Supporting Emerging Dramatic Voices & Classical Conductors
Established in 1981, The Olga Forrai Foundation has provided support for the career development of exceptionally large, dramatic voices and classical music conductors for 40 years. The Olga Forrai Foundation grant recipients have performed on the great operatic stages and concert halls around the world. To date, The Olga Forrai Foundation has awarded over 245 grants totaling more than $900,000.
Who can apply for a grant?
Singing applicants must possess a large, dramatic voice suitable to the works of Wagner, Verdi, Strauss, Puccini, and similar verismo composers. A signed contract for a professional performance of a role new to your dramatic operatic or concert repertoire is also required. Singers may also apply for grants for confirmed audition tours.
Conductor applicants contracted to conduct a professional performance of a full-scale opera, a choral work with orchestra and soloists, or a symphonic work with soloists in the dramatic repertoire.
Successful applicants will be emerging artists who have demonstrated exceptional talent in the performance of their art at the professional level and have completed basic musical studies at a conservatory, university, or have equivalent musical training and experience.
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Grant Application
Learn more about the process and eligibility requirements.
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Grantees
See our portfolio of artists who have received grants.
“The Olga Forrai Foundation aided my career at just the right moment. Though I had sufficient talent and lots of drive, opera companies simply didn’t want to take a chance on my dramatic voice, because of my youth. The support offered by the Foundation helped me to get the coaching, lessons, and supplies essential to my success. Now in my 5th and final year of grant eligibility, I look back on this half-decade with humility and immense gratitude for the Foundation’s generosity. ”
Where are Grantees performing?
See if they are performing in a location near you.
"Olga Forrai was a personality one could only compare with Teresa Stratas or Maria Callas, a singing actress with a voice of great reach, from mezzo to high soprano. She didn't fit into any category; she was like the great artists of the mid-19th century, such as Maria Malibran."
- Peter Herman Adler, Founding Artistic Advisor