Audition for Mozart's Magic Flute as a Principal/Professional singer or as a Member of the Chorus

Auditions are hereby announced for Opera South East's production of The Magic Flute  for performances on 7th and 8th April 2017. 

The auditions will be held on Saturday 22nd October 2016 from 3.30pm.  Please indicate your interest here and our chairman, John Rycroft will be informed on submission of this form. 

Principal roles that are not cast from within the current company will be offered after an audition selection wherever possible.  If selected for audition, please sing an aria of your choice in English, preferably by Mozart though not necessarily from The Magic Flute. The closing date for audition applications is Wednesday 12th October 2016; you will be advised of your audition time by Tuesday 18th October.  

Chorus applications will not be auditioned on this date - simply submit your details on this audition form at any time and join our rehearsals from 8th January 2017, and we'll try each other out from then.
Please apply on this form below...

STOP PRESS

Audition applications have now closed for all principal roles.
Late applications may or may not be considered for the following roles so feel free to apply anyway:

• Priests/armoured man (tenor)
• Monostatos (tenor)
• Speaker/Orator (bass)
  

New members of the chorus are welcome to join up to Sunday 8 January 2017.  Production administration help is welcome to announce themselves until February 2017.

Watch for errors above this line once you hit Submit to an audition application!

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Principal Fee/expense schedule for The Magic Flute

Significant principal fees will not be awarded for this production.

Roles marked  * - Expenses only roles @ £300 - Audition on 22nd October

Roles marked ‡ - Unpaid, no expenses – cast locally; existing members are also encouraged to audition - Audition on 22nd October

Roles marked ø - Chorus members and volunteers - new members welcome - no auditions on 22nd October; instead please confirm availability for rehearsals from 8 January.

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Our last few productions were just great!  See the NODA write-ups (National Operatic and Dramatic Association).  In July 2015, OSE received a regional award in the NODA South-East Awards for Excellence 2014 - for Musical Excellence in OSE's production of Carmen

About The Magic Flute, OSE and our audition format

OSE are performing Mozart's The Magic Flute, in English, on Friday 7th & Saturday 8th of April 2017 at the White Rock Theatre, Hastings. 

We will be auditioning for the principal roles on Saturday 22nd October  2017 at the John Taplin Centre, Healey House, 3 Upper Maze Hill, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex TN38 0LQ, tentatively from 3:30pm-6pm. 

Apply on this application form by Wednesday 12th October 2016 and you will be informed of your personal audition time a few days later.
As well as Principal part auditions, we also very much welcome new members of the chorus, and you can use this form to apply for the Chrous too (and see Join us and Contact us pages too for further info.)  New Chorus are welcome to join us at the start of our music rehearsals and our Music Director, Kenneth Roberts, will help and assess your fit.

Please see the notes below before submitting your audition application...

Notes on Principal and Chorus audition applications:

• Chorus music rehearsals are on Sunday afternoons or evenings though out January 2017.
• Please provide with your application any holiday/commitment dates on the application form where you will not be available for rehearsal from Sunday 5th February.  (See schedule below).  Everyone is expected for all calls for the week of the performances and the two Sundays before (Sunday 26 March in the afternoon, and Sunday 2nd April all day & evening) and then every day of show-week (Monday 3rd April = Sitzprobe, Tuesday 4th = Tech Rehearsal, Wednesday 5th = Dress rehearsal 1, Thusday 6th = Dress rehearsal 2, Friday 7th = first performance, Saturday 8th = last performance)
• Principal performers seeking auditions should  select an English aria for your audition, and preferably by Mozart (though not necessarily from Magic Flute)

• We will then contact applicants via email (where possible) or phone with confirmation of your audition time and the results of your audition
• Castings for principal roles will not be notified to the rest of the company until all the roles have been offered and accepted
• New Members of the Chorus are always welcomed for all voice parts.  There's lots of acting potential for this opera.  It's unlikely there's the chance to be in the pit chorus.; more likely you'll be on-stage and told what to do by our director, Fraser Grant.  Becoming a member of the Chorus leads to your becoming a Member of OSE.  You will be given a six month free trial membership of OSE if you accept but be asked to pay a deposit for costume hire and a performance fee.  After that you'll be asked to pay annual membership of OSE at £75pa from October 2017 if you wish to continue after your first production.  We do plan to audition for new chorus but are flexible as to prior experience and can offer an supported initiation process for inexperienced singers thanks to support from our conductor Kenneth Roberts.
• Back-stage and administrative roles do not have to be held by OSE Members and is therefore voluntary work, if you choose to accept.  There's a range of supporting & leading roles in terms of set construction, costume work, press/marketing and administration roles.  We'd love to hear from you, whether you are or are not interested in on-stage roles too.

• Audition applications received by Wednesday 12th October 2016 will be considered for audition appointment by The Chairman (John Rycroft) on submission of with this form.  There is no guarantee of later applications being accommodated.  Please advise any problems with this auditions form to Secretary (Greg Solomon).

Notes on the OSE rehearsal schedule:

• Sundays: Chorus-only music rehearsals will take place from Sunday 8 January and every subsequent Sunday under our Music Director, Kenneth Roberts.  These Music rehearsals generally run from 2pm-5pm, though sometimes from 6:30pm-8:30pm.  From February the main production rehearsals begin, generally from 1pm-5pm. Rehearsals are located in St Leonards-on-Sea.  Principal performers are only required from the start of production rehearsals with the Director, Fraser Grant, commencing Sunday 5th February 2016.

• There will be additional daytime Principal rehearsals, perhaps in London at other times to be mutually agreed. 
• There may also be additional evening Chorus rehearsals in the run-up to the production, where the focus will be entirely on music.  Principals are welcome but not expected.

​Additionally Principals are expected for the following dates in bold in addition to chorus attendance in the schedule below

Rehearsal schedule:
​Sun 08-Jan-17 - Chorus music rehearsal - 2:30pm-5pm
Sun 15-Jan-17 - Chorus music rehearsal - 2:30pm-5pm
Sun 22-Jan-17 - Chorus music rehearsal - 2:30pm-5pm
Sun 29-Jan-17 - Chorus music rehearsal - 2:30pm-5pm
Sun 05-Feb-17 - Production rehearsal - 1pm-5pm
Sun 12-Feb-17 - Production rehearsal - 1pm-5pm
Sun 19-Feb-17 - Chorus music rehearsal - 2:30pm-5pm
Sun 26-Feb-17 - Production rehearsal - 1pm-5pm
Sun 05-Mar-17 - Production rehearsal - 1pm-5pm
Sun 12-Mar-17 - Production rehearsal - 1pm-5pm
Sun 19-Mar-17 - Production rehearsal - 1pm-5pm
Sun 26-Mar-17 - Production rehearsal - 1pm-5pm
Sun 02-Apr-17 - Hell Sunday - 4pm-10pm
Mon 03-Apr-17 - Sitzprobe rehearsal - 7.15pm-10.15pm
Tue 04-Apr-17 - Technical rehearsal - 6pm-10:00pm
Wed 05-Apr-17 - Dress rehearsal 1 - 6pm-10:00pm
Thu 06-Apr-17 - Dress rehearsal 2 - 6pm-10:00pm
Fri 07-Apr-17 - Production night 1 - 6pm-10:30pm (7.30pm curtain-up)
Sat 08-Apr-17 - Production night 2 - 6pm-10:30pm (7.30pm curtain-up)

Audition & rehearsal location

John Taplin Centre, Healey House, 3 Upper Maze Hill, St Leonard's on Sea, East Sussex TN38 0LQ.