| Juggling mom,
I asked our Eastman/Yale organ scholar this weekend about organ/choral conducting schools in the US and he mentioned Eastman, of course, and Yale School of Music, Institute of Sacred Music (grad program only), and he also mentioned Indiana University (my son applied and was accepted there in Early Music/Vocal performance; he's not entirely sure about a BMus yet, though!) An organ/choral director I met last week went to New England Conservatory, then Yale ISM. Another fabulous organist/choral directors I met graduated from Pacific Lutheran University and went to Yale ISM (I'm sensing a trend...).
Does Oberlin's voice program do other-than-opera? Your visit there must have indicated that. The Oberlin admissions rep at the College Fair for the Performing Arts (we attended in Wash DC this past fall) point blank told my son that Oberlin's vocal program was opera based. So he did not apply. A few months later we met a Yale ISM vocal student who said he did sing early music at Oberlin, so I am guessing the rep may not know the whole story. But it may be worth inquiring about.
The British organ and choral scholars we've known have been to Oxford and, primarily, Cambridge. You probably know all about the differences between US and UK--at Oxbridge, and most other UK schools (as far as I know, which is little!) you study one subject and, if qualified, can be an organ or choral scholar on the side (provides income, takes lots of time). Music studies are quite academic. I know nothing about the music schools, though, like Guildhall and the others. They may be more performance based, not academic like Oxbridge. University of York is another good one for choral scholarship/academics. Organ scholarships are quite competitive, as I think there are a lot more UK teens playing the organ than American. The American organists I've met get a little irked when Brits get posts in American churches!
A caveat--this is all hearsay, as I have no actual experience with this. I wish my son played the organ! |