Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, America’s leading training ground for professional singers, is celebrating the 90th anniversary of its founding in 1934. The tuition-free school in Center City is observing the milestone in two ways: by continuing to provide a rigorous education for its 23 resident vocal artists and also presenting eight productions throughout the 2024-25 season.

 Under the leadership of Scott Guzielek, president and artistic director of the school, and Christofer Macatsoris, music director chair, AVA continues to excel as a nurturing conduit from the welcoming, insulated world of academia to the admittedly cut-throat reality of professional singing. The school has had so much success that it draws its student body from all around the world.

 Guzielek pointed with pride to AVA’s most recent season. “We’re in a strong position,” he recently told me. “We ended last season in the black through the continued support of our board and our donors and patrons. We reached 99 percent of our ticket-sales goals. We were completely sold out in the Warden Theater here at AVA, and our attendance at the Haverford School’s Centennial Hall is trending upward to approximately 600 for each performance on the Main Line.”

 Guzielek mentioned the smooth transition from music director Christofer Macatsoris regularly conducting productions to his mentoring the young conductors now leading the performances.

 “Chris has been at AVA for 45 years,” he explained. “His legacy here has been incredible. It has benefited the school and all of the vocal artists who have studied here and who have worked with him. He has played an integral part in keeping alive the traditions that have marked AVA for all of its 90 years.

 “Like all small arts schools,” Guzielek continued, “AVA faces tremendous challenges because the world has changed tremendously during these 90 years. But opera is still alive and well, and our audiences come to our performances to see the next generation of great opera singers and our patrons and donors continue to support us generously for that very purpose.”

 Even though AVA is primarily a school and not an opera company, the three productions staged by the academy offer local opera lovers the most consistently fine mountings of standard repertoire operas this side of New York’s Metropolitan Opera Company. Guzielek explained that AVA’s choices of operas each season must meet the challenge of balancing works that function educationally as well and also appeal to the public.

 The first full staging will be of Charles Gounod’s “Faust,” which runs at AVA and on the Main Line Nov. 16 through Dec. 3. Next on the roster is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte” (“Thus Do They All”), Feb. 22 through March 1, 2025. Rounding out the season will be a rarity even for an opera-lover like me: Pietro Mascagni’s “L’amico Fritz,” April 26 through May 6. Mascagni, unfairly, is among those “one-opera wonders” that are known almost exclusively for one exceptionally popular opus. Mascagni’s one-act “Cavalleria rusticana.” (“Rustic Chivalry’) is often paired with another similar work, Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” (Clowns”).

 AVA’s 2024-25 season opens its “New Artists Recital” Thursday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity in Center City. The season continues with the Giargiari Bel Canto Competition Saturday, Oct. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center.

 AVA will open the new year with “Jubilate!” Saturday, Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. in Holy Trinity Church. “BrAVA,” a concert featuring a bevy of superstar alumni, will celebrate AVA’s 90th anniversary, Friday, March 21, at 8 p.m. in Marian Anderson Hall – aptly named after one of America’s greatest opera singers, born right here in Philadelphia. The season’s final concert is the annual “Farewell Recital” for graduating students, Friday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. in Holy Trinity Church.

 The hallmark of AVA’s fully staged productions has always been best captured by the words “energetic” and “enthusiastic.” Of course, the singing is impressive. How could it be otherwise? AVA gets to choose from among the most talented young vocalists in the world. Of course, the staging is inventive. How could it be otherwise considering the small dimensions of its intimate Warden Theater? Of course, the orchestral support is superb. How could it be otherwise considering the abundance of talented players gracing our fair city? The Curtis Institute of Music, alone, could staff the Met’s pit orchestra.

 But above and beyond all of these attributes, ranks the opportunity to hear and see young vocal artists performing the great works of the opera repertoire, often for the first time and always at the start of their careers. What a gift, indeed!

 For more information about the Academy of Vocal Arts, visit avaopera.org.

 You can contact NOTEWORTHY at Michael-caruso@comcast.net.