A new group of young artists—singers, collaborative pianists, and stage direction assistants—has begun their period of training and professional development at the Teatro Real. Among the participants, aged 22 to 32, there are 12 singers from eight countries: Germany, Colombia, Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, Romania, and Venezuela. Crescendo is a program overseen by the Fundación Amigos del Teatro Real that aims to complete the academic training of young artists in the field of opera.

This week marks the start of the sixth edition of Crescendo, a program supported by the Fundación Amigos del Teatro Real that seeks to supplement the academic training of young artists in the opera world and help advance their professional careers through workshops, master classes, and participation in artistic activities at the Teatro Real. Among the 18 selected participants, aged 22 to 32 and chosen from over 250 applicants, there are 12 singers—4 sopranos, 3 mezzosopranos, 1 tenor, 3 baritones, and 1 countertenor—alongside 3 pianists and 3 stage direction assistants from Germany, Colombia, Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, Romania, and Venezuela.

Over the course of three months, from March 3 to May 13, the young artists will take part in interpretation workshops, lyric staging sessions, vocal coaching, emotional well‑being seminars, cultural law, personal branding and social media workshops, media communication coaching, and other sessions designed specifically for collaborative pianists and stage direction assistants. Additionally, they will have access to voice master classes with artists associated with the Teatro Real season, such as Jacques Imbrailo, Ketevan Kemoklidze, Sabina Puértolas, Saioa Hernández, and Francesco Pio Galasso.

Participants will also attend rehearsals for the operas A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Bartered Bride, which premiere at the Real on March 10 and April 14, respectively. The program will culminate in a concert in the Teatro Real’s Main Hall on July 19.

Crescendo, created in 2021 to ease the loneliness and despair of young singers during the pandemic, has grown over these five years thanks to the enthusiasm of its participants and the support of its patrons. The program has expanded to include other disciplines connected to the world of opera, such as the training of collaborative pianists and stage direction assistants. With these additions, the training program has diversified, allowing dialogue between musical, theatrical, and dramaturgical worlds.

At the same time, Crescendo aims to serve as a real bridge to the professional world, offering young artists performance opportunities in various projects and activities at the Teatro Real, such as the Enfoques sessions, the Carroza del Teatro Real, productions at the Real Teatro de Retiro, and other events within the theater’s programming. In the previous edition alone, students benefited from more than 150 professional contracts.

Civil society involvement in supporting the project has also grown, with the recent creation of the F.E.R. Scholarships for young talent. These scholarships were established with the collaboration of Fernando Encinar, a prominent member of the Amigos del Teatro Real Council, who now joins the project as a patron.

The sixth edition of Crescendo will culminate in a concert in the Main Hall of the Teatro Real on July 19, but this will not mark the end of these young artists’ connection to the Teatro Real family. They will remain linked to it forever through their artistic, technical, and emotional training, just as has happened with the artists from the previous five editions.