Program Overview

Voice

We develop young singers through vocal coaching, diction and language, pedagogy classes, and operatic, song, and chamber music study. Students will gain confidence, performance acumen, auditioning skills, and artistry across a broad repertoire. Voice students have many performance opportunities including fully staged opera productions presented in original languages, choral ensembles, and solo appearances with instrumental ensembles. We prepare students for exceptional careers in opera, oratorio, recital, early music, and the music of today. Qualified advanced students may earn the Artist Diploma in vocal studies.

soprano soloist with chamber orchestra — Soprano and Concerto Competition winner Amber Monroe ’17 performs with the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in Ricky Gordon’s "and flowers pick themselves."

Photo credit: Yevhen Gulenko

Program Facts

Program Type: Major, Minor
- Bachelor of Music (BM)
- Artist Diploma (ADip)
Division: Vocal Studies

Voice Department Chair

Timothy LeFebvre,
Professor of Voice

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opera theater show hansel and gretel with hansel and witch — Oberlin Conservatory students perform in Opera Theater’s Hänsel und Gretel in Hall Auditorium.

Photo credit: Yevhen Gulenko

Performance Opportunities

Choirs, vocal chamber music ensembles, and opera scenes and full-scale productions are the main performing avenues for vocal studies students. Oberlin Opera Theater presents two major productions with orchestra each year. Recent main-stage productions have included Le nozze di Figaro, Cendrillon, Street Scene, and The Turn of the Screw. Small-scale operas and new works are presented in both traditional and nontraditional venues during Winter Term. Those productions are also opportunities for students to experience what it's like to direct, create scenery and costumes, and serve as dramaturg. Recent productions include Du Yun's Pulitzer Prize-winning Angel's Bone and Missy Mazzolli's Proving Up. Students enrolled in opera classes also present performances of major opera scenes each semester.

Performance Ensembles

Voice Faculty

The core of singing is to express emotionally with great authenticity both who that performer is—that particular singer on the stage—but also the character that he or she is embodying.

Lorraine Manz, Professor of Voice

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