About the Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Over the last twenty years the Guildhall School Opera Course has held a position at the forefront of opera training. It now enjoys an enviable reputation both for the quality of the training it offers and for its productions.

The Course provides an advanced level of vocal and dramatic tuition and coaching and aspires to work to professional standards. Training in stage techniques and musical coaching are in the hands of experienced visiting staff who are active in the profession. In addition to the vocal and dramatic training, the department mounts, in full collaboration with the School’s Technical Theatre Department, three full public productions each year and three programmes of operatic excerpts in a workshop setting. A further group of final year undergraduate and postgraduate students, known as Opera Associates, forms the chorus for opera productions. They also receive preliminary training in stage techniques, are given opportunities to sing small roles and act as understudies in productions, and benefit from musical coaching with the Opera Course staff.

The Guildhall School Opera Department also runs a course for a small number of repetiteurs who both receive training and act as music staff for the productions.

Clive Timms, Head of Opera, Guildhall School