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Introduction

Recognising that the voice is the most human of instruments, Trinity Laban will support your personal development as a versatile and curious singer and musician. Our first-class training will build your technique, challenging you to aim for the pinnacles of artistic achievement whilst nurturing your individual vocal talents. Alongside proficiency and confidence in traditional performance contexts, we will encourage you to explore a diverse range of avenues in a quest to discover your unique voice.

Whether your focus is opera, song or choral repertoire, we have the expertise to prepare you for your professional journey. We work with you, the developing artist, ensuring you enter the professional world confident in your own strengths and abilities.

Jennifer Hamilton, Head of 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.

Your Audition

We are encouraging applicants to audition in person where possible. However, if for whatever reason you are unable to attend a live audition in London online recorded auditions are available for all applicants.

In-person Auditions

Prior to audition, you must apply via UCAS Conservatoires. All auditions will be held in London at our Music Faculty between mid-November and mid-December. The address for the Music Faculty is: Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, King Charles Court, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London SE10 9JF.

We will endeavour to schedule your audition as soon as possible and will update you with your audition date and time via UCAS Conservatoires and email. If you have any issues making this time, please let us know as soon as possible on the email on this page.

Audition Requirements

  • All auditions will include a short discussion with the panel
  • We do not have a dress code for auditions
  • Where applicable an accompanist will be provided for you, you will have a rehearsal time of around 10 minutes with the accompanist prior to your audition. If you are bringing your own accompanist, let us know as soon as possible on the email below.
  • If you have any accessibility requirements, please contact StudentServicesEnquiries@trinitylaban.ac.uk.
  • Auditions do not include a written paper
  • If you have also applied for BA Music Performance and Industry, details will be sent separately. You can find information on audition requirements and submission deadlines here.

Applicants should prepare two to three pieces of your choice in contrasting styles and moods. Recommendation: at least one piece should be in a language/languages foreign to you.

Improvisation/sight reading may be required.

Recorded Auditions

Prior to submitting a recorded audition, you must apply via UCAS Conservatoires. Recordings will not be considered until a UCAS  Conservatoires application has been submitted. When asked on UCAS Conservatoires where you wish to audition, simply click ‘recorded audition’ or ‘online’. You can watch our tutorial on submitting your UCAS Conservatoires application, for step-by-step instructions. Once you’ve submitted your application, our admissions team will be in touch with further information. Please keep an eye on your emails and check your spam inbox.

The deadline for submission of recorded audition materials is 27 October 2023.

Recording Your Audition

There should be two elements to your recording: a speech and a performance. You must submit a video recording of your speech and performance, and not only an audio recording. We do not require high production recordings, normally a recording on a phone or digital camera will suffice, but please check that the audio and video quality is clear before submitting your auditions.

We recommend sourcing a live accompanist if possible, however we can accept pre-recorded backing tracks and unaccompanied recordings.  If you are playing with others, please make it clear who you are in the recording. There is no dress code for recorded auditions.

For the speech, you should record a passage of yourself speaking in English. For your speech you should:

  • Introduce yourself by name
  • Talk about your musical background and the training you’ve had
  • Talk about your musical ambitions and your reasons for applying for the programme of study.

For the performance, you should record two to three works (or extracts) – further information on instrument requirements are below. Please note that the panel will wish to have some idea of the range of your ability, so provide works that demonstrate contrasting musical styles and instrumental/vocal technique.

You may be invited to an online discussion with the panel via Zoom, you will be updated via email if this has been scheduled.

Undergraduate Programmes (FCM, IFCM, BMUS)

Applicants should prepare two or three pieces of your choice in contrasting styles and moods. Recommendation: at least one piece should be in a language/languages foreign to you.

Postgraduate Programmes (Graduate/Professional/Artist Diplomas, MMUS, MAMEP)

Applicants should prepare two to three pieces of your choice in contrasting styles and moods. Recommendation: at least one piece should be in a language/languages foreign to you.

Submitting Your Audition on Embark

You must submit your audition via Embark. To submit a recorded audition, you will first need to create an account before submitting your recordings or portfolio. For step-by-step guidance on submitting your recorded auditions, watch our Embark tutorial.

You can submit multiple files to Embark (i.e. your audition does not need to be submitted as one take). If you have any issues with uploading your files, you can also upload your files to a video sharing website (such as YouTube or Vimeo) and paste the links into a word or PDF document to upload into the Additional Documents section.

You do not need to submit materials for every section, e.g. you only need to submit Transcripts or Additional Documents if you would like the panel to see these.

There are no written papers for auditions.

Please note, if the performance on the recording is found not to be your own, the place will be withdrawn immediately and no fees will be refunded.

 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch: admissions@trinitylaban.ac.uk

 

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, Nicky Spence and our current International Artist in Voice, Ailish Tynan. 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.

Vocal Studies Study Programmes Available

Vocal Studies at Trinity Laban – Opera

The Vocal Studies Department at Trinity Laban is never short of opportunities to develop as an artist – from annual opera productions to our own collegiate Chapel Choir, have a look at our students in action in our gallery.

  1. 1 - Scrooge and The Ghost of Christmas Present ( Christmas Carol 2018) Thea Musgrave
  2. 2 - Scrooge and Marley (Christmas Carol 2018) Thea Musgrave
  3. 3 - Try Me Good King ( Culpepper and Catherine Howard) - Queens House 2023
  4. 4 - Laundry Girls from Strozzi!
  5. 5 - Frankenstein. Musical Director – Jonathan Tilbrook. Director – John Ramster. Designer – Louis Carver. Lighting Designer – Anthony Arblaster. Photo by Briony Campbell

During my two years at Trinity Laban I had a wealth of opportunities to be involved in opera of all kinds, and all languages. That’s what I want to do – I want to be an opera singer – and Trinity Laban has definitely helped me develop the skills to go out into the professional world and get work.

William Branston, UK
BMus Performance (Voice)

Student Stories
 

Vocal Studies at Trinity Laban – Choir

  1. 1 - Chamber Choir rehearsal
  2. 2 - Chamber Choir rehearsal
  3. 3 - Chamber Choir rehearsal
  4. 4 - Vocal Ensemble
  5. 5 - Vocal Ensemble, Trinity Laban, King Charles Court 2021

Trinity Laban Presents: Opera at Trinity Laban

Alumni Profile: James Newby

BMus (Hons) / 2012-2016, Baritone

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