The Vienna State Opera Choir Academy was founded in 2014 to provide young singers with practical training after their studies (or even after a first stage of their studies). The focus is on participation as a chorus singer at the Vienna State Opera and preparation for a professional career as an opera choir singer.
The Choir Academy has two main tasks: It supports and reinforces, together with the Extra Choir, the State Opera Choir in operas that require a particularly large choral cast, such as La bohème, Don Carlo, Tannhäuser or Parsifal. The academy members also take on the main stage for the choir performances in selected works, such as Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, Die Entführung aus dem Serail or Animal Farm.
The training at the Choir Academy deepens and expands the knowledge and skills acquired during their studies by rehearsing choral parts in full and individual rehearsals, in staged rehearsals and, above all, by regularly taking part in performances on the stage of the State Opera. The academy students gain intensive professional experience as singers in the opera choir. They also continue to be coached as soloists and receive support at all times in preparing for competitions and auditions. Occasional concert performances by the Choir Academy round off the training program.
Successful graduates of the Choir Academy go on to work at institutions such as the German National Theatre in Weimar, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Landestheater Innsbruck, Theater Lübeck and the choir of the Vienna State Opera, among others.
