About the National Opera Studio

The National Opera Studio was established by the Arts Council as a link between the music colleges and the six main UK opera companies. The Studio provides a master course for a small number of young and exceptionally talented singers and repetiteurs, to prepare them for their professional careers in opera. The Studio works closely with the main British opera companies, who, each year, help select the 12 singers and 3 repetiteurs whom they believe have real prospects of becoming principal artists. The intensive one-year course, running from September to June, provides individual tuition at an international level and is designed to add dramatic, language and interpretative skills to refine the students' existing talents. The cast lists of national and international opera houses and festivals are witness to the continuing number of high-quality performers who have trained at the NOS over the past 25 years.