Opera Ballet Vlaanderen intensifies cooperation with IOA

” In founding the International Opera Academy – now over twenty years ago – I intended it to be more than an educational programme for opera singers and repetitors.
The IOA was meant to function as a bridge between higher education and the professional world. 
I am very glad to see the increased cooperation between Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and the IOA.
With this wonderful news (read below)  the door closes on the IOA’s successful season. I wish everyone a beautiful summer! “

– Guy Joosten, General Manager of the IOA –

The cooperation between Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (OBV) and International Opera Academy (IOA) will intensify in the coming years.

OBV and IOA have been cooperating closely for twenty years now. Students at the internationally recognized IOA programme can participate in internships at OBV, and members of OBV have been teaching or giving masterclasses at the IOA on a regular basis. OBV also supported the IOA’s yearly public presentation.

This cooperation will intensify and increase over the coming years. As the artistic programme at OBV is also focused on talent development (young artists’ trajectories, and the Young Ensemble), the IOA has emerged as a natural partner to realize this policy vision.

Starting next season, OBV will offer a chamber concert with first year IOA students; every second season, a big production with all IOA students will be part of the OBV programme. Next season, this is The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten, in a new production by Carlos Wagner.

Through intensive dialogue with the OBV casting director, and through long-term monitoring, the flow of IOA alumni to the OBV Young Ensemble will be ensured.

In this way, young soloists are given the opportunity to present themselves within a professional context, and will gain insight into first potential engagements during their study.