Opera
MMus Opera is a highly focused programme providing opportunities
for performance across a range of operatic styles and theatre settings. We share a close
relationship with Scottish Opera, collaborating annually on a joint production at Glasgow’s Theatre
Royal and Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre and enjoying frequent access to rehearsals, a successful
shadowing scheme and regular coaching from Scottish Opera staff. Each year we also run the Emerging
Artist programme. In partnership with Scottish Opera it’s an opportunity for our graduates to
audition for a year’s full time employment with Scottish Opera following their studies.
Weekly singing lessons and specialized coaching are given a high
priority, developing your artistry in a personal, professional and detailed way. Our approach is
not just what we do with students, but about providing the environment for them to learn for
themselves. At the Conservatoire we provide support, freedom and stimulus to explore your own
creativity and potential. Our focus on reflection encourages you to think about what you’ve
achieved and helps set goals for the year. Process-led opera scene performances are also given in
the studio theatre of the Alexander Gibson Opera School and students may be invited to take roles
in fully-staged productions in the Conservatoire’s New Athenaeum Theatre.
In
BMus Vocal Performance you’ll see the many benefits of
studying at the Conservatoire as a singer, including masterclasses, professional collaborations and
working with our International Fellow Jane Eaglen. There are also additional opportunities for
performance including the prestigious Song Studio, exploring art song repertoire across Scotland,
and the critically acclaimed Plug, an annual festival of new work. In recent years our MMus Opera
students have also performed at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall conducted by Donald
Runnicles. At the Conservatoire Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Bayreuther Festspiele, Independent
Opera at Sadlers’ Wells, British Youth Opera and the Britten Pears School all audition
annually.
There have been in the last few years major collaborations with
the Conservatoires of St Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don, the Norgesmusikhøgskole in Oslo, and the
Universität der darstellende Kunst, Berlin. The MMus Opera has an enviable record of successful
placement of its alumni in opera houses throughout the world, and companies report that they find
the singers particularly well-prepared for the profession following the training outlined
below.
Programme Content
We believe our Masters programme will refine and extend your
specialized Opera skills, while maintaining the versatility needed to build a professional career.
Together with Head of Opera you’ll agree a learning contract which sets out a unique programme of
study; including performance opportunities, elective options and personal goals for the year ahead.
We also encourage high levels of reflection enabling you to become independent learners and
thoughtful, well-rounded musicians.
To achieve this our Masters programme is divided into Principal
Study, Supporting Studies, and Integrative Studies, with the option to take a number of Electives
allowing you to create your own individual style and personality.
Principal Study
Your Principal Study will enable you to develop technical and
expressive mastery in all aspects of being an opera singer. Ensuring you meet the demands of an
operatic career, you will develop a range of technical, musical and linguistic skills, with the
emphasis moving towards greater independence and self-reliance. A substantial focus will be on
identifying problems yourself and the means of solving them. During individual lessons, flexibility
is encouraged and you may decide to have lessons with different teachers according to the demands
of the repertoire and your own particular requirements.
Supporting Studies
Your Supporting Studies will provide a range of experiences and
classes to support your Principal Study and develop a mature musical personality. This will include
involvement in Conservatoire performances, one to one specialised coaching, language study,
performance classes, masterclasses, acting, movement, dance, audition classes, alexander technique,
concert classes and observation of full company rehearsals and professional opera
performances.
Integrative Studies
Integrative Studies will focus on your approach to study, your
interaction with peers and tutors and a reflection of development and next steps. Graduate seminars
will therefore center on skills, techniques and understandings that inform musical development and
will incorporate the School’s diverse Research Colloquia, including a series of invited speakers on
major artistic issues. In bringing the whole postgraduate cohort together, you will be able to
explore individual areas of specialism within a wider musical and intellectual context. Based on
these seminars you will contribute to online discussions and the following will be required for
your work in general:
-
A Reflective Practice Journal of up to 4,000 words to focus on your working processes, showing a
breadth and depth of reflection.
-
A Documentation Project focusing in detail on an aspect of your work which might include weekly
recordings of music studied, annotated scores of a role learned, extracts from different editions
consulted, discographies of recordings listened to etc.
-
A Professional Portfolio to show your next anticipated steps following graduation.
Electives
There are a number of electives available which allow you to
choose your own pathway through the Masters Programme. Some of these include Arts Administration
and Management for Performers and Composers, Community Music, Introduction to Opera Directing,
Introduction to Electroacoustic Composition, Music Pedagogy, Rehearsal Techniques and Directing,
Sound Recording and Ethnography of Performance.
Behind the scenes
An exclusive look at footage from the final dress rehearsal of our 2011 Hansel and Gretel opera. In this iconic scene the Witch prepares to cook the children in her oven (designed as the engine of an ice-cream van) but the tables are turned on her at the last minute. We had a double cast with the part of the Witch played by a male (Jackob Holze Johansen) and female (Jane Evelyn) singer on alternate nights.
Or take a look behind the scenes at our January production of Prokofiev's Betrothal in a Monastery.
