Voice
The Voice Department consists of approximately 110 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students, eight private voice teachers, ten individually assigned coach-accompanists, and specialists in diction, pedagogy, and physiology. In addition, situated within walking distance to the San Francisco Opera House and Davies Symphony Hall, students enjoy impromptu visits from many internationally acclaimed artists who come to visit the Conservatory and offer invaluable information in regard to performing and starting a career.
In 2008-2009, two fully staged operas,
The Magic Flute by Mozart and
Orpheus in the Underworld by Offenbach, will be presented along with six additional opera workshop performances. Another Opera Workshop section is the class, "Preparing a Role." The operas for the fall class are cast and will be: Pergolesi's
La serva padrona, Floyd's
Slow Dusk and Menotti's
Old Maid and the Thief. Additional one-act operas for spring semester will be announced at a later date. The ongoing "Art Song as Theater" class offers younger students the opportunity to perform art song in a staged venue. The Baroque Vocal Ensemble will perform Handel's
Rinaldo along with two additional recitals: a fall semester concert of solo songs and madrigals of Monteverdi, Caccini, Peri and other early 17th-century Italian composers, and a spring semester concert which will explore English repertoire of the late 16th- and 17th-centuries, including solo songs, consort songs and madrigals of Dowland, Campion, Byrd, Morley and Lawes, as well as other English masters. This year the fall Musical Theatre production will be either
Urinetown or
The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Master class presenters this year include Sheri Greenwald, Franc D'Ambrosio, Jonathan Khuner, Daniel Helfgot, and Frederica von Stade with others to be announced.
Classes to Visit
· 2 fully-staged, fully costumed operas a year
· 2-3 one-act operas each semester
· 6 evenings of opera scenes each semester
· New Music Ensemble
· 4 evenings of Musical Theater performances
· Annual Vocal Concerto Competition: winner performs with the
Conservatory Orchestra
· Various departmental collaborations including compositions and
chamber music
· Annual Baroque Opera or Oratorio, plus 2 Baroque recitals per
year
· Conservatory Chorus: 2 performances per year including major
works
· Vocal Performance Lab: 2 hr performance class every week with
all vocal students and faculty
· Voice Department Recitals: opportunity to perform on one or
more of eight recitals per year, open to the public
· 1 hr coaching session with personal accompanist every week in
addition to 1 fifty-minute lesson (which the accompanist also
attends)
FACULTY
Voice department
Sylvia Anderson
Catherine Cook
Pamela Fry, Chair
Leroy Kromm
Wendy Hillhouse
Ruby Pleasure
Jane Randolph
César Ulloa
We encourage prospective students to contact the voice faculty to arrange a consultative lesson. The voice faculty and the Office of Music Admission are happy to answer any specific questions that you have about our program.
LINK TO VOICE DEPARTMENT HANDBOOK
LINK TO APPLICATION INFORMATION
LINK TO AUDITION REPERTOIRE