Department of Vocal Arts

One of America's most prestigious programs for educating singers, The Juilliard School's Department of Vocal Arts offers young artists programs tailored to their talents and needs.  From bachelor and master of music degrees to advanced artist diploma programs in voice and opera studies, Juilliard provides frequent performance opportunities, featuring singers in its own recital halls, on Lincoln Center's stages, and around New York City.

Juilliard's home at Lincoln Center provides a dynamic and unique environment for aspiring professional singers.  Vocal Arts students work with a distinguished faculty, many of whom are members of the artistic staff of the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera.  Additionally, many Juilliard singers perform at both these opera houses upon completion of their education.

Vocal Arts students enrolled in degree or artist diploma programs receive comprehensive education in areas such as opera, lieder and art song, diction, movement, acting, and stagecraft, as well as private musical coaching for performances.  They also take courses in opera scene study, improvisation, makeup application, and languages.

During their time at Juilliard, many students participate in summer festivals, including Aspen and Tanglewood, and are involved in programs in conjunction with Wolf Trap, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and the San Francisco, Santa Fe, Central City operas.  Juilliard graduates may be heard in opera houses and concert halls throughout the world; diverse alumni artists include well-known performers such as Edie Adams, John Aler, Jan DeGaetani, Faith Esham, Simon Estes, Lauren Flanigan, Renée Fleming, Anthony Dean Griffey, Barbara Hendricks, Hei-Kyung Hong, Gwendolyn Killebrew, Michael Maniaci, Audra McDonald, Susanne Mentzer, Leona Mitchell, Leontyne Price, Florence Quivar, Neil Rosenshein, Risë Stevens, Tatiana Troyanos, Shirley Verrett, Veronica Villarroel, and Robert White, among others.

Performance opportunities for Juilliard singers are numerous and include works presented by the Juilliard Opera, comprised of singers enrolled in the master of music degree program, graduate diploma program, and artist diploma in opera studies program.  Students in the artist diploma program are advanced singers who are given the opportunity to perform in mainstage and chamber opera performances, with emphasis placed on preparing them for opera careers.  This tuition-free program is for pre-professional singers and provides a bridge between conservatory education and the professional world.  It is designed to allow a gifted singer to enter the program at any stage of advanced development.  Stephen Wadsworth serves as director of the artist diploma in opera studies program. The program accepts 10-12 members annually.

Other performance opportunities for singers include master classes, programs of complete operas and scenes, and the Juilliard Songbook and Liederabend series.  In addition, two fully-staged operas conducted and directed by distinguished artists in the profession are presented each season in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater, which is regarded by many experts to be one of New York City's finest theaters for musical performance.  Juilliard has presented numerous premieres of operas as well as the standard repertoire.  As part of Juilliard's successful centennial celebration, Juilliard produced the world premiere of alumnus Lowell Liebermann's Miss Lonelyhearts, based on the novella by Nathanael West, with a libretto by J.D. McClatchy.  This season, Juilliard presents Handel's Ariodante, a concert version of Copland's The Tender Land, Conrad Susa's Transformations, and Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites. In 2008, Juilliard presented the New York City premiere of Ned Rorem's Our Town, once again with a McClatchy libretto.  In the 2008-09 season, Juilliard presented two full-length operas and three one-act operas: Trilogy, three rarely performed one-act portraits of marriage, conceived and conducted by (alumnus) James Conlon, realised by Darko Tresnjak and directed by James Marvel; a concert version of John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer, conducted by the composer and directed by Edward Berkeley; and Verdi's Falstaff, conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson and directed by Stephen Wadsworth. Other recent performances have included participation in conductor James Conlon's multi-year project Recovering a Musical Heritage with a performance of Viktor Ulmann's The Emperor of Atlantis, and, in 2002, the world premiere of Heloise and Abelard by composer Stephen Paulus and director/librettist Frank Corsaro.  The Juilliard School maintains a full production department, which created sets, costumes, and props, and provides technicians for all in-house productions in dance, drama, and music.

Juilliard singers perform in the annual Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital, which was established in 1997.  Made possible by a generous gift from the Alice Tully Foundation, this event promotes outstanding young vocalists on the threshold of professional careers.  Soprano Susanna Phillips makes her New York solo recital debut in November 2009 as part of the thirteenth annual Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital. Past recipients of the recital award include sopranos Jennifer Aylmer, Sari Gruber, Lauren Skuce, and Sarah Wolfson; mezzo-sopranos Stephanie Houtzeel, Maria Karpatova, and Brenda Patterson, tenor William Ferguson; baritone Randall Scarlata, and soprano Katherine Whyte. 

Last year's twelfth annual Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital featured bass-baritone Shenyang, a native of China.  In addition, Juilliard's Vocal Arts Honors Recital awards a duo-recital to singers from the Department of Vocal Arts who are selected by audition and appropriateness of repertoire.

Many singers also perform in Juilliard's annual FOCUS! festival of new music and selected singers appear with chamber and orchestral ensembles in concerts in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Carnegie Hall.  Students also participate in master classes with noted guest artists, who in recent seasons have included Elly Ameling, Fedora Barbieri, James Conlon, Barbara Cook, Thomas Hampson, Warren Jones, Martin Katz, James Levine, Christa Ludwig, Malcolm Martineau, Sherrill Milnes, Ken Noda, Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, Renata Scotto, Dame Joan Sutherland, José van Dam, Shirley Verrett, Roger Vignoles, and Stephen Wadsworth.