Application Deadline: The deadline to apply for the 2024 Spoleto Festival USA Chorus Fellowship has now passed. Applications for the 2025 Festival will open in August 2024.
The Spoleto Festival USA Chorus, led by Director of Choral Activities Joe Miller, is a fellowship opportunity for professional vocalists that offers paid performance engagements and career development opportunities in choral and operatic singing.
Vocal Fellows perform major works in 1-3 choral performances across the Festival; perform as the chorus for Spoleto’s mainstage opera(s); and take part in special performance projects. Chorus members may also be considered for cover roles for the operas in addition to their Chorus duties.
To succeed at and enjoy the broad needs of the Festival, Vocal Fellows draw on versatile skillsets including choral background, opera and other stage experience, and knowledge of diverse genres. In 2022, members of the Festival Chorus performed in a chamber work by Nico Muhly; a large-format choir concert as the feature of the “Lift Every Voice” gospel program; as the chorus of La bohème, Beethoven’s ninth Symphony, and in the world premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Omar. In 2023, the Festival Chorus performed in a production of Vanessa by Samuel Barber, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Purcell’s Te Deum Laudamus, and a mixed repertoire program featuring Tallis’s Spem in Allium.
The 2024 Festival repertoire includes diverse choral projects as well as the world premiere of the new opera, Ruinous Gods, by Layale Chaker and Lisa Schlesinger as featured in the New York Times. Full repertoire will be available in late 2023.
Fellows receive:
- A weekly salary of $600
- A one-time travel assistance stipend of $250-$350 (depending on departure location, and only for those outside of the Charleston, SC region)
- A housing assistance stipend of ~$1,000 OR free housing in dorms at the College of Charleston
- A Festival access badge for attending other eligible events and performances at the Festival (subject to availability)
Fellows must:
- Must be able to pass and maintain a clear background check.
- Be available to reside in Charleston and attend rehearsal on a dynamic schedule for the entire period of residency (approximately May 12 – June 9, 2024); releases may be considered on a very limited basis and in advance only. Cover roles will begin approximately April 29, 2024.
- Rehearse for and perform in chorus concerts, staged and costumed operas, and other special projects.
- Be authorized to work in the U.S. either independently (through citizenship status, green card, etc.) or through Student Visa CPT approval from a current school by April 15, 2024; OPT approval timelines are often difficult for those graduating in the spring of 2024, so consult your school’s international student services officer for feasibility of OPT.
Application Process:
- All applicants submit 2-3 pre-screening videos of themselves singing with their initial application, usually due in mid-September.
- Based on pre-screening results, the Festival invites select applicants to a final audition in late October or early November. Auditions take place in-person usually in New York City, California, Texas, Ohio, and South Carolina. Recorded auditions are also offered, but in-person auditions are strongly preferred for those who live within driving distance of an in-person location.
- Offers are made based on audition results in late December of each year.
For questions, contact Philip Snyder, Associate Producer at [email protected]
