the biggest festival-school from Latin America takes place from January 12 to 25, 2025; Big names in world classical music and MPB participate in the event
The Santa Catarina International Music Festival (Femusc) has just announced the number of subscribers for 2025. More than 1,700 registrations of professional musicians or beginners were registered, a record since the first edition of the event, in 2006. Of this total, 1,084 have completed the registration and will have priority in the evaluation for participation. Registration was open for a month, from August 1st to September 1st. the event, considered the biggest festival-school of classical music from Latin America, It takes place from January 12 to 25 in Jaraguá do Sul, in the northeast of the state of Santa Catarina.
Registration came from 31 countries. From Brazil, the country with the most interested parties, there are 883 candidates from 22 states. Then comes Colombia (182), Argentina (158), Peru (101), Chile (92), Costa Rica (53), Paraguay (52), Mexico (49), Venezuela (29), Uruguay (23), Bolivia (15), Australia (14), Mozambique (12), Ecuador, Guatemala and Guinea Bissau (with 8 each), Honduras, El Salvador and São Tomé and Príncipe (with 7 each), Dominican Republic and Panama (with 5 each), Nicaragua (4), Portugal (3), Germany and the United States (with 2 each). Canada, Italy, Poland, Puerto Rico, Portugal and Spain will be represented by one student each.
For 2025, FEMUSC opened 350 vacancies in intermediate and advanced orchestral instrument workshops (violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, piano, harp, percussion and classical guitar), lyrical singing (soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass), orchestral regency, Brazilian popular music (piano, drums, winds, guitar/guitar, bass, singing and accordion) and 5 spots for string quartets.
In this, which will be the 20th edition of the event, the organizers prepared a special festival with a focus on a tribute to Elis Regina, one of the most prestigious and recognized voices of MPB. Elis would be 80 years old in March 2025. The festival will consist of 600 musicians who will perform around 200 performances, including concerts, string quartets, MPB shows and operas.
Like every year, FEMUSC will have its main stage at SCAR (Sociedade Cultura Artística), but other parts of the city – Shopping, Hospitals São José and Jaraguá, and at the Associação de Elderidades Lar das Flores – They will also feature special sessions by the event’s artists.
According to conductor Alex Klein, founder of Femusc, the experience inside and outside auditoriums is important for those who are starting. “Scar is a place of excellence and there is no musician from Brazil or abroad who does not like to perform there, but we need to ensure that our students know that they will not always be in ideal conditions to play, that from time to time it is important to go to the public where they are instead of waiting for the audience to always come to We, especially in situations where this public is unable to come to concerts, such as hospitals, homes for the elderly, community centers and even the penitentiary,” said the conductor.
FEMUSC 2025 will have more than 50 teachers from 10 nationalities, including renowned such as Maestra Ligia Amadio, popular singing teacher Lívia Nestrovski, the American trombone teacher Abbie Connant and the Bulgarian voice and opera teacher Guenko Guechev. The MPB programming will be coordinated by the pianist, conductor and arranger Marcelo Ghelfi.
Tickets for FEMUSC will be available about two days before the festival starts at the Scar box office. The event is free and free. The main concerts will also be broadcast on the festival’s YouTube channel.
