The Giacomo Meyerbeer Institute is an organization of singers and instrumentalists devoted to music in all its forms. Projects we are now putting together: Elisir d'amore workshop, looking for Dulcamara and Belcore. The group includes the Inwood Opera Workshop and the Spectrum Quartet, which plays everything from the Classics -- Haydn, Boccherini, Mozart, Beethoven -- to Turina and Bartok. For information, call Bill Halsey at (212) 568-0848. Giacomo Meyerbeer Institute: Statement of Purpose The Inwood Opera Workshop is an organization of opera singers designed to promote opera of the Bel Canto era and to develop singers with operatic voices who sing in their correct vocal range with power and agility. We offer guidance and performance opportunities to singers with training at no charge at our location in Northern Manhattan and we also offer private and group vocal training at reasonable rates for singers with desire but no experience in opera in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Call Bill Halsey for information, (212) 568-0848.

Giacomo Meyerbeer was the scion of a prominent Berlin Jewish family who revolutionized grand opera in his day. He worked in Paris for the most important period of his productive life and had a great influence on Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner, Bizet, Massenet and Puccini, among others. He had an intimate knowledge of the human voice, although he didn't sing himself, and he discovered, among others, Jenny Lind. Although he never wrote an opera about a specifically Jewish theme, his French operas, Robert le Diable, Le Prophete, Les Huguenots, Pardon de Ploermel, Etoile du Nord, and L'Africaine, are centered on conflicts of culture and religion, and the fate of the stubborn individual trapped in an alien society. Offerings Don't Call Me Maestro: A book about vocal technique by Pete Peterson Mailorder items: A price list and description of some mailorder items. What type of voice do I have?: A brief explanation of how vocal diagnosis works. Diagnose at your own risk! The Giacomo Meyerbeer Fan Club: An excellent on-line magazine, not connected with the Institute. The Meyerbeer Institute is committed to the idea that in today's world not enough people realize that opera-singing could be for them, especially if they have problematic voices which often indicate that they have big and interesting voices. People who sound good at their first lesson often have the small and overabundant types of voices, whereas the big, balky and lower voices are seriously underrepresented. We are creating gripping musical theater, not pretty inofensive sounds. We are working on a number of projects, including scenes from Massé's Paul et Virginie.