Department of Voice & Opera

The Department of Voice & Opera is a vibrant and diverse community dedicated to fostering artistic excellence and academic rigor. Through our broad curriculum, private voice lessons, specialized coachings in operatic and song literature, and intensive language training, our students develop the technical proficiency and expressive depth necessary to excel in today’s artistic landscape.

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.

Rooted in our tradition of commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, 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.


Freda Herseth

Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Music
Applied Voice, Vocal Pedagogy

George I. Shirley

Joseph Edgar Maddy Distinguished University Emeritus Professor of Voice
Applied Voice

Stephen West

Chair of Voice & Opera and Professor of Music
Applied Voice

Mo Zhou

Assistant Professor of Music
Opera Stage Director

Degrees

performance

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.

2024-25 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.

HANSEL UND GRETEL

Department of Voice & Opera

November 14 at 7:30 pm

November 15 & 16 at 8:00 pm

November 17 at 2:00 pm

Power Center for the Performing Arts
Reserved Seating $35 / $29 / $16 Student Tickets (fees included)
10% discount on 4 (or more) tickets

Hänsel und Gretel

Composed by Engelbert Humperdinck; libretto by Adelheid Wette
Based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm
Sung in German
Conducted by Kirk Severtson
Stage Direction by Gregory Keller

In this charming fairy-tale opera for audiences of all ages, Hansel and Gretel are banished to the woods to search for strawberries and stay out of trouble. Alas, trouble is inevitable when they come upon a mysterious gingerbread house with a frightening witch inside.

Performed with the University Symphony Orchestra.

L'ORFEO

Department of Voice & Opera

March 27 at 7:30 pm

March 28 & 29 at 8:00 pm

March 30 at 2:00 pm

Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
Reserved Seating $35 / $29 / $16 Student Tickets (fees included)

The Turn of the Screw

Composed by Benjamin Britten
Libretto by Myfanwy Piper
Conducted by Kirk Severtson
Stage Direction by Chía Patiño

Henry James’s gripping short story of ghostly possession becomes a haunting and suspenseful opera in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. A new governess has arrived at the Victorian country home of Bly to care for two young charges, yet the children aren’t exactly what they appear. Visions of the deceased former butler and governess seem to be influencing the children towards evil. The new governess soon finds herself in an unearthly struggle for the children’s souls. But are the ghosts real, or are they only in the governess’s mind? Britten’s evocative score builds to a tremendous climax, leaving the listener wondering if the spirits of the past are still ominously present.

Performed with the U-M Contemporary Directions Ensemble

Recent Productions

Elizabeth Cree

Elizabeth Cree

Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
March 21-24, 2024

Orpheus in the Underworld

Orpheus in the Underworld (Orphée aux enfers)

Power Center for the Performing Arts
November 2-5, 2023

Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni

Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
March 23-26, 2023

Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni

Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
March 23-26, 2023

Cunning Little Vixen

The Cunning Little Vixen

Power Center for the Performing Arts
November 4-6, 2022

Cunning Little Vixen - new hunter

The Cunning Little Vixen

Power Center for the Performing Arts
November 4-6, 2022

Ties that Bind: Rise for Freedom

Rise for Freedom: The John P. Parker Story
The Ties That Bind: Two One-Act Operas by African-American Composers

Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
Spring 2022

Ties that Bind: Highway 1 USA

Highway 1, USA
The Ties That Bind: Two One-Act Operas by African-American Composers

Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
Spring 2022

Cendrillon

Cendrillon (Cinderella)

Power Center for the Performing Arts
November 5-8, 2021

Cendrillon

Cendrillon (Cinderella)

Power Center for the Performing Arts
November 5-8, 2021

Opera One-Acts

Opera One-Acts

Performed Online - Spring 2021

Opera One-Acts

Opera One-Acts

Performed Online - Spring 2021

Don Pasquale

Don Pasquale

Performed Online - Fall 2020

Don Pasquale

Don Pasquale

Performed Online - Fall 2020

La Boheme

La Bohème

Power Center for the Performing Arts
November 7-10, 2019

La Boheme

La Bohème

Power Center for the Performing Arts
November 7-10, 2019

Candide

Candide

Power Center for the Performing Arts
November 8-11, 2018

Candide

Candide

Power Center for the Performing Arts
November 8-11, 2018

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Our Stories

Alumni Notes

Nancy Yunhwa Rao (MM ’89, voice and music theory; PhD ’94, music theory) is a Distinguished Professor of Music at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, and currently editor-in-chief of the journal American Music. The 2024 SMTD Alumni Awards honored Rao with the Professional Achievement in Music Award.
In the 2023–24 season, Madison Montambault (BM ’17, MM ’19, voice) made her company debut with Dayton Opera in Wagner’s Das Rheingold, singing Wellgunde and covering Fricka. Later in the season, she debuted at Edmonton Opera in Wagner’s Das Rheingold as Wellgunde. In January 2024, she made her Kerrytown Concert House recital debut.
In January 2024, Katrina Fasulo (BMA ’17, voice), who minored in performing arts management & entrepreneurship, joined Opera MODO as executive director.

About George I. Shirley, Joseph Edgar Maddy Distinguished University Emeritus Professor of Voice

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