Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Professional Practice (Opera)

When joining the David Seligman Opera School, operatic performance will be the foundation of your experience. The majority of your study will centre on public performance in fully staged opera, involving periods of intense preparation and rehearsal.  

Through our strong ties with industry, you’ll be immersed in a professional operatic company environment from early on in your course. Working as part of the David Seligman Opera School,  you will also have opportunities to observe and shadow selected WNO activities.  

Through a range of teaching approaches in an inspiring conservatoire setting, you’ll develop a mastery of the essential skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in today’s opera industry.  

The list of operas performed recently has been varied and challenging:

• Handel, Alcina, sung in Italian, performed with orchestra; cond./continuo James Southall, dir. Sophie Gilpin.

• Offenbach, Orpheus in the Underworld, singing and dialogue in English, performed with orchestra in the arrangement by Tony Burke; cond. David Jones, dir. Matthew Eberhardt.

• Double bill of Salieri, Prima la musica, poi le parole (in English), and Menotti, The Medium. Performed with a medium-sized piano/woodwind chamber ensemble; cond./piano James Southall, dir. Hannah Noone.

• Mozart, Don Giovanni K.527, sung in Italian, performed with orchestra; cond./hpsch James Southall, dir. Isabelle Kettle.

• Britten, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed in a special version for piano and two percussionists; piano/cond. James Southall, dir. Matthew Eberhardt.

• Double bill of Puccini, Gianni Schicchi, and Respighi, La bella dormente nel bosco (Sleeping Beauty), sung in Italian, performed with orchestra; cond. Carlo Rizzi, dir. Caroline Clegg.

• Humperdinck, Hänsel und Gretel, sung in German, performed in the arrangement by David Seaman for five instruments; piano/cond. James Southall, dir. Deborah Cohen.

• Poulenc, The Dialogues of the Carmelites, sung in English, performed with orchestra; cond. James Southall, dir. Rachael Hewer.

• The 12–month training encompasses a combination of teaching approaches that enrich your specialist skills, while enhancing your employability – one-to-one tuition, coaching, groupwork, tutorials, lectures, seminars, practical classes and workshops alongside focused production periods.
• Your programme of study won’t adhere to any single methodology or philosophy – instead, it brings many influences and approaches to your work so you can grow confident in identifying and understanding your own artistic vision.
• You’ll learn professional operatic working practices with professional directors and repetiteurs, offering you insight into the inner workings of the industry and building familiarity with the operatic environment.
• Our partnerships with the industry offer you opportunities to collaborate directly with Welsh National Opera. The highlight of this collaboration is the WNO/RWCMD Opera Gala where the singers of the David Seligman Opera School are joined onstage in our stunning Dora Stoutzker Hall by the Orchestra of WNO. The gala is performed twice (on consecutive nights) and is attended by industry professionals, as are all of the opera school's performances across the year. 
• Our impressive list of tutors includes renowned vocal soloists and distinguished coaches. They offer you not only first-rate teaching, but mentorship and networking opportunities as well.
• You’ll balance your individual tuition with fully integrated classes in stagecraft, which include movement and dance, and tuition in dramatic and interpretive skills.
• During the year, you'll have classes in the main operatic languages - Italian, German and French. Performing is integral to your training on the Opera Course here at RWCMD. Your first public performance will be two showings on consecutive nights of a full set of Opera Scenes with piano. As a cohort, you then go straight into preparation for the WNO/RWCMD Opera Gala - again performed twice on consecutive nights in the College's stunning Dora Stoutzker Hall. This is a fantastic evening of music where singers from the David Seligman Opera School are joined onstage by the wonderful Orchestra of Welsh National Opera.
• The spring and summer term both focus on fully-staged productions of full-length operas with orchestra, and the approach is exactly as you would find in the industry with dedicated music calls preceding a month-long production period in the studio. The final weeks - Sitzprobe, Stage/Pianos & Stage/Orchestras, Dress rehearsals are again exactly as you would experience in the industry thereby giving you a first-hand experience of the stamina and pacing required.
• All of our productions are directed and conducted by professionals who are experts in their sphere, so that you are constantly experiencing a sense of what it is to work at the highest level.
• Furthermore, all of our performances are attended by a wide range of industry professionals, helping you to be seen and heard by those active in the casting profession.
• Your year of intense study and performance culminates in a two-part module which involves both a presentation of a complete operatic role and a presentation of an audition package. These are assessed by a very distinguished panel of industry professionals, which include an eminent coach from a national opera company, a head of casting at a UK opera company and an agent from one of the top classical agencies in the UK.