Donald Maxwell at a rehearsal for The Rape of Lucretia, May 2013
Masterclass with Natalie Dessay
Soprano Reisha Adams, Winner of the 2012 Ian Stoutzker Prize
Jonathan Dove's Flight performed at Sherman Cymru, June 2013
Jonathan Dove's opera Flight accompanied by RWCMD Chamber Orchestra, June 2013
Schools Opera 2013, Richard Burton Theatre, RWCMD
Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize, Dora Stoutzker Hall, RWCMD, June 2013
The Marriage of Figaro, Wales Millennium Centre, March 2012
Die Fledermaus, Wales Millennium Centre, 2011
Living up to the maxim ‘The Land of Song’, Wales offers singers
a truly diverse and vibrant experience in preparation for
professional life, while encompassing an international perspective
at all levels. Close collaborations with individual artists and
some of the UK’s leading companies including Welsh National Opera
and Music Theatre Wales ensure that the training is informed by the
most up to date professional practice. Combined with world-class
training and performing facilities and located in the heart of a
lively capital city the Royal Welsh College is well placed to help
singers develop all the skills necessary for a successful career in
the 21st Century.
All students work closely with the Head of Department, Angela
Livingstone and in individual lessons with dedicated members of the
teaching staff made up of distinguished performers and coaches,
each of whom bring a sound knowledge of industry practice, linking
your training with current professional practice. Masterclasses and
workshops are also an integral part of all courses with recent and
regular visitors including Susan Bullock, Natalie Dessay, Gwyn
Hughes-Jones, Malcolm Martineau, Rebecca Evans, Judith Howarth,
Carlo Rizzi, Simon Lepper and Joseph Middleton. John Fisher, is the
College’s Jane Hodge Foundation International Chair in Opera.
Recent graduates have secured principal work with English
National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera
and Glyndebourne as well as continuing their studies at the
National Opera Studio and on the Jette Parker programme at the
Royal Opera House.
Departmental staff work hard to provide a caring, collaborative
environment with a high level of individual support. One-to-one
lessons focus on the development of a secure technique while weekly
performance classes provide opportunities for students to sing in
front of their peers in preparation for a busy schedule of public
recitals and external concerts. Professional skills are honed
through additional coaching in language, music, movement, acting
and stagecraft.
We actively encourage vocalists to form working relationships
with students from other departments including Keyboard, Choral
Conducting and Contemporary Music, and opera productions provide
opportunities to work alongside the College’s acclaimed Production
and Design departments.
The College also hosts the National Opera Studio in its annual
residency with Welsh National Opera, as well as the BBC Cardiff
Singer of the World Song Prize, which provides opera students with
opportunities to perform in public masterclasses with the jurors of
this most prestigious of international competitions.
Further performance opportunities are open to students through
the BBC National Chorus of Wales placement programme, the College’s
Hire A Performer programme, and the student-led opera company
Opera'r Ddraig.
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