When: From 8:00 AM on June 2 to 9:00 PM on June 7, 2025
Artistic Director: João MacDowell
Music Director: Elen Ortiz
Featuring:
- Soprano Laiana de Oliveira
- Paloma Pitaya Ensemble (led by Violinist Paloma Pitaya)
Hosted by the International Brazilian Opera Institute (IBOC)
In partnership with Casa Nobre Cultural Institute at Guarda do Embaú, Santa Catarina – Brazil
Immerse Yourself in Composition
Experience a unique contemporary opera composition workshop in one of Brazil’s most breathtaking natural settings. Wake up to the sound of whales mating in the bay, and enjoy state-of-the-art grand pianos for your practice and composition sessions. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compose and collaborate while surrounded by tropical beauty.
IBOC-Guarda Ensemble Faculty
- João MacDowell – Professor
- Elen Ortiz – Music Director & Conductor
- Laiana de Oliveira – Soprano
- Paloma Pitaya – 1st Violin & Ensemble Director
The New Shapes of Vocal Music: Composing for the Contemporary Opera Scene
Summer Workshop: “The Whale Songs”
June 2–7, 2025
This special season is when whales come to mate in the Bay at Guarda do Embaú. You’ll engage with a vibrant community of musicians eager to explore new approaches to composition. Selected composers will have their works performed in the final concert.
Focus Areas:
- Structural planning for opera and other long-form genres
- Vocal characteristics in the contemporary opera setting
- Polyharmonic and polycultural writing
- From small to large: thematic writing and large-scale composition
- Opera and collaboration
- The opera composer as a cultural force
- Strategies for conceptualizing, demoing, workshopping, and premiering productions
Participants will develop skills in:
- Melodic writing and text setting for voice
- Harmonic development and rhythmic structuring
- Expansive forms and notation standards
- Software strategies for organizing large scores
- Techniques for remote recording, electronic demos, virtual orchestra, and tempo mapping
- Self-criticism and revision
Registration & Fees
- Fee (International Students): $2,100
- Early Bird Rate: $1,900 (through March 31, 2025)
- Fee (Brazilian Students): R$ 2.500,00
- Deadline to Apply: July 5, 2024 (rolling admissions)
- Housing and Breakfast Included (Other meals and transportation not included)
Additional Info
- Classes will be taught in English and Portuguese.
- For adults only; exceptional students 10+ may be considered case by case, with parental consent and supervision for those under 18.
- Questions: contact@brazilianopera.com
- Apply Now: Registration Form
- Websites: brazilianopera.com | iboc.nyc
LIMITED SLOTS ARE AVAILABLE!
International Applications are welcome.
Brazil Visa for short-term stays can be obtained online:
You will need to fly to Florianopolis Airport: FLN. From there, you will need a car (Uber at U$20 average) or a bus to Guarda do Embau.
Classes will be held in English and Portuguese.
The course is for adults. Exceptional students aged ten and up will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Students under 18 must have parent or guardian authorization and be dropped off and picked up to class by a responsible adult.
Questions: contact@brazilianopera.com
Prerequisites
- Basic knowledge of music notation and production software
- Some experience as a composer and/or arranger
- Composers who wish to submit vocal works for consideration for the final concert must submit an initial draft for feedback by May 1st.
Maximize Your Creative Potential
Secure your spot now for the 4th Composition Immersion at Guarda and elevate your compositional voice in a nurturing, inspirational environment. We look forward to welcoming you to this tropical paradise for a transformative musical journey!
Check this playlist with works from previous IBOC Composition Workshops:
Bibliography
MacDowell, João: Polyharmony and Consonance – An Architectural Approach to Contemporary Large-scale Composition (work in progress).
Persichetti, Vincent: Twentieth-Century Harmony, Creative Aspects and Practice. W. W. Norton & Company INC. New York © 1961.
Partch, Harry. The Genesis of Music. 2nd edition. Da Capo Press. New York, 1974.
Ulehla, Ludmila. Contemporary Harmony. Advance Music. New York. 1995.
Tymoczko, Dmitri. A Geometry of Music: Harmony and Counterpoint in the Extended Common Practice (Oxford studies in music theory). Oxford University Press, Inc. © 2011.
João MacDowell – IBOC Artistic Director – I will be teaching the course.
“a new thinker in the genre” (Johanna Paulsson, Dagens Nyheter)
The Brazilian composer has a career that spans from punk to opera. Performances include programs with the Metropolitan Opera NY and the New York Opera Alliance. João MacDowell grew up under the military dictatorship in Brazil in a family of artists and educators. As a child, he was in close contact with groundbreaking theater thinkers, such as Augusto Boal and José Celso Martinez Corrêa; this exposure culminated in the practice that he calls “Opera of the Oppressed.” João had his first Symphony premiered by the National Orchestra of Brasilia and is the author of five operas, including Tamanduá (Boston Metropolitan Opera Award), Plastic Flowers, and The Seventh Seal with libretto by Ingmar Bergman. Awarded twice with Ingmar Bergman Estate residencies, the closing act for the opening ceremony for the Bergman Centennial, Fårö 2018. The Seventh Seal opera concert premiered in Stockholm’s Modern Art Museum (Moderna) and in Sao Paulo, with the Tatuí Conservatory. Since 2013, MacDowell has served as Artistic Director for the International Brazilian Opera Company. Other works include chamber, electronic, choral, soundtrack, and song.
Elen Ortiz – Casa Nobre music director and conductor.
With over a decade of experience in social projects, Ele Ortiz is a music educator and conductor. Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Cláudio Antonio Esteves at UFSM, she served as assistant conductor from 2019 to 2022 in the UFSM Chamber Choir and also sang as an alto. She was the Choirs and Orchestras Coordinator at the Orquestrando Arte Association from 2015 to 2019. She has participated in numerous intensive conducting courses with conductors from different countries, including Roberto Tubaro (Spain), Linus Lerner (Brazil), Márcio Buzzato (Brazil), Lígia Amadio (Brazil), Hanz Petter (Germany), Vladimir Silva (Brazil), and Erick Starck (USA). She is part of the International Women Conductors Movement and currently leads the Orchestra at the Casa Nobre Institute.
Laiana de Oliveira
– Soprano, composer
Laiana de Oliveira is a lyric singer and vocal artist, with a career dedicated to both traditional concert music and contemporary, experimental productions. At the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, she has performed as a soloist in works such as Von Heute auf Morgen by Arnold Schoenberg and Mass by Leonard Bernstein, among other productions. She is also part of the programming at Theatro São Pedro, where she performs as a soloist in the Atelier de Criação Lírica project—focused on staging operas by emerging composers and librettists—as well as in recitals.
Her portfolio includes participation in highly significant events: she was invited as a singer and composer to the 23rd Amazonas Opera Festival, performed as a soloist at the commemorative concert for FAPESP’s 60th anniversary at Sala São Paulo, and participated in the 13th International Music Festival of Campina Grande (FIMUS). Recognizing her talent, she received awards at the 15th Maria Callas Brazilian Singing Competition and an honorable mention at the 2021 Linus Lerner International Singing Competition.
Internationally, she has honed her expertise in experimental vocality with Tony Arnold at the SoundSCAPE Festival, Juliet Fraser and Elaine Mitchener at the Darmstadt Ferienkurse, and Sarah Maria Sun at the John Cage Workshop. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Musical Composition from the Federal University of Goiás (UFG), a Master’s and a Doctorate in Musical Composition from the University of Campinas (Unicamp).
Laiana also developed the Solfejo sem Medo (Fearless Sight-Singing) method, aimed at helping singers improve their music reading skills. Her work represents a blend of solid academic training and ongoing exploration of innovative vocal techniques, resulting in a career marked by artistic versatility and dedication to musical innovation.
Paloma Pitaya – composer, ensemble director, violin
Brazilian violinist and composer Paloma Pitaya gained recognition for her musical achievements. She completed her technical course at the Osesp Music Academy (SP|2021-23), touring the United States with Osesp and performing at Carnegie Hall. Specializing in performance and chamber music, she attended the Galamian International Academy (ES|2018-19). Pitaya holds a bachelor’s degree in violin from the Federal University of Santa Maria (RS|2012-16). As a resident composer at the Fundación Antonio Gala para Jóvenes Creadores (ES|2020-21), she authored a book of 13 Brazilian caprices for solo violin titled “Caprichoso Brasil.” In 2023, she won the Professionals of Music Award for Best Instrumental Author and was a finalist for the TOCA Composer’s Award. Professionally, she has played in orchestras and chamber groups in Brazil and Germany. Currently residing in São Paulo, she is one of the 12 composers selected for Gabriela Ortiz’s Composition Studio at the OAcademy Conservatory.
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