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Voice and Opera
Voice Faculty: Luretta Bybee | Vinson Cole | William
Cotten | Patricia Craig
D'Anna Fortunato | Carole Haber | Karen Holvik | Patricia
Misslin | Michael Meraw | Lorraine Nubar | Mark Pearson | Mark St. Laurent, Chair, Voice and Vocal Pedagogy
Greer Grimsley, Visiting Artist-in-Residence
Opera Faculty: Jean Anderson-Collier | John Greer, Director and Chair of Opera Studies | Gregory Smucker | Timothy Steele | Michael Strauss | Melinda Sullivan | Donald Swanson | Patricia-Maria Weinmann | Daniel Wyneken
Vocal Coaches: Jean Anderson-Collier, Vocal Coaching | Tanya Blaich, Diction, Repertoire, Vocal Coaching | Terry Decima, Repertoire, Vocal Coaching | Damien Francoeur-Krzyzek, Vocal Coaching | John Moriarty, Diction, Repertoire, Vocal Coaching | Cameron Stowe, Repertoire, Vocal Coaching
Opera guest conductors/directors 2003-2009: Beatrice Jona Affron
Tom Diamond | Michael Ehrman | Douglas Kinney Frost | David Gately | Christopher Larkin | Nic Muni | Timothy Myers | Dean Williamson
Download PDF of complete NEC course descriptions
Download PDF of undergraduate program requirements
Download PDF of graduate program requirements
Download PDF of DMA requirements
The Vocal Performance Major
As a vocal performance major you will receive thorough technical training, comprehensive in repertoire and styles from the early Baroque to the present. Your training will be brought to fruition through combined work in the studio, outstanding diction classes, and diverse repertoire classes.
Through studio classes and recitals, faculty will assist you in developing the preparedness and poise requisite for professional public performances. Your class work is augmented with masterclasses taught by such renowned visiting artists as Elly Ameling, Barbara Bonney, Jane Eaglen, Renee Fleming, Hakan Hagegard, Warren Jones, Thomas Quasthoff, and Pierre Vallet.
Through the efforts of all members of the vocal performance faculty, from studio faculty to the combined forces of NEC’s Opera Studies program, you will leave the Conservatory with an education that enables you to meet and exceed the demands placed on you, a young artist in the 21st century.
Vocal Pedagogy
Studies in vocal pedagogy are open to graduate-level students.
For more information, contact Mark St. Laurent.
Opera Studies and the Opera Major (graduate students)
The Opera Studies program is open to all graduate students who wish to participate. Placement and course of study are determined through auditions and individual counseling during Orientation Week. (Find undergraduate info.)
NEC's Opera Studies faculty offer a comprehensive training program for the aspiring singer-actor. This two-year course of study includes regularly scheduled classes in stage movement, diction, stage techniques, stage make-up, and Alexander technique as well as coaching in arias, scenes, and roles.
A training-oriented program, its goals are long-term. Work in the program is intended to provide you with the tools necessary for development that will continue beyond the prescribed course of study. Besides work in the classes, you are encouraged to develop self-reliance in your work, a code of professional behavior, and a sense of professional ethics. Training in audition technique and sessions in resume writing and repertoire selection take place alongside work in scene and role analysis.
Placement and Performance Opportunities in the Opera Program
Although the focus is training, with an eye to the future, public performance is considered an important component of the training plan. The Opera
Workshop usually presents two scenes programs each semester. Opera Studio and Opera Theater concentrate on scene study throughout the year, leading to four
scenes presentations in fall and spring through Perkin Opera Scenes, an endowed program. Two full-length, fully staged productions with
orchestra occur during the academic year. Outreach programs are also performed from time to time, as well as occasional special premieres of works
by NEC composers.
During Orientation Week, you will meet individually with Opera Studies faculty to determine a specific course of study based on previous course work and ability. You are placed in one of three sections: Opera Workshop, Opera Studio, or Opera Theater.
Opera Workshop deals with the basics of stage work and with the coordination of acting and singing. Students in Opera Workshop have performance opportunities in scenes presentations and may serve as chorus in major productions.
Opera Studio offers intensive work in the fundamentals of acting/singing. Members of the Opera Studio often perform secondary roles and chorus in major productions presented by the Department.
Opera Theater is a continuation of Opera Studio with greater emphasis on performance. Members of the Opera Theater perform major roles in presentations by Opera Studies.
Opera for undergraduates
Undergraduates may audition for the Opera Studies program—advanced students may be placed in Opera Workshop (see above). In addition, all undergraduates may take Opera Seminar as an elective and also participate in the NEC Light Opera Company (NECLOC).
Opera Seminar is a two-semester course sequence that concentrates on music preparation with attention to recitative, physical preparation, and theater skills, as well as aria audition techniques. The class prepares in-class and public performances of short opera scenes.
Opera Workshop usually presents two scenes programs each semester.
NEC Light Opera Company (NECLOC), available as an extracurricular elective, offers undergraduates an introduction to performance skills in opera and musical theatre, with acting and voice masterclasses, scenes programs, and fully staged productions.
Some recent graduates of the program
Dean Anthony |
Jill Grove Andrew Krikawa Marquita Lister |
Rod Nelman |