Applications Open for 2025 Supporting Women and Parents in Opera Retreat

The program provides support, training, and skills development for those new parents who are facing barriers to returning to work as opera singers

Supporting Women and Parents in Opera (SWAP'ra) was established in 2018 to generate more opportunities for women in senior and creative roles in classical music, and to dismantle outdated attitudes towards the compatibility of parenthood and a career in the music industry. 

After the success of its inaugural retreat at Glyndebourne in 2023, Swap'ra has partnered with Britten Pear Arts to hold its next retreat at its Snape Maltings venue in the UK from March 3–7, 2025.

The five-day residential course will provide participants with tools to improve physical and emotional well-being, rebuild confidence to enable self-promotion for future professional opportunities, and develop a community network of parents with similar lived experiences.

Experiences at the retreat will include:

• Sessions with a performance psychology coach.
• Group yoga sessions focussing on core strength rehabilitation.
• Individual coaching sessions.
• Informal discussions with peers who understand the precise pressures and obstacles faced by fellow opera parents.
• Masterclasses led by expert vocal and acting coaches.
• Vocal massage technique workshop.
• Professional recordings of two audition arias that can be used to support your return to auditions and professional engagements.

The course is free of charge for all artists and will provide suitable accommodation for participants, young children, and one partner/grandparent/caregiver.

The SWAP’ra retreat is open to opera singers who are based full-time in the UK, and who were in the final stages of opera training with a promising future career, or had already established a professional career in opera before the birth of their most recent child/children. 

For more information and to apply, click here. Applications will close on October 25, 2024, at 5 PM.