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 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 intensive training programme enriches your specialist skill set whilst enhancing your employability. 

• The course encompasses a combination of teaching approaches, including one-to-one tuition, coachings, performance platforms, masterclasses and tutorials alongside focused production periods.
• Your year of intense study and performance culminates in a presentation of a core operatic role and 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.
• 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 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.
• During the year, you'll have classes in the main operatic languages - Italian, German and French, with the option to be coached in Czech, Russian, English, Welsh and more. We also run a specialist Recitative Project.