Vocal Performance

The Department of Music offers a Master of Music degree in voice to singers interested in a broad-based preparation for careers in performance and teaching. The M.M. degree in voice has at its core voice lessons, coachings, and participation in the opera workshop. Surrounding these activities are a wide range of classes in pedagogy, literature, and diction, as well as in theory and history. The aim is to equip our graduates to be complete singers, having developed their critical faculties and their knowledge as well as their artistry.

The goal of curriculum is to approach technique and repertoire from an intelligent and informed perspective. In addition to vocal studies, opera and concert performance, and courses in diction, vocal literature and pedagogy, three semesters of theory and/or music history are required. Students are prepared for a performance career or to continue toward the D.M.A. in performance.

The outstanding full-time performance faculty are joined by a large complement of part-time faculty, most of whom are members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Performing opportunities are plentiful, encompassing the entire range of solo, chamber and ensemble performance for voice and instruments. The Washington University Opera performs at the end of each semester with a major production in the spring. Its production of Suor Angelica won first prize in the National Opera Association's annual competition in 1995.