theperformer

I'm visiting The New School in April and would just like to know how competitive it is to be accepted for a Vocal Performance major. Also if the program is really great. Does anyone know?

lorelei2702

There are good teachers there who also teach at the other NYC conservatories. There was an article in a recent Opera News about the fellow in charge of the opera program there...you might want to read that. There are fewer singers applying to Mannes than MSM and Juiliard, but the admission standards are only marginally lower. They want to admit singers with career potential. If you are good enough to be accepted at a school like Indiana or Michigan, you can probably get in to Mannes and/or MSM....and the academic standards are probably less rigid. Juilliard is a much tougher admit, fewer slots, more connections, different world. Good luck.

cartera45

I think Mannes is hard to predict. A friend of my D's got auditions at Curtis, MSM and Juilliard and didn't get past the pre-screening at Mannes.

the_wallflower

Mannes was like that for me too. I got through pre-screening at MSM, NEC, and Peabody but not Mannes (total bummer!).

gdtmsailor

I got into Mannes this year and I was told by my accompanist that 30-35% of people get past pre-screening and that 10 people are then accepted into the BM program. He said that last year of the 10 that were accepted 3 were also accepted to Juilliard and went there, and 2 others were accepted at other schools higheron theirlist so the freshman BM class for voice was 5 students. I was granted auditions at NEC, BoCo, UCLA, Mannes, but not Juilliard. I am in at UCI, and I'm first alternate at UCLA. But they only took one freshman baritone this year and I beleive mannes took two. I don't know how good I am compared to most other peole but I'll let you know about NEC and BoCo so you can gauge admissions compared to those schools

lorelei2702

I know what the singers are in the upper divisions, and what is reported indicates that standards have evolved. Mannes is tough on the theory issues, and that part of the audition experience is an ordeal.

theperformer

thanks so much, guys.

I'm visiting NYC in April and I'm really excited to check these places out. And thank you lorelei2702, I will definetly check out that article.

Just to clarify, Mannes is really tough when it comes to music theory testing at the audition? Could you possibly elaborate?

MusiciansForZ

They are incredibly selective and have recently been ranked with Julliard and Curtis. They've had several Met winners in the past couple of years and their New York Times Reviews of their operas are always very favorable.

This change has only happened in the past 15 years, however, but now that they've adopted the New School name, they've clearly established themselves as a premiere conservatory. It's of course, a very difficult school to get into. Teachers like Arthur Levy and Ruth Falcon are worth the price of attendance alone.

Many of their graduates of this small school immediately perform on World Class Stages, a simple google search will reveal that.

It's clear that Mannes is the school to be at right now.

NYOperaCoach12

Yes, Mannes is definitely one of the best schools in the United States for opera at the moment. It's very small, however, so if you don't get past the prescreening, don't worry. I remember a colleague telling me that 2,000 applied last year (or something high like that). 300 were asked to audition. And 15 were accepted into their graduate program (not all of them attend because of money, other offers, etc...)

So if you didn't get in, you're with quite a handful of others who didn't get in either.

musicamusica

When old threads are resurrected by first time posters, is it because you did an general internet search on Mannes and this CC question from 2008 came up? Just curious.

thumper1

This thread is over two years old. What made today's poster bring it up.

stradmom

Not fair! Someone who comes along and asks a question that's already been addressed here gets a lecture on how to use the search function, and someone else who resurrects an older thread is treated with suspicion.

violindad

Yes, stradmom: I've always assumed that most posts get read by hundreds of people other than the original poster (the stats would seem to suggest that: unless the OP goes back to their post hundreds of times!) and that posts are written, not just for the OP, but also for those hundreds in the future.

Thumper1: I assume that those who posted about Mannes today did so for the benefit of anyone that might be interested in Mannes in the future and searches out the thread (the same reason that most people post here).

glassharmonica

"someone else who resurrects an older thread is treated with suspicion."

I suspect they are spies from other corners of the CC world, embedding secret coded messages in their posts.

violindad

glassharmonica: LOL and waiting for someone to decode the secret messages!