Department of Voice & Opera
Central to our department is our robust opera program, offering a holistic approach to the art of opera performance. Students have opportunities to study and perform operatic works across the breadth of the standard and emerging repertoire, from Baroque to the 21st century. For both undergraduate and graduate students, our curriculum encompasses many other essential elements to building a successful and sustainable career in today’s opera landscape, including acting, body movement, stagecraft, audition techniques, and navigation of the business aspects of a career in opera.
A wide range of additional courses includes African American Art Song, Oratorio Repertoire, Vocal Chamber Music, Czech Vocal Literature, and performance classes in European and American Art Song. Our curricular offerings are enhanced by frequent master classes and residencies of guest artists and industry professionals, who provide additional insights and networking opportunities.
We empower emerging artists by championing diversification of repertoire and performance techniques, embracing innovative approaches to pedagogy, and amplifying traditionally under-represented voices of wide-ranging backgrounds and identities.
Faculty
The Department of Voice & Opera boasts a seasoned and outstanding faculty, with a wealth of performance, teaching, and research experience. At Michigan, private study goes beyond a weekly appointment. Professors are accessible and involved mentors, deeply committed to their students’ growth as individuals as well as musicians. The faculty’s range of experience creates an incomparable in-house resource, while their commitment to teaching provides students with the foundation and real-world guidance needed to flourish in today’s musical landscape.
Timothy Cheek
Stephanie Havey
Valdis Jansons
Caitlin Lynch
Rose Mannino
Stanford Olsen
Ana María Otamendi
Chía Patiño
Kirk Severtson
Matthew Thompson
Louise Toppin
Daniel Washington
Stephen West
Degrees
Undergraduate
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Musical Arts
Graduate
Master of Music
Specialist in Music
Doctor of Musical Arts
Opera at Michigan
Opportunities abound for students to refine their performance skills at SMTD, including two fully produced mainstage operas each year, two smaller-scale chamber operas, workshops of new works, opera scenes programs, and student-initiated performance projects.
2025-26 Season
Opera at Michigan is a highly collaborative endeavor, bringing together faculty and students in the Department of Voice & Opera, players from SMTD’s two stellar orchestras, faculty and student designers and stage managers in the Department of Theatre & Drama, and staff in University Productions, to present our two mainstage opera productions each year. The fall semester production is performed in the Power Center, and the winter semester production is in the historic Mendelssohn Theatre. The chamber operas are performed in smaller venues, providing students the opportunity to learn performance skills appropriate to a variety of non-traditional spaces.
The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro)
and the University Symphony Orchestra
Thursday | Nov. 6 at 7:30 pm
Friday & Saturday | Nov. 7 & 8 at 8:00 pm
Sunday | Nov. 9 at 2:00 pm
Power Center for the Performing Arts
Reserved Seating $35 / $29 / $16 Student Tickets (fees included)
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
Directed by Chía Patiño
Conducted by Sahar Nouri
Sung in Italian with English surtitles
Considered by many to be the “perfect opera,” Le nozze di Figaro tells the story of a single day in the life of servants Figaro and Susanna as they attempt to get married – against the wishes of their masters. Mozart’s opera buffa (or comic opera), which translates to The Marriage of Figaro in English, is a sequel of sorts to Paisello’s The Barber of Seville: Both operas are adaptations of plays in Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais’s Figaro trilogy. Le nozze di Figaro remains one of the most-loved and oft-performed operas to this day.
Recommended Ages: 13+
Semele
Department of Voice & Opera
and the University Philharmonia Orchestra
Thursday | Mar. 26 at 7:30 pm
Friday & Saturday | Mar. 27 & 28 at 8:00 pm
Sunday | Mar. 29 at 2:00 pm
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
Reserved Seating $35 / $29 / $16 Student Tickets (fees included)
Libretto after William Congreve
Director & Conductor To Be Announced
The forbidden passion between Semele, a woman, and Jupiter, the king of the gods, attracts the attention and unbridled jealousy of Jupiter’s wife, Juno. Handel’s score combines elements of opera, oratorio, and musical drama in a sensuous score, considered some of his finest work.
Content Advisory: This opera depicts mythological adultery and death.
Recommended Ages: 16+
Recent Productions
Our Stories
Alumni Notes
Some Notable Alumni
Janai Brugger | Seth Carico | Ashley Dixon | Michael Fabiano | Jonas Hacker | Samuel Kidd | Josh Lovell | Aundie Moore | Jessye Norman | Sean Panikkar | Amy Petrongelli | Nicholas Phan | Elisa Quagliata | Rehanna Thellwell | Alan Williams | Samantha Rose Williams | Melody Wilson
- Access Shirley’s creative:impact radio interview
- The George Shirley Vocal Competition is held annually
- The George Shirley Voice Scholarship Fund endowment provides need-based scholarship support for undergraduate voice majors.
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