Michael Chance Countertenor
Michael Chance Countertenor
 

SienAgosto 2025

We are thrilled to announce that SienAgosto 2025 will take place next summer from August 19th to August 29th 2025. You are welcome to apply now to this unique residential summer music academy.

A video tribute to SienAgosto 2023, produced by the Siena Art Institute

Produced by Siena Art Institute
Camera: Gabriele Clementi
Editor: Francesco Bicci

See also on YouTube

Non ho paura del buio / I'm not afraid of the dark

A new video by the Siena Art Institute, with the participation of the SienAgosto 2023 team.

 

A MESSAGE FROM MICHAEL:

SienAgosto is growing and going places. In 2025, over and above our regular programme of individual tuition, masterclasses, lectures, and private and public concerts, we are adding a performance of a seminal musical masterpiece, and inviting friends from both the UK and Italy to be part of it. Claudio Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers invites comparison with the other pinnacles of western musical achievement. For those who have witnessed it live in performance either as performers or audience members, it leaves a deep and lasting impression. The participants of SienAgosto will form the heart of our performance on 28th August in Siena. We welcome the Chamber choir of RNCM in Manchester and an ensemble of virtuoso Italian instrumentalists as collaborators with us for this inspiring project.

The SienAgosto course continues to bring students from all over the world, curious to learn, widening their horizons, raising their aspirations, and offering a natural milieu for new yet lasting friendships with like-minded colleagues.

The Vespers project is also a furtherance of SienAgosto’s growing links with the city of Siena, in which more doors are opened each year, and its enduring partnerships with the many and varied facets of the deep social and cultural life of this unique Tuscan city.

The city of Siena is truly a jewel—one of the most beautiful in Italy, teeming with rich civic traditions and ways of life that have remained robust for over 800 years.

Our SienAgosto teachers are all international stars in their own right, but, it must be stressed, never eager to remind anyone of that. We want to hear your thoughts, your voices, and react creatively to your presence in the room, and we encourage you to know that through your music-making, you can deeply affect others, and indeed yourselves. Technique, fully embodied breathing, the desire to communicate and collaborate, the classical virtues of rhetoric and declamation, and flexibility, as well as vocal, mental and emotional good health all play their part. And we provide daily Italian language lessons for all.

Our number is limited to 20. We boast a high ratio of teachers and accompanists to students: SienAgosto is a premium residential summer music course. The opportunities it gives are hard to rival.

Come to Siena next August. You won't forget it.

Michael Chance
 
 

Tuesday, August 19th to Friday, August 29th 2025

Arrival Monday, August 18th. Departure Thursday, August 30th

Michael Chance’s annual residential summer music academy for singers and continuo players will be hosted once again by the renowned school of humanities, the Siena Art Institute in collaboration with the Siena School for Liberal Arts.

Students are invited to apply for eleven days of intensive teaching, coaching, workshops and masterclasses, as well as public concerts, in the intensely stimulating city of Siena, where senses are bombarded, minds altered, and aspirations raised. In 2025 the programme will be crowned with an extra-special production: Claudio Monteverdi's Vespers for the Blessed Virgin, SV 206 (1610), a performance first for the city of Siena.

This course offers world-class tuition in vocal communication. Singers are most effective when they show clear intention, and a need to communicate meaning, in addition to the mere beauty of sound. SienAgosto covers all periods of classical repertoire, but shows how mastering the vocal craft through the study and celebration of earlier repertoire greatly enhances the understanding of all song. We welcome applications from instrument players, whether they’ll be playing piano, harpsichord, lute, theorbo or guitar, etc., who would also like to work with singers.

Over 160 students from some 30 countries around the world have been warmly received in the courses so far held in Siena. Teachers, coaches and accompanists make up the SienAgosto international faculty of highly experienced performers and instructors.

ENSEMBLE

Ensemble rehearsals will be included in the schedule. Repertoire will be detailed after all applications have been submitted. It is hoped to work on both a cappella repertoire and also with instruments, using all the students on the course.

SIENAGOSTO 2025 EXTRA-SPECIAL EVENT: Vespers for the Blessed Virgin, SV 206 (1610)

As Michael announced, we are adding the performance of an outstanding landmark work, Claudio Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers. SienAgosto participants will form the heart of this extra-special production. We welcome the Chamber choir of RNCM in Manchester and an ensemble of virtuoso Italian instrumentalists as collaborators with us for this inspiring project.

Please see the Application Form for information about possible solo parts.

Photos by Jeff Shapiro from the SienAgosto 2018 summer music academy.
 

Join SienAgosto 2025

The price of the summer academy is €1000 and covers teaching and all related activities, plus 2 group dinners.

Participants may organize their own lodging, or else the Siena Art Institute in collaboration with the Siena School for Liberal Arts, hosts to this programme, can help you arrange shared accommodation in apartments, if requested, at advantageous rates. (See the Application Form below.)

Applications must be submitted by 15th June 2025. It is expected, as in the past, that demand will be high. A non-refundable registration fee of €200 will be requested following acceptance to the academy. This sum will be deducted from the full price of €1000.

APPLICATIONS

You are invited to send your application for SIENAGOSTO ACADEMY 2025 by 15th June 2025 using the following application form (e-mail address provided within):

Application form Application form (MS Word file)
 
SienAgosto Faculty Members

TEACHERS

Lynne Dawson - Lyric Soprano - Head of the School of Vocal Studies and Opera at RNCM, Manchester

Lynne Dawson is the RNCM’s Head of the School of Vocal Studies and Opera and has been one of Britain’s best-loved and respected sopranos for more than 30 years. Before becoming a singer, she trained as a translator and interpreter and spent several years in industry before studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She was very fortunate to work with many conductors and ensembles at the forefront of the Historical Performance movement, including the Deller Consort, the Hilliard Ensemble, John Eliot Gardiner, Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood, Trevor Pinnock, and with them made many recordings for most of the major labels. » more

Elisabeth Priday - Soprano

Elisabeth Priday studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and whilst there she joined the Monteverdi Choir under John Eliot Gardiner. This marked the beginning of her career as a specialist in Early and Baroque music, both as a soloist and as an ensemble singer. She is a member of the Deller Consort, and has sung for Christopher Hogwood and Trevor Pinnock, and also with the Tallis Scholars. She's now keen to pass on her expertise and enthusiasm to the next generation of singers. » more

Michael Chance, CBE - Countertenor - Professor at the Royal Conservatory, The Hague - Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London - Artistic Director and CEO of The Grange Festival, Hampshire

In opera, oratorio, recital and in recording, Michael Chance has been singing to worldwide acclaim for over thirty years. His success has helped spread the appeal of counter-tenors, and foster the explosion of interest in baroque music. In addition, he has sung the first performances of a large body of new work by living composers. He teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague. He received the CBE in 2009. » more

Daniel Taylor, O.C. - Countertenor - Head of Historical Performance at The University of Toronto, Faculty of Music

An exclusive recording artist for Sony Classical, Daniel Taylor is one of the most sought-after countertenors in the world. Daniel appears on more than 100 recordings which include Bach Cantatas/Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner (for Deutsche Grammophone Archiv and SDG). As an educator, Daniel has offered master classes at the Beijing Conservatory, the Sao Paolo Conservatory, at the Royal Academy, the Guildhall and the Royal College of Music. The University of Toronto recently appointed Daniel Taylor to the position of Head of Historical Performance in the Faculty of Music. » more

Paul Beier - Lute - Professor at the Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado, Milan

Paul Beier graduated from the Royal College of Music in London. He has performed in Europe, North and South America and Australia as soloist, director of Galatea, member of various groups and as continuo player in orchestral and opera productions. His solo lute repertoire extends from the Italian Cinquecento to the music of Bach and Weiss. Since 1981 Paul Beier has taught lute, continuo and ensemble at the Scuole Civiche di Milano. » more

Giulia Nuti - Harpsichord - Head of the Early Music dept. of Scuola di Musica di Fiesole

Harpsichordist Giulia Nuti has appeared in venues throughout Europe as a soloist and continuo player. A specialist in Italian music and treatises of the baroque, her book "The performance of Italian basso continuo" (Ashgate 2007) is cited as an essential text for performers and scholars of basso continuo. Giulia teaches harpsichord at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, where she leads the department of Early Music; she also holds a research post at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano. » more

REPETITEURS

Rebecca Taylor - Piano

Born and educated in North Yorkshire, Rebecca made her concerto debut at the age of 17 performing Shostakovich's 2nd piano concerto. Under the tuition of Jeremy Young of the RNCM, she was awarded a performance scholarship to the annual Birmingham International Piano Academy in 2005 and the following year she won the Piano Academy's concerto competition. She is currently playing as accompanist for Celine Forrest, who is taking part on the Cardiff Singer of the World Competiton, currently taking place, and being shown on BBC Television, on BBC 4. » more

Richard Leach - Piano and Harpsichord

Richard is a pianist, organist and conductor based in London. He has played at the Wigmore Hall, St Bride's Fleet Street, St James's Piccadilly, for the Concordia Foundation, and as a staff accompanist at the Royal Academy of Music. He has worked as an accompanist and répétiteur for The Grange Festival, The English Concert, the Philharmonia Chorus, The Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Choir and OSJ Voices. He is the organist of Ealing Abbey Choir. Richard studied at Oxford, Cambridge, and the Royal Academy of Music. » more

 
SienAgosto 2024 appraisals
SienAgosto is undoubtedly one of the best summer courses out there for young singers and was a real highlight of my 2024. The expert tuition given by Michael, Lynn, Lis, Daniel and Paul was seriously high quality and within a week, I felt my singing had really improved. Set in the heart of Sienna, it is hard not to be inspired by the wealth of art, history and beauty that this magical city has to offer. Organised by Valeria and Jeff, we were welcomed with such warmth and immediately made to feel at home.

The week included a huge number of individual coachings (you really do get value for money) as well as masterclasses, to give students the opportunity to perform arias or duets in public and with the guidance of the brilliant musical staff. It was an absolute gift to have Rebecca Taylor and Richard Leach as staff pianists on the course, who could play anything put in front of them with great sensitivity, making it a pleasure to rehearse and perform with them.

I was preparing for the Cesti competition which was immediately after the course and I couldn't have asked for a more supportive environment to be coached in for the competition. I had to leave slightly early from the Summer school and I was incredibly impressed that Valeria and Jeff had tailored the course to give me a more concentrated amount of coachings in a shorter space time to prepare me as well as possible. By the end of my time at SienAgosto, I really was very sad to leave and would have much preferred to stay on the course! If you are thinking about applying to this course, I would strongly encourage you to do so - you will not regret it!
Helena Moore, United Kingdom
 
Being back for SienAgosto 2024 was a totally different, but equally exciting experience. Being familiar with the staff, the city and the program, I nevertheless could not get bored and in the eight days of intensive learning got the feeling that we built something up: our voices, our music and also connections with each other and the city. It's a bit like a rice cooker, where rice and water are separate at first and then, after being with each other in constant heat, coming out as a steaming pan of food, nurturing to everyone who wants to listen. I found it fun and rewarding to be back.
Hanno Egger, Netherlands - SienAgosto 2022 and 2024
 
Photos from SienAgosto 2024

Thank you all for joining SienAgosto 2024! Please have a look at some of the photos that Jeff Shapiro kindly shared with us from this marvellous event.

 
SienAgosto links
Siena 2024: Photos
Siena 2024: Testimonials
Siena 2023: Photos
Siena 2023: Testimonials
Siena 2022: Photos
Siena 2022: Testimonials
Siena 2019: Testimonials
Siena 2018: Photos
Siena 2018: Testimonials
Siena 2016: Concerts
Siena 2016: Testimonials
Siena 2015: Photos
Siena 2015: Testimonials
Siena 2014: Photos
Siena 2014: Testimonials
Candili 2013: Testimonials
 

For any queries about SienAgosto, please use the contact details in the Application Form (MS Word file) above.

For all communication regarding Michael's other teaching projects, please use the form below.