When Guy Joosten (theatre and opera director), Marc Clémeur (then Manager of the Vlaamse Opera) and Herman Mariën (then head of Dramatic Art, Music and Dance at the Antwerp Conservatory), took the initiative to found Flanders Operastudio Vlaanderen in 1998, they responded to a long-time need, namely the founding of a post-high school training for opera singers. With this specialized complement to the basic training already in existence, the Operastudio filled a position which provides a bridge between training and the professional world of opera and music theatre. The training functions as a springboard into building professional experience in opera singing. It is an intensive course, but the students are afforded sufficient freedom to develop in a direction which they map out for themselves, in consultation with their teachers. The students receive individual guidance, which breaks through the training within the standard school structure and allows the personal career to germinate.
Operastudio Flanders' mission is more up-to-date than similar initiatives abroad, which are either integrated into an opera house or part of a training institute. Flanders Operastudio Vlaanderen has an autonomous artistic and educational function.
In addition to the coörperation it already enjoys with the Vlaamse Opera and the Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels Conservatories, new collaborations have emerged with (foreign) institutes and courses, cultural organizers and musical ensembles: Het SPECTRA Ensemble, Stadsschouwburg Brugge, Vrijstaat-o., Jeugd en Muziek Orkest, Orpheus-Instituut,... This also shows the studio's multi-disciplinary character. By organizing concerts, recitals, public courses and different kinds of productions the Operastudio hopes to appeal to new, young target groups. The candidates come from university-level musical training or from a tertiary artistic training, and equivalent levels abroad. They are selected by the Operastudio as students through international auditions. Flanders Operastudio Vlaanderen offers a one year specialized training to young singers and accompanist-repetiteurs of all nationalities who are either students or at the start of their professional career.