Internationaal Lied Festival Zeist

May 14 – 21, 2023

Joining our master class for lied duos means seizing the opportunity to work on your artistic development in a stimulating environment with the world’s greatest masters of art song.

Masters in 2023

Patrons Elly Ameling and Robert Holl will each teach for two days. In addition, your teachers are Dame Sarah Connolly, Wolfram Rieger, Malcolm Martineau and Hans Eijsackers, who will also perform during the festival. Performance coach Waltraud Österreicher, poetry and language expert Cas Jönsthövel and musicologist Natasha Loges complete the 2023 teaching team.

Festival theme 2023: Wanderlust

In 2023 the festival theme is ‘Wanderlust’: an intense yearning to travel and discover the world. Wanderlust is the desire to go elsewhere and look for new experiences outside one’s realm of experience and be able to divert from the grind of daily life and routine or even reject social conventions. During the festival, our focus is on wandern: travelling, wandering, going down beaten tracks and new paths out of idealism, love, disaster, religious conviction, curiosity, or nostalgia. The negative and positive aspects of the need to hit the road are addressed.

Repertoire

Please take note of the following conditions concerning your choice of songs. We invite you to send us a proposal for a recital consisting of a minimum of 8 songs considering this year’s festival theme. Your programme is required to feature the following:

- at least 3 songs in German, one of which is by Schubert

- 3 songs in French

- and one or two in another language fitting your program proposal

Also, include a short motivation for your programme proposal in your application.

During the master class, you will have the opportunity to work on parts of your proposed programme. The masters will choose in consultation with you which songs will be worked on; we do not allow duplications during the sessions. All songs must be sung by heart. However, participants are advised to take notes, so keep your scores on stage.

Application and admission

The master class is meant for (pre)professional singer-pianist duos. To apply, please send in the completed application form and upload the following:

- individual photos of both singer and pianist (jpeg, pdf, tiff, eps / max 2 Mb each)

- a biography of both singer and pianist (max 300 words, in English or German; pdf, word (doc, docx) / max 4 Mb each)

- two videos featuring a performance of two songs (contrasting in character) by you and your duo partner in high quality of both picture and sound (mpeg, mpeg4, mp4, waf, avi, mov, wmv / max 32 Mb each)

Application results: before April 10, 2023

Tuition fee: €300 per musician and must be paid before May 1, 2023

Accommodation

Participants will be accommodated with host families from Saturday, 14, until Sunday, May 21, 2023. Coffee, tea, and lunch will be provided on master class days. In addition, you will receive a passe-partout for all recitals during the festival.

Why choose our Masterclass?

Broad curriculum

Continuous development is essential for the careers of young singer-pianist duos. That’s why our master class is an inseparable part of the International Lied Festival Zeist. We offer a unique opportunity to work with renowned singers and pianists who have earned excellent reputations. You can expect a broad curriculum ranging from sessions on interpretation to performance coaching. Take that next step in your career and join us for a five-day learning experience that lasts you a lifetime.

Become a unique duo

The master class of the International Lied Festival Zeist offers both private and public teachings. During the private sessions, the masters will work with you on forging and moulding your craftmanship to become a unique duo of your own by focusing on the unity of text and music. Music and poetry will be treated equally and thoroughly. Due to the private setting, masters and students build the trust necessary to enhance artistic expressiveness through experiment.