My son will be graduating with a vocal performance degree next spring from Northwestern. It’s been a great experience for him. He will also graduate with a certificate from their Music Theater program. He is really wanting to find a graduate program that has strong collaboration between the opera and theater programs because he doesn’t want to have to silo into one path.
Wondering if anyone has any experience in this area and can provide any insight. Thanks.
Oklahoma City University is known for crossover. Arizona State University also has a crossover program. My oldest applied and was accepted to the latter for grad school but ended up somewhere else where it made more financial sense for her.
I would suggest joining this Facebook group and asking there as well: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AcqsZcrQL/
Maybe NYU or Eastman?
The MT program will now be under Jacobs at Indiana University. The Opera program always does one MT performance but not sure how this will change upcoming. Suggest following up with Jacobs to understand proposed collaborations with new arrangement
You have some good advice on schools already. IU has been doing a classical MT show for quite a few years now. You may want to look at the 26/27 season at schools to get an idea of the shows they produce - opera, operetta and classical MT. Some schools will stay very close to the classical opera track. You may want to look for schools that are broadening their seasons.
My D graduated with a Masters in VP 9 years ago so it’s been a while. But she does do “cross over” work. It is not an easy path…but there is really no easy path in performance. Here are a few comments that may help:
Grad school goes super fast. The first year, you are getting acclimated to the program. The second year you are getting out of school. So he should be targeted about what he wants to accomplish. Since my D is not performing at A list opera houses…and doubted that she would…the question was why get a Masters in VP. You do not need a Masters in MT or Theater to perform. For opera houses, they do expect a Masters (but not a doctorate as that is considered an academic degree and questionable for a performer). For my D, the best aspect of the Masters is her ability to teach. That is her bread and butter. If she can teach, she can afford housing, food and life in general. She teaches in her cities primary music school for talented musicians as well as at a high school conservatory (they assisted her to be licensed…since she had a masters that was considered enough) and her own studio. She has been approached to be an adjunct at an LAC in the area (did not interview as it would impact her ability to perform). So, in her case, the Masters has been important.
Will the school still be siloed? Probably. It will be important to look at their season and the teacher to determine the amount of flexibility. This used to drive me nuts. But over time, I have realized what a long game performing is and how much a vocalist needs to learn. The style of singing VP is very different from MT. You can’t flip a switch and go from a classical voice to an MT voice. So if it leans towards classical for now…that can still pay dividends in the future as a teacher.
My D considered the environment surrounding the school. She wanted to get to city where she could start making contacts in Opera, MT and Theater. She went to a less selective school in a city determined to make contacts for after graduation. While she loved classical music (and still does)…she was less than enthusiastic about some of the performance aspects of classical opera (finding little room for experimentation). She had hoped to do a bit more performing outside the school…but again schools have a tendency to want you in their productions. So it didn’t work out as well as she hoped. But after graduation she did not have to move and make new contacts. The school did provide some contacts. Students were told not to expect to get in the opera chorus the first year for the opera company in the city. She actually didn’t sign up for the audition as she was considering something else. A professor called her (he was associated with the opera) and asked why she wasn’t auditioning. Long story short, she started in the opera chorus right after college. She also got a summer gig in a small opera company that auditioned at the school. So it all worked out.
As for getting hired in MT, the VP degree dogged her for years. She got a break within a year but still had to work against the stereotypes of VP degree holders for many years. She is still working her way into Theater (finally getting a call from the top theater for a new works weekend opportunity). Still she is a vocalist and that is what she is hired for. The music directors in the city all know her…and like to hire her particularly for new works as she has a high skill set compared to holders of MT degrees only (note some of the people can really sing in a particular style…so no shade on them).
Over the past 9 years, my D has continued to develop her voice, her sound. She works remotely with a guy in NYC on her voice for MT. When she gets an opera gig (only regional or city wide groups…she’s not at the Met!), she has to get it back in shape for that. So she mainly does “light” opera now and more classical MT…but that is extending out to popular MT now. And she really had to up her game in dance. Luckily she enjoys dance and works with a great group of dancers at a studio. Now she can pick up dance moves quickly. She has always been a pretty good actor (started as a kid) so that’s been fine. Still a VP degree can be looked at as a “park and bark” person not strong in acting or dance. With some companies, you have an extra hurdle to prove yourself against that unfortunate stereotype. Getting MT work on your resume (no matter how humble) will help.
In my D’s case UG and grad school made her an excellent musician with a beautiful voice able to interpret and bring to life complex text and music. After college, she used that training for her launching pad (even did a half year YAP). But over time, on her own, she has had to add MT skills to be more widely employable.
I have always held that being multi-talented is very important to getting performance work…unless you are at the very tippy top of your field. I hope this looong explanation helps in some way.