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Applications are invited from talented, early-career singers to participate in a week-long workshop ON seventeenth-century Venetian vespers music by claudio monteverdi and his circle.
Through Duke Chapel, the nonprofit organization Chorworks is offering their summer program “VENETIAN VESPERS – Music by Monteverdi & His Circle” from June 15 to 21, 2026, at Duke University. The workshop is led by Dr. Philip Cave, executive director of Chorworks and conductor-in-residence at Duke Chapel. Those invited to the program will receive a scholarship covering the full cost of tuition and housing (travel not included).
The week comprises:
- Master classes—vocal solo and ensemble coaching
- Coaching—training for conductors and continuo playing and possible future solo engagements at Duke
- Seminars—on the music and its context
- Performances in Duke Chapel and Divinity School—formal and informal concerts with period instrument accompaniment
The application deadline is March 31, 2026. Take the next step:
Applicants will receive their audition results starting the week of April 6. Successful applicants must submit a security deposit within ten days of an offer to secure their place.
Dr. Philip Cave, Director
Dr. Philip Cave is a conductor, educator, singer, and the director of Magnificat.
A chorister from the age of seven, Philip studied music at Oxford University with Simon Preston and David Wulstan, and was a founding member of the Tallis Scholars, with whom he gave over 400 performances. He has performed, toured and recorded with most of the UK’s leading vocal ensembles, including the Hilliard Ensemble, The Sixteen, the English Consort, the King's Consort, and with the Choirs of Christ Church, and New College, Oxford. He has participated in over one hundred professional CD recordings.
As a vocal soloist, he has worked with celebrated conductors including Leonard Bernstein, and at venues including the Beethovenhalle in Bonn and the Sydney Opera House. He has performed across Europe, at the BBC Promenade Concerts in London, and has shared the concert platform with many distinguished musicians, including Sir Peter Pears, Sting, and Sir Paul McCartney.
Philip is founder and conductor of the English vocal ensemble Magnificat, which specializes in the restoration and performance of neglected masterworks of the baroque and renaissance periods. The ensemble has toured and performed in England, Spain, Greece and the United States, and has released over a dozen CD recordings, which have attracted much critical acclaim. He is a recipient of the Byrne Award from the London Handel Society, the Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society, and is an Honorary Fellow of London’s Academy of St. Cecilia.
Philip’s approach to early music is fueled by curiosity and imagination, whether through the restoration of unknown or neglected works, or the reexamination of the familiar. He emphasizes (actually, obsesses about) phrasing and textual expression, and with his background as a singer, encourages the use of vocal colors, timbres, and both bold and subtle nuances.
He is the founder of Chorworks, whose concerts and workshops bring together distinguished faculty and performers to increase the knowledge of early choral repertoire and performing techniques. As Conductor-in-Residence at Duke Chapel, Philip directs choral ensembles and the annual Bach Cantata Series.
For the program, Dr. Cave will be joined by guest artist instructors, including:
For more information, contact Dr. Philip Cave or David Faircloth.