Master’s Degree in Opera Singing

Training Profile: Master’s Degree in Opera Singing

The master's degree forms a second additional professional qualification for the course of study, in which the bachelor's degree curriculum is deepened and additional subjects added, leading to readiness for the stage.

The master's degree examination serves to demonstrate high artistic skills in the areas of music, scene work, and history and aesthetics of musical theater, all required for the opera singing profession.

It is assumed that students have worked intensively on the operatic repertoire before the master's degree by studying roles in the appropriate vocal register and/or singing solo parts in opera productions. It is expected that students will be able to independently grasp an opera role in all its complexity and that by the end of their studies, they will have mastered at least six parts in the vocal register that have been studied and memorized.

Among prerequisites for achieving stage maturity are stylistic certainty in old and new music, conceptual thinking, stage presence, nuanced acting, willingness to experiment, and the ability to relate music to other arts. By performing solo roles in different IMT productions, students gain stage experience.

Parallel training at the Baden State Theater Karlsruhe International Opera Studio may be possible after a successful audition.

Master of Arts Training Course

The standard period of study for the Master of Arts Training Course in Opera Singing is four semesters.

The course is divided into modules and sub-modules (see exam regulations § 4 and the study plan). Completing a module section through proof of performance, certification, or exam is the prerequisite for advacing to the next module section of the course.

In the four semesters of the Master of Arts Training Course in Opera Singing, in addition to vocal training, students are taught musical and stage performance subjects at an advanced level. The focus is on musical and stage rehearsal of specialized roles, acting and audition training, and participating in opera productions.

Overview of Subjects for the Master of Arts Training Course in Opera Singing:

• Singing
• Vocal coaching and role study
• Musical ensembles
• Basic stage training / improvisation (required/ elective for the Master of Arts course *)
• Stage improvisation for advanced students (required/ elective for the Master of Arts course *)
• Staging arias and and ensemble work
• Recitative training (required/ elective for the Master of Arts course *)
• Dialogue studies (required/ elective for the Master of Arts course *)
• Acting training
• Auditioning
• Project work
• Speech training
• Phonetics (elective subject for the Master of Arts course *)
• Italian and French
• Body training
• Dance (required/ elective for the Master of Arts course *)
• Italian
• History, aesthetics, and artistic practice of music theater
• Courses: professional counseling, interdisciplinary projects, stage law, stage fighting including fencing, stage makeup.

* = See the curriculum for the Master of Arts Training Course in Opera Singing

The professional competence sought in the Master of Arts Training Course in Opera Singing:

• A highly trained, technically secure, and individually characterized voice.
• Consistency between the vocal casting of a role and physical requirements for its representation. Differentiated mastery of genre roles of different levels of difficulty, including knowledge of early music performance practice as well as contemporary vowel and notation techniques. Spiritual penetration of roles, ability to independently develop genre roles according to the work’s entire context as well as historical and sociocultural setting. Thorough comprehension, flexibility, and creative thinking,  strong stage presence, openly creative handling of musical and scenic requirements, and artistic maturity.