RED BANK – The Count Basie Center for the Arts has announced audition dates for this year’s Basie Center Summer Opera Camp.

This year’s presentation is Then I Stood Up, a one-act youth opera written by Los Angeles Opera playwright Leslie Stevens, which honors the contributions of young people to the Civil Rights movement. The music for the opera was written by Basie Summer Opera Camp instructor Eli Villanueva, the resident stage director for the LA Opera’s acclaimed Education and Community Programs department. This is Villanueva’s third year at the helm of the renowned Basie Center program.

Auditions will be held on Saturday, May 11^th between 10am and 4pm at the Count Basie Center for the Arts, located at 99 Monmouth Street in Red Bank. Students must call 732-224-8778 x 125 to reserve an audition slot, and must prepare a song that’s operatic or gospel in style, or rooted in the golden age of musical theatre.

Students aged 9-17 are eligible to audition.

The camp is held on weekdays from August 5-16 from 9:30am – 4:00pm. A final performance will take place on Saturday, August 17^th at the Jay And Linda Grunin Center for the Arts at Ocean County College.

For more information or to reserve an audition slot, call 732-224-8778 x 125.