Ranked No. 2 in the nation for Classical Voice/Opera Programs by InsideMusicSchools.com
Your NEXT LIVES HERE. Come be a part of CCM’s internationally acclaimed, vibrant programs. Our Opera and Voice Departments embrace artists at their current level and nurture them towards their ultimate potential. Singers work with an acclaimed faculty as well as visiting industry professionals and celebrated artists. We are proud to be a resident faculty of artist/educators who are committed to consistent tutelage. Our low faculty/student ratio yields meaningful attention and opportunities.
Six on-campus performance venues are utilized for fully staged operas, recitals, chamber music performances, and larger vocal and orchestral works. Productions are designed and built in-house, so singers collaborate with the creators shaping the future of the arts. CCM produces two mainstage operas, one studio production and one undergraduate opera per year.
Thanks to CCM’s fine facilities and high-caliber talent pool, many young artist programs and regional opera companies hold onsite auditions. Cincinnati itself has a historically rich musical community. Students at every degree level have benefitted from unique opportunities with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Opera.
CCM students have continued to make their way to Cincinnati Opera, singing in the chorus or entering the young-artist program and taking on supporting roles, before making significant careers in other opera houses.
Opera News
CCM’s Voice Department maintains its long-standing reputation for graduating singers with a technique able to serve them throughout their careers. Each faculty member is a professional performer with unique areas of expertise. The faculty is known for creating a collegial, supportive atmosphere, working with singers in lessons, studio, classroom and productions. The rich curriculum prepares artists for their next steps. CCM singers populate the top young artist programs, stages and competitions around the world. While undergraduates may participate in graduate operas, CCM is proud to have its own dedicated undergrad program, Opera d’arte.
This four-year program covers a complete range of academic and performance activities. Senior year includes a requirement for six hours a week of Opera Workshop, studying movement, acting and role preparation that culminates in a fully-staged performance of opera scenes. Advanced students audition for roles in CCM's mainstage opera productions and studio and workshop presentations.
Candidates are offered a wide range of practical and academic classes, including foreign languages and diction, oratorio and vocal repertoire. In the first year, six hours per week of opera training is required, which covers movement, acting and work on opera scenes. In the second year, students can continue with classes in opera characterization, opera coaching and opera production. Students audition for major roles in mainstage opera productions, and studio and workshop performances.
The program is designed to promote the development of superior performing musicians and teachers. It offers singers with a high degree of proficiency and artistry a comprehensive selection of classes in music literature, music history and performance practices, with electives covering a broad range of classes in the Opera Department, and numerous opportunities to perform in recital and on the opera stage.
CCM's admissions process begins on August 1 (undergraduate) and September 1 (graduate) for entrance in the following year's fall semester. All application materials must be submitted on or before December 1 to be considered for specific scholarship awards. Visit the CCM Admissions website for additional application instructions.
Applicants must submit the required pre-screening materials via getacceptd.com/ccm on or before December 3 in order to be invited for an audition/interview and considered for admissions.
Applicants must submit the required pre-screening materials via getacceptd.com/ccm on or before December 3 in order to be invited for an audition/interview and considered for admissions.
Recorded auditions are not permitted.
To be considered for the Opera Scholarship Competition, you must complete and upload the application form along with your required pre-screening materials in Acceptd.
If invited to audition for your applied degree program, applicants must also prepare the following for the preliminary round audition (the preliminary round audition occurs on the same date as your assigned degree audition date):
Applicants must submit the required pre-screening materials via getacceptd.com/ccm on or before December 3 in order to be considered for admissions and invited for an audition.
The Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance is designed for the combination of artist, scholar and teacher. The successful DMA candidate exhibits an exceptional level of performance, has scholarly interests, and is motivated to prepare for a teaching career.
DMA applicants must submit two writing samples:
All pieces must be performed from memory, including the aria from an Oratorio, Mass or Cantata.
DMA applicants will have a separate interview with the Voice Faculty on the day of their in-person audition.
Recorded auditions are not permitted.
A cognate is declared by all DMA students at CCM. It enables students to develop a secondary field of expertise. A minimum of 9 credit hours of specified course requirements are determined in consultation with the student’s Cognate committee chair, and approved by the student’s faculty advisor, Division Head and Director of Graduate Studies. Examples of Cognate areas include, but are not limited to, Choral Conducting, Pedagogy, Opera Direction, Arts Administration, specific areas of vocal repertoire/language, Music History, etc. Applicants should be prepared to discuss a potential area of interest for a Cognate during the interview at the in-person audition.
To be considered for the Opera Scholarship Competition, you must upload the completed application form along with your required pre-screening materials in Acceptd.
Applicants must also prepare the following for the preliminary round audition (the preliminary round audition occurs on the same date as your assigned degree audition date):
267-980-3956
513-556-9516
513-556-6830
513-556-9516
513-556-6830
Opera, the synthesis of music, visual art, design, theater, dance and literature, is well represented by CCM’s formidable vocal, instrumental and theatrical production programs with talented students in these areas being mentored by internationally acclaimed faculty.
Our renowned faculty manages the intense curriculum which focuses on career aspects including acting, movement/dance, career development, score/libretti analysis, nuances of style and language, guaranteed performance opportunities, and regular conduits to industry professionals."
CCM’s artist diploma tracks (voice, coaching and directing) are elite refining experiences which immerse artists into one of the most comprehensive programs in the world. Our renowned faculty manages the intense curriculum which focuses on career aspects including acting, movement/dance, career development, score/libretti analysis, nuances of style and language, guaranteed performance opportunities, and regular conduits to industry professionals.
one of the continent's major music schools
The Toronto Star
The program is limited to 12 singers who will perform at least four major roles in fully-staged productions. Students receive private coaching, intensive actor training and role preparation together with movement, period dance, language, audition and career management classes, and master classes with some of the finest artists in the world of opera.
In one of the few programs of its type in the nation, students develop linguistic, pianistic and coaching skills in the context of fully prepared original language productions. Opportunities are available to study conducting and take a wide range of vocal, stylistic and interpretative classes.
Candidates of proven ability and experience have a program tailored to their individual developmental needs, covering directing theory and practice, as well as acting, musical and foreign language skills, and areas of design and technical theater production. Students work as Assistant Directors on major productions and direct three productions of their own.
CCM's graduate admissions process begins on September 1 for entrance in the following year's fall semester. All application materials must be submitted on or before December 3 to be considered for specific scholarship awards. Visit the CCM Admissions website for additional application instructions.
Applicants must submit the required pre-screening materials via getacceptd.com/ccm on or before December 3 in order to be considered for admissions and invited for an audition.
Applicants must prepare one selection from each of the following categories (at least one selection must be played and sung simultaneously)
The application for AD Opera Stage Directing is closed for Fall 2025 consideration.
Applicants must submit the required pre-screening materials via getacceptd.com/ccm on or before December 3 in order to be considered for admissions and invited for an audition.
Recorded auditions are not permitted.
To be considered for the Opera Scholarship Competition, you must upload the completed application form along with your required pre-screening materials in Acceptd.
Applicants must also prepare the following for the preliminary round audition (the preliminary round audition occurs on the same date as your assigned degree audition date):
The application for AD Opera Stage Directing is closed for Fall 2025 consideration.
The application for AD Opera Stage Directing is closed for Fall 2025 consideration.
Applicants must submit the required pre-screening materials via getacceptd.com/ccm on or before December 3 in order to be considered for admissions and invited for an audition.
The application for AD Opera Stage Directing is closed for Fall 2025 consideration.
Once the application and pre-screening materials are submitted, selected applicants will be scheduled by the Opera Department for a phone interview.
513-556-4030
267-980-3956
267-980-3956
513-556-5803
For an effort still in its first decade, [OF:NW has] an enviable track record.
Opera News
Opera Fusion: New Works (OF:NW) is a dynamic partnership between CCM and Cincinnati Opera. Created in 2011 to foster the development of new American operas, OF:NW has grown into a nationally recognized collaboration which advances new repertoire and serves as an inspiring example of a successful joint venture between an educational institution and a professional performing arts organization.
OF:NW offers composers or composer/librettist teams the chance to workshop an opera during a 10-day residency in Cincinnati. Residencies utilize the facilities, personnel, and talent of both CCM and Cincinnati Opera. The workshops are cast with a combination of CCM students and professional artists, and each workshop concludes with a recording of the full opera and a free public presentation of excerpts followed by an audience Q&A session. A few notable examples of this collaboration are Fellow Travelers, The Hours, Eurydice and Intimate Apparel.
November 18, 2024
Experience world-class performances by the next generation of performing and media artists at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM)! The college’s spring 2025 schedule of major events is now available; tickets are on sale now through the CCM Box Office.
November 13, 2024
This year, four UC College-Conservatory of Music alumni and one current faculty member are among the nominees named for the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, which will be held in February of 2025. Represented across four categories, the Bearcats specifically named in the Grammy's published list of nominees include CCM Associate Professor of Voice Elliot Madore along with alumni Kevin McCollum (BFA Musical Theatre ’84, HonDoc ’05), Fotina Naumenko (MM Voice ‘12, DMA Voice ‘18), Jeannette Sorrell (MM Orchestral Conducting) and Donald Nally (BM Music Education ‘82).
November 13, 2024
CCM's collegiate and preparatory ensembles celebrate the winter holidays with a variety of upcoming performances!
November 1, 2024
UC’s College-Conservatory of Music will welcome a variety of new faculty and staff members to its roster of distinguished performing and media arts experts, researchers and educators this fall. In addition, the college is also welcoming several current faculty members into new leadership roles this year.
October 24, 2024
Just like in the real world, opera is full of human hopes, fears, love and heartbreak. With larger-than-life characters and drama, some opera can seem to have more in common with The Real World, MTV’s classic reality show that launched the genre. CCM Opera’s production of Mozart’s La finta giardiniera takes this similarity and runs with it: the story all unfolds on a soundstage, and the characters are all members of a reality TV cast who play up their personal drama for the benefit of the cameras. The production runs Oct 31-Nov 2 in Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets are on sale now through the CCM Box Office.
October 21, 2024
Tomorrow's performing and media arts professionals get their start at CCM. Enjoy this inside look at our campus! There’s no place like the UC College-Conservatory of Music's award-winning campus, but don’t just take our word for it. Enjoy our new video tour of CCM's world-class facilities from the comfort of your own home! Current CCM students Annalee Crosser, Yasmine Bougacha and Trey Durr act as your virtual tour guides, providing an inside look at the state-of-the-art classrooms, studios and performance facilities of the "CCM Village."
October 18, 2024
Read media coverage of UC's College-Conservatory of Music, featuring reviews and stories about CCM faculty, alumni and students! Highlights are below:
October 17, 2024
UC College-Conservatory of Music alumnus an countertenor John Holiday (MM Voice, '12) was recently featured on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series. Watch his performance online.
October 16, 2024
The UC College-Conservatory of Music opened its 2024-25 concert series in epic fashion on Saturday, Sept. 21, with a sold out performance of Gustav Mahler’s colossal Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection," in Corbett Auditorium. The entire performance is now available for on-demand streaming below, including opening remarks by new CCM Dean Pete Jutras. This performance of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony features the combined forces of the CCM Philharmonia student orchestra, CCM Chamber Choir, CCM Chorale and UC Choruses, along with alumni guest artists Amanda Woodbury (soprano) and Kayleigh Decker (mezzo-soprano). CCM faculty member Mark Gibson conducts.
