Guildhall School of Music & Drama · Full-time
Opera Making and Writing
In association with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden This Masters programme allows composers and writers to focus on how new opera is created, developed and performed. Part of an exciting partnership between Guildhall School and the Royal Opera House, the…
Masters1 yearFull-time
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Music
In association with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden This Masters programme allows composers and writers to focus on how new opera is created, developed and performed. Part of an exciting partnership between Guildhall School and the Royal Opera House, the programme centres around the creation of a 25-minute chamber opera which is fully staged in Milton Court Studio Theatre. The programme admits three composers and three writers each year. During an initial induction module, students pair up into composer-writer teams. Each team develops a short opera scene, before going on to create full chamber operas. Two smaller projects allow you to follow your own creative pathway: in poetry, prose, dramatic or film script (writers), and in vocal or instrumental/ electronic works (composers). The programme focuses on the collaborative nature of opera making, and each composerwriter team is supported by collaborative mentoring. Students also take part in one-to-one tutorials, production seminars and creative development workshops. The programme is led by Julian Philips (Head of Composition) Stephen Plaice (Writer-in-Residence), Toby Young (Professor of Composition) and director and writer Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh. Teaching is enriched through regular seminars with visiting professionals from the opera world including conductors and directors, singers and instrumentalists, designers and stage managers The programme collaborates closely with Guildhall’s award-winning Opera Department, led by Dominic Wheeler, with Guildhall opera singers forming the cast for the chamber operas created by composer-writer teams. Practical experience of opera during the year is hugely augmented by the programme’s association with the Royal Opera House, which provides opportunities to see productions in rehearsal and performance, and to meet and network with key resident and visiting practitioners.
Getting in
As the university states it
The minimum entry requirement for applicants is an upper second class honours degree in music with a composition specialism (for composers) or arts specialism (for writers). Applications will be considered from students with other degrees, provided the quality of their work is equivalent to the expected academic standards for this level 7 programme. Applicants to the composition pathway will be expected to submit a portfolio of three compositions - minimum duration of four to six minutes per piece - (with recordings). Applicants for the writer pathway will be expected to submit a portfolio of writing – 15 poems or 5000 words of prose, or dramatic script (up to 30 pages).
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Course details as published by the university. No graduate-outcome statistics are published for UK postgraduate courses, so none are shown.