Young singers, instrumentalists and conductors have worked intensely these past days, guided by their coaches, at the Summer Academy Opera by the Fjord 2025. They are now ready for the staged concert with Act 1 from Die Walküre by Wagner, as well as a selection of famous arias.

The song students have been coached by pedagogues and renowned singers like Swedish baritone Peter Mattei, renowned for his role as Don Giovanni at The Met and several other opera houses – together with Solveig Kringlebotn and the Wagner-expert Albert Dohmen.

33 young instrumentalists will play in the academy orchestra together with top professionals from renowned opera and symphony orchestras in the Nordic countries and Austria who also will be their section leaders and mentors. The concert master is Maxim Brilinsky, 1st violinist from the Wiener Philharmoniker.

The four conductor students will also get the chance to stand in front of the orchestra, coached in advance by Bergen National Opera's artistic director Eivind Gullberg Jensen and his conductor colleague Sascha Goetzel from Vienna. The stage director for Die Walküre is Ivar Tindberg.

WHAT IS THE SUMMER ACADEMY?
The summer academy Opera by the fjord is aimed at students who are currently in education, or who have recently graduated. Our top team of coaches all have experience from renowned opera houses and symphony orchestras.

Our academy is unique in that singers can rehearse and perform together with an orchestra, in a staged situation, as well as in concert arias. The training program is put into a larger context and will go beyond simply vocal training.

The conductor students will get a tailor-made mentoring in the specialist skills required to be an opera conductor, and two repetiteur students are also joining.

28 young instrumentalists will play in the academy orchestra 2024 together with top professionals from renowned opera and symphony orchestras in Scandinavia and Vienna, who also will be their section leaders and mentors.

Photos from the Opera at the fjord concerts 2021, 2022 and 2023:

Opera by the fjord - Summer Academy is presented by Bergen National Opera in collaboration med Oseana kunst- og kultursenter, and is supported by Grieg Foundation, Sparebankstiftelsen DnB, Talent Norge, Vestland fylkeskommune, Sparebank1 SR-Bank og SR-stiftelsen and The GC Rieber Foundations.