Voice

UCLA’s Voice and Opera program attracts highly gifted, intelligent young singers from around the world. Rigorous auditions are held each year to select the most qualified candidates to fill an average of twelve positions.

Students enjoy a nurturing and stimulating atmosphere of mutual encouragement and support among their professors and peers, where the only sense of competition is against the international standard of excellence to which they will be held as professionals entering a challenging job market.

The outstanding achievements of our students in regional, national, and international performing organizations and competitions bear witness to the success of UCLA’s approach to vocal training. UCLA’s current and recently graduated students have appeared with such prestigious institutions as:

• Metropolitan Opera (and the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program), Metropolitan Opera Council Western Region and National Competitions (Grand Prize Winner, national finalists), New York City Opera, Paris Opera Centre, San Francisco Opera (and the Merola Program), Santa Fe Opera Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Ryan Opera Center, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera (and the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program), Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Colorado Opera, Opera Pacific, Opera San Jose, Tanglewood Festival, Wolf Trap Opera, Center City Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Aspen Festival, Pittsburgh Opera Center, Boston Opera Institute, Santa Barbara Music Academy of the West, Ojai Festival, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic, just to name a few.

The UCLA voice faculty recognizes that today’s emerging singers must be expertly trained in a healthy vocal technique that will carry them through decades of successful professional singing, as well as a wide spectrum of performance repertoire. Special attention is paid to ensuring all students graduate with the technical and stylistic facility necessary to perform operatic roles and arias, art songs in at least 6 languages, and oratorio, early music, and symphonic solo repertoire. UCLA’s Voice program also offers training and performance experience in musical theater repertoire, and occasionally accepts exceptionally gifted “legit Broadway” singers as Voice Performance majors with an emphasis in Musical Theater.