PSN returns to Alexandria in 2023, offering unique educational and performance opportunities to singers, instrumentalists, and coaching, conducting, stage directing, and arts administration apprentices.
Over the course of an intensive 11-day residency, talented young students from across the country will stage, rehearse and perform a full production of The Magic Flute, receive individual instruction from top faculty, and participate in illuminating masterclasses from guest instructors from eminent cultural institutions.
Performance Opportunities
- Fully staged performances of The Magic Flute, accompanied by string quartet and piano, with professional costumes courtesy of the Castleton Festival
- Two opera performances in the Secret Garden of the historic Rectory on Princess Street, built in 1785 and since June 2020 site of the first and largest post-Covid concert series in the USA
- One opera performance at the Theatre House at the Castleton Festival, founded by legendary conductor Lorin Maazel on his idyllic Virginia estate
- Final performance at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, a breathtaking venue that pays tribute to The Magic Flute’s Masonic origins.
Program Highlights
- Masterclasses on opera and art song literature by specialists from Washington National Opera, the Castleton Festival and other major local cultural institutions
- Instrumental masterclasses by musicians from leading ensembles, such as the National Symphony, Washington National Opera/Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra
- Individual coachings
- Voice lessons
- Intensive staging and music rehearsals – from first run-through on Thursday night to Opening Night on Thursday
- An exhilarating opportunity to demonstrate your preparation and professionalism
- Performances and rehearsals in a vibrant historical town, just minutes from downtown Washington, DC
Our Location
Old Town Alexandria, Virginia
On the Potomac River within eyesight of Washington, D.C., Alexandria, VA is nationally recognized for its rich history and beautifully preserved 18th- and 19th-century architecture. It’s known for its Old Town, with brick sidewalks and well-preserved 18th- and 19th-century buildings. King Street is lined with boutiques, specialty shops and fine restaurants. Old Town is full of small, but fascinating museums, thriving art galleries and places of historic interest, such as Gadsby’s Tavern (where founding fathers dined, now a museum) and Christ Church, which counted George Washington among its many notable parishioners – and for which the Rectory on Princess Street was constructed.
The Rectory on Princess Street
The Rectory, dating from 1785, formerly served as the rectory of the nearby historic Christ Church, once the church of George Washington. The 18th century English garden of the Rectory is a tranquil space complete with its iconic Magnolias. In June 2020, the Rectory’s “Secret Garden” became the site of the first live classical music concerts since the beginning of the pandemic in the United States. Classical Movements has since presented over 90 concerts, featuring musicians from the National Symphony, Metropolitan Opera and Philadelphia Orchestra, and covered and recommended by the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Voice of America, OperaWire, Washingtonian Magazine and more.