the mountain beauty, to playing one of the most stunning 18-hole golf courses in Northern Italy, to climbing or riding the funicular railway to the hikers’ retreat atop of the magnificent Schlern mountain. And, if you like, you can swim in the nearby lake or relax in a sauna, all followed perhaps by a meal of Italian or Tyrolean fine cuisine at one of the local restaurants.

In a word, The Schlern International Music Festival is a unique and transforming experience for its participants. Seldom in the world will you find quite such great artistry blended so perfectly with such great natural beauty.

From left to right:

Jiaming Zhang,

Sona Barseghyan,

Hasmik Vardanyan,

Benjamin Truchi,

Sander Geerts,

Sung Ah Kim,

MinJi Kim,

Anna Bulkina,

Nozomi Iwai

Step 1:

Prepare the following items:

• Your recent photo (headshot) in jpg format (max. 1MB).
• A scan of the picture page of your passport in jpg format (max. 2MB). Make sure your data on the scan are readable.
• Upload a video recording of your performance (2 pieces of different styles with a total duration of at least 15 min. ) to YouTube or another storage site. You will be prompted to provide the Internet link. Please check the link and quality of your recording in advance.

The admission committee will select participants based on submitted recordings.

Step 2:

Create a Semper Music account by following the link New Account.

Step 3:

Log into your Semper Music account and read the Application Instructions before you fill in the Participant Application . A non-refundable $135 application fee must accompany your application, made payable to SEMPER Music Inc. by March 15, 2012. Any application received without the payment of the application fee will not be accepted.

If you intend to participate in the Schlern International Competition, you need tosubmit a non-refundable $105 competition entry fee together with yourapplication fee (see payment information below).

After March 15, 2012 you can apply for the festival if space is available. Please contact us by email (info@sempermusic.org ) before submitting the application. A late application fee of $185 becomes effective after March 15, 2012.

Age limit:

There is no age limit for participants. Students under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or designated guardian.

Information for an accompanying person:

For family members and/or spouses accompanying festival participants we offer a festival package.

The festival package includes hotel accommodation (sharing a room with your child/spouse), full board (breakfast at the hotel, lunch and dinner at the Festival Dining Hall; except on excursion days), bus transportation from and to the airports Milan and Munich, respectively, on July 5 and July 25, 2012 (for departure times see Travel Information), bus transportation to concerts (if outside of Völs am Schlern) and participation in excursions.  In addition to this, you may attend all private lessons, chamber music coaching and master classes of your child. All Festival concerts are free of charge. The parent package price is $1950 (incl. accommodation category A) and $1800 (incl. accommodation cat. B). Category A has a higher star rating then B.

After the applicant has received a notification about his/her acceptance into the program, you can log into the applicant’s Semper Music Account and fill in the Accompanying Person Application. You need to submit this form and your festival package payment to Semper Music Inc. by April 15, 2012 (see payment information below).The accommodation category of your festival package must be the same as the person’s you are accompanying.

If you would like to do some volunteer work at the festival, please send us an email to info@sempermusic.org.

Participants accepted into the program need to submit their performance repertoire by April 15, 2012 using the Performance Repertoire form on the festival website under your Semper Music account.If your repertoire is not submitted by this date, you will not be able to participate in the festival recitals.
NO REPERTOIRE CHANGES WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER April 20, 2012.
Piano concertos may not be included.

Please contact your local Italian consulate for visa requirements! Depending on the country, the visa application process might take long time.If your local Italian consulate requires additional documentation besides an invitation letter, please inform us in advance so we can assist you with your visa application.

Travel

We require participants to stay at the Schlern Music Festival location for the whole period of the festival.
If your travel arrangements do not allow you to use the festival shuttle bus from and to Milan/Malpensa and Munich airports on July 5th and 25th, 2012, respectively, you will be responsible for your travel (including travel costs) to/from the festival location.

Cancellation policy

Cancellations made by written request and received prior to April 30, 2012 will be entitled to a full refund of tuition (less $50 processing fee). Cancellations made after April 30, 2012 are not entitled to a refund.

Scholarship

A limited number of scholarships/ partial scholarships are available to qualified students. If you are interested in applying, you must send a letter requesting a scholarship to info@sempermusic.org. You need to submit your online application before applying for a scholarship. Only scholarship requests received in writing by March15, 2012 will be considered. Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of recording evaluation.

Medical insurance

All Schlern Music Festival participants are required to have medical insurance coverage valid in Italy for the period from July 5 to July 25, 2012.

Sergey Khachatryan, violin, Vagram Saradjian, cello and Tatiana Gerasimova, piano perform Sergei Rachmaninov Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14 at the 2011 Schlern Music Festival