Voice & Opera


A person singing on stage by a piano

With a Prominent Faculty and Numerous Performing Opportunities, the KU Voice & Opera Program

provides training for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing careers in opera, musical theater, and vocal pedagogy. In addition to vocal technique, students learn foreign languages, vocal repertoire, and stagecraft in a supportive yet competitive atmosphere designed for individual artistic growth.

KU Opera presents two fully staged productions each year, one of which is in collaboration with the KU Theatre Department. Repertoire ranges from traditional to baroque, contemporary to operetta. Recent productions includeBritten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Puccini’s Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi, Mozart's Don Giovanni, and Leanard Bernstein's Candide Our frequent opera workshops present scenes, staged arias, and monologue training.  Students are encouraged to audition for all productions, as well as the various musicals and choral concerts which take place throughout the year. 

Each year artists such as singers; Joyce DiDonato and David Holloway, composers; Carlisle Floyd, Jake Heggie, and Ricky Ian Gordon, coaches; Robert Hiller, Martin Katz, Russell Miller, Julio Alexis Muñoz, and Craig Rutenberg along with impresarios John Baril and Darren Woods, visit for masterclasses and informal talks. KU students regularly receive summer apprenticeships with opera companies including Santa Fe, Glimmerglass, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Central City, the Merola Opera Program, and the Chautauqua Festival as well as with festivals such as Tanglewood, Aspen, SongFest, and the Seagle Colony. In addition, KU graduate students have the opportunity for year-long apprenticeships with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, where they further develop their craft through advanced coaching and various performance opportunities.

Our graduates have gone on to prestigious graduate programs including the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, and the Boston Conservatory as well as to careers on Broadway and at the Metropolitan and other of the world’s greatest opera houses.