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
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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)
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.
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.
Once the application and pre-screening materials are submitted, selected applicants will be scheduled by the Opera Department for a phone interview.
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.
August 1, 2025
CCM Dean Peter J. Jutras shares a message with the college community ahead of the 2025-26 academic year and performance season.
July 7, 2025
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.
June 30, 2025
UC College-Conservatory of Music Dean Pete Jutras recently announced the appointment of Maggie Perrino as the college's new Assistant Dean of CCM Prep and Community Engagement. In this role, Perrino will lead a team of faculty and administrative staff at CCM Prep, which offers a wide variety of programs in music, dance and the theatre arts throughout the year for people of all ages and abilities. She will also oversee CCM’s Summer Programs for youth, teens and adults. Perrino's appointment begins on June 30, 2025.
June 4, 2025
UC College-Conservatory of Music Dean Pete Jutras recently announced the appointment of Jessie L. Grant, PhD, as CCM's new Assistant Dean of Student Services. In this role, Grant will coordinate CCM’s academic advising program, connect students with college and university-level resources, and evaluate CCM policies and processes to better serve the college’s undergraduate and graduate students. Grant's appointment officially began on June 2, 2025.
May 22, 2025
UC College-Conservatory of Music Dean Pete Jutras has announced the appointment of Jeffrey Springer, DMA, as CCM's new Associate Professor of Voice. His faculty appointment officially begins on Aug. 15, 2025. Springer has earned international acclaim for his powerful performances across Europe and North America, gracing stages such as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Florida Grand Opera, Angers-Nantes Opéra, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Manitoba Opera, Deutsches Nationaltheater Mannheim, Oper Krefeld-Mönchengladbach, Staatsoper Saxony-Anhalt, National Touring Opera of the Netherlands, Opera Siam and Teatro de Navarra, among others.
May 22, 2025
UC College-Conservatory of Music Dean Pete Jutras has announced the appointment of Sahoko Sato Timpone, DMA, as CCM's new Associate Professor of Voice. Her faculty appointment officially begins on Aug. 15, 2025. Praised by The New York Times as “impressive” and by New York Arts for her “rich, glowing” tone, Japanese American mezzo-soprano Sahoko Sato Timpone has appeared in opera and concert performances throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
May 6, 2025
Todd Almond is no stranger to the stage. A 1999 alum of the UC College-Conservatory of Music with a BFA in Acting and BM in Vocal Performance, he got his start in local Cincinnati productions in the early 2000s. Since then, he’s gone on to a career as a performer in Broadway musicals, a writer of acclaimed plays and a singer/composer on multiple original albums. Now, Almond adds the title of “author” to his multi-hyphenate. In a recent interview with CityBeat, Almond discusses his new book, Slow Train Coming: Bob Dylan’s Girl from the North Country and Broadway’s Rebirth, chronicling his experience as a Broadway actor during the Covid-19 pandemic.
May 6, 2025
CCM congratulates Erin Alcorn (DMA Voice ‘25) for her recent first place win at UC’s GradNEXT Competition, a Shark Tank-style event where UC students pitch their ideas for how the university can reshape graduate education. In addition to her first place win, Alcorn took home the Audience Choice Prize, and will receive funding support for her dissertation project: the UC ARIA Initiative, incorporating virtual reality into art song performance.
May 5, 2025
UC College-Conservatory of Music Dean Pete Jutras has announced the appointment of Jose Maria Condemi, MFA, as CCM's new Associate Professor of Opera. His faculty appointment officially begins on Aug. 15, 2025.
