Vocal Studies

Teaching

Teachers within the Vocal Studies Department are dedicated to helping you achieve the highest possible technical security and artistic achievement. With their extensive experience as international performers and practitioners, our vocal teachers and coaches will enable you to develop excellent performance skills, musical versatility and accomplishment, supported by detailed knowledge and understanding of vocal repertoire across the ages.

View all Vocal Studies teaching staff

You will receive weekly individual vocal lessons and coaching, in addition to participating in a wide range of departmental classes. Weekly classes for classical singers include phonetics-based language classes, song classes, stagecraft, workshops, opera and performance tutorials.

Performance

Vocal students at Trinity Laban are never short of opportunities to perform, and we encourage you to give solo recitals, take part in departmental and external competitions, sing in one or more of our many ensembles or explore more operatic avenues, depending on your preferred vocal direction. You will have regular opportunities to perform in the stunning Old Royal Naval College Chapel and St Alfege Church in Greenwich, as well as at Blackheath Halls.

Opera

Each year, we will present two opera productions along with two series of opera scenes. As we believe that opera performance skills are core for a range of genres, we offer classes and masterclasses to all vocal students in Stagecraft, Speech, Diction and Dialogue, Physical Expression, Combat Techniques and Stylistic Awareness. Our repertoire is wide-ranging and recent. Recent and upcoming productions include Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Summer 2017); Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (Summer 2018) and Thea Musgrave’s A Christmas Carol (Winter 2018).

Trinity Laban Opera

Ensembles

Performing in our many ensembles will ensure you develop an understanding of musical styles from Renaissance and Baroque to contemporary music, an area of particular specialism here.

Our opera and music theatre productions provide exceptional ensemble experience, and our Chamber Choir, Chorus and specialist vocal ensemble Rubythroat provide outstanding training for the profession. You will also be encouraged to develop your own ensembles, collaborate with our keyboard students, and to work alongside small ensembles of instrumentalists from across our programmes of study.

Find out more about Music Performance Opportunities.

Chapel Choir

We are the world’s only specialist conservatoire with a collegiate chapel choir. The extraordinary environment of the Old Royal Naval College Chapel and its esteemed Director of Music, Dr Ralph Allwood MBE, provide an ideal springboard for those wishing to work in the UK’s cathedral or church choirs, or indeed follow other choral pathways. We offer 12 Choral Scholarships annually in conjunction with the Dame Susan Morden Trust and the trustees of the Old Royal Naval College Chapel.

The Chapel Choir

Visiting Artists

We welcome acclaimed international practitioners to inspire you with expert coaching and feedback through our regular masterclass series and competitions. Recent visiting artists include James Bowman CBE, Barbara Hannigan, James Gilchrist, Susan Bullock, Roger Vignoles, Patricia Bardon, Gidon Saks, Dame Felicity Palmer, Ubaldo Fabbri, Robert Alderson and Christopher Underwood. We have also introduced an exciting new scheme of masterclasses and performances in conjunction with the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme, and are working with Welsh National Opera personnel in our Side by Side series.

Vocal Alumni

Graduates of our Vocal Studies programme go on to become recitalists and opera singers, while many others progress to further study. Members of the Chapel and Chamber choirs go on to sing with prestigious ensembles such as the Sixteen and the Monteverdi Choir. Our alumni are regular performers at Glyndebourne, English National Opera, Garsington Opera, Opera Holland Park, Longborough Festival Opera, Wexford and other international companies including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Boston Opera and the Paris Opéra.

Sam Boden has sung major tenor roles at Glyndebourne, English National Opera, Opéra Théâtre de Métropole and the Royal Opera House as well as performing across Europe.

James Newby won the 2016 Kathleen Ferrier Award and the 2017 John Christie Award. He was a 2017 Jerwood Young Artist with Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He has been selected for the prestigious BBC New Generation Artists Scheme 2018-20.

Erika Mädi Jones is a Britten-Pears Young Artist, and debuted to critical acclaim as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser at Longborough Festival Opera in summer 2016.

Simon Dyer was a studio artist at Florida Grand Opera Studio for the 17/18 and 18/19 seasons. He is is performing with Boston Lyric Opera in their 2019/20 season.

Nardus Williams, following a season as Jerwood Young Artist at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, she is a Houston Grand Opera Studio Artist 2018. She is also a signed artist with Intermusica.

Máiréad Carlin has toured the world with unique Irish band Celtic Woman.

To view the impressive organisations that our alumni have worked with, visit Alumni Destinations.

For more information on the successes of Trinity Laban Vocal Studies graduates and what they have to say about the course, visit Alumni Profiles.

Useful Links

• View all Vocal Studies Teaching Staff
• How to Apply
• The Audition Day
• Audition Requirements
• Further Information for International Students
• Studying in London