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Eastman’s Voice & Opera program offers an environment of excellence in which the healthiest development of the vocal artist can be achieved. Vocal technique, repertory, and stylistic expertise underlie the growth of expressive, communicative singers. While an operatic career may be the primary focus of many students pursuing majors in vocal performance at Eastman, the curriculum acknowledges that singers must be versatile, artistically creative, and technically secure in order to compete in today’s marketplace.
Standard opera, operetta, and musical theater repertory provide the ideal laboratory for learning theatrical techniques and stage repertory. Performances include full productions with orchestra, as well as opera scenes. Choral ensembles acquaint students with a diversity of great music and styles both as choristers and as oratorio soloists
Private lessons and solo and chamber music coaching give students grounding in the world’s great vocal literature. Courses in pedagogy provide relevant information for the singer and pedagogical techniques for the aspiring teacher. Courses in diction, foreign languages, music history, music theory, and the humanities encourage students to develop as complete musicians.
Eastman Opera Theatre presents three productions each year. All productions are double-cast; auditions are open to all Voice & Opera majors, after consultation with the studio teacher. Many Eastman singers enter the operatic profession as a natural extension of their experience in school. Recent productions at the School include Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte, Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Albert Herring, and Turn of the Screw, Mecham’s Tartuffe, Conrad Susa’s Transformations, Handel’s Xerxes, Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia, Sondheim’s Passion, Bock’s She Loves Me, and Puccini’s La Bohème. Two Opera Scenes Programs are presented to the public at the end of each semester. All students from the opera performance classes participate in these scenes programs. Studio productions are presented at the end of the spring semester. Productions have included: Signor Deluso, Goblin Market, The Telephone, A Hand of Bridge, The Stoned Guest, The Cradle Will Rock, La Voix Humaine, Le Portrait de Manon, and Phi-Phi! Some outreach productions are presented to area public schools.
Frequent visits and master classes by such guest artists as Renée Fleming (MA ‘83), Marilyn Horne, Hermann Prey, William Sharp (MA ‘76), and Dawn Upshaw enhance the vocal experience at Eastman. Vocal coaches such as Armen Guzelimian, Martin Katz, Craig Rutenberg, and Roger Vignoles have also offered master classes at Eastman.
Contact
Department Secretary
Fran Turk
Office phone: 585-274-1490
E-mail: fturk@esm.rochester.edu
Department Chair
Steven Daigle
Professor of Opera
Chair, Voice and Opera Department
Head of Eastman Opera Program
Dramatic Director, Eastman Opera Theatre
Phone: (585) 274-1473
Email: sdaigle@esm.rochester.edu
Degrees Offered
The department numbers approximately 65-70 undergraduates and 30-35 graduates.
General Degree/Program Information
- Applying
- Graduate Double Degrees
- Undergraduate Double Degrees
- Transfer Credit Policies
- Advance Placement
- Graduate Studies
Faculty
Department Chair
Daigle, Steven
Professor of Opera; Chair, Voice and Opera Department; Head of Eastman Opera Program; Dramatic Director, Eastman Opera Theatre
Ciesinski, Katherine
Professor of Voice; ECMS Collegiate Instructor in Voice
Cowdrick, Kathryn
Associate Professor of Voice
d'Amato, Alison
Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching, part time
Hess, Benton
Distinguished Professor of Voice; Senior Vocal Coach; Music Director, Eastman Opera Theatre
McConnell, Michael
Assistant Professor of Opera
McIver, Robert
Professor of Voice; Supervisor, Applied Voice Studio TAs
Miller, Russell
Associate Professor of Vocal Coaching and Repertoire; Academic Leave 2012-2013
Opalach, Jan
Assistant Professor of Voice
Shane, Rita
Professor of Voice
Swensen, Robert
Associate Professor of Voice
Webber, Carol
Professor of Voice
Affiliate Faculty
Curren, ChristinaAssistant Professor of German Lyric Diction and Vocal Coach, part time
Professors Emeriti
Marcia Baldwin
John Maloy
Dale Moore
Masako Ono Toribara
Graduate Awards
Graduate awards offered in the Voice & Opera department include those for departmental assistants, studio teachers of voice, and classroom teachers of music education techniques. Applicants may qualify for awards outside of the department as well. (Not all awards are available each year.)
The department numbers approximately 65-70 undergraduates and 30-35 graduates.
