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Voice
Voice and Opera at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Professionally active voice/opera faculty
  • Successful alumni performing worldwide
  • Comprehensive opera program with mainstage productions, workshops, outreach and more

Voice Major: What's in it for me?
  • A one-hour private voice lesson and a studio master class each week for education and performance majors
  • Extensive performance opportunities: principal and supporting roles in the chorus for University Opera productions; a chance to solo with the university's choral ensembles, the Contemporary Music Ensemble, Early Music Ensembles; auditions for the annual Concerto Competition; solo and joint recitals
  • Guest Artist performances and master classes
    • Recent guests include Frederica von Stade, Ben Hepner, Dawn Upshaw, Nathan Gunn, Sumi Jo, Sylvia McNair and Danielle de Niese.


The Voice and Opera faculty welcomes visits by prospective students for sample lessons and to discuss the program

Recent Alumni Accomplishments

  • Nate Stampley (BM 2008) starred as Mufasa in “The Lion King” on Broadway, and played both Robbins and Porgy in American Repertory Theatre’s 2012 “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.”  He was in the cast of the Broadway production “The Color Purple,” played Mufasa in West End London in a long-run production of “The Lion King” and toured across the United States in “Ragtime.” 
  • Brenda Rae (BM 2004) made her debut with the Vienna State Opera in June 2012 in the role of Lucia (broadcast live over international radio).  A member of the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt, she has sung roles including Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte.  Her 2011 debuts included Zerbinetta in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos in Bordeaux and Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo with the Glyndebourne Festival.  She will make her debut with Santa Fe Opera in 2013 as Violetta. 
  • This fall, Sam Handley (MM 2001) made his European debut as Escamillo in a new production of Carmen with Theater Aachen.  He returns this season to Lyric Opera of Chicago for their production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg as Hans Foltz and will debut with the Canadian Opera Company in Salome before finishing the season with Seattle Opera in their highly acclaimed Der Ring des Nibelungen.  Last season, Sam made his Asian debut in Beijing, China at the National Centre for the Performing Arts as Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, conducted by Lorin Maazel.  He made his Severance Hall and Carnegie Hall debuts with The Cleveland Orchestra in performances of Salome with Franz Welser-Möst.  After being chosen as a member of Lyric's Ryan Opera Center in Chicago, Sam returned to the Upper Midwest from Texas where he earned his DMA at the University of Houston in 2007.  In his three years at Lyric he performed more than a dozen roles, and covered many more.  He still maintains a home in downtown Chicago (near the Opera House), and enjoys hosting fellow UW alumni and Madison friends!
  • More alumni accomplishments


Undergraduate Admission Requirements

Please see information on the School of Music Application Process.

Auditions will be held on:

January 26, 2013

February 23, 2013 

Perform an audition, up to 10 minutes, for the appropriate faculty. You may bring your own accompanist, or we will provide one. If you will require our accompanist, please send one copy of your audition music to arrive at least two (2) weeks prior to the audition date. Please include your name on all pages of music. You will be evaluated based on tonal quality, rhythm, intonation, phrasing, interpretation, diction, and stage presence as well as overall musical ability and accuracy.

Your audition should include:

  1. Two classical selections to be sung by memory (may include an appropriate opera or oratorio aria). One song must be in English; the second song may be in English but a foreign language is preferred.
  2. Short ear-training exam
  3. Sight reading


MM Admission Requirements
Please see information on the School of Music Application Process. In addition:

Voice candidates are required to submit a preliminary recording in MP3 format for evaluation (see Uploads for more info). The recording should include an aria from opera or oratorio plus two art songs. Preliminary recordings must be submitted with your School of Music application and received no later than October 15th for a November audition, and no later than December 1st for all other auditions. A recording WILL NOT BE EVALUATED WITHOUT A COMPLETED APPLICATION FILE. Please contact the area chair, Professor Mimmi Fulmer (mkfulmer@wisc.edu), for more information. Applicants will be invited to campus for a live audition based on the preliminary recording and application materials. Early submission of screening recording and application file is encouraged so applicants receive results as soon as possible.

Voice auditions will be held on:
November 17, 2012
January 18 (if necessary) & 19, 2013
February 8(if necessary) & 9, 2013

If you are invited to audition, you may bring your own accompanist or arrange to have one here. Contact the area chair for a list of accompanists. The applicant is responsible for accompanist fees. A live audition is necessary for admission.

Audition repertoire for MM in voice: 5 pieces, including one aria from opera or oratorio and four art songs; demonstrate facility in a variety of languages (including English, Italian, French and German), styles and periods.

Bring five copies of the list of your audition repertoire to your audition.

Doctoral Minor
The purpose of the doctoral minor is to add breadth and depth to the D.M.A or Ph.D degree. To insure coherence a minor program must be approved by the appropriate department, a student's advisor, and the Director of Graduate Studies, and must include courses at the 300-level or above. Typically, a minor requires 12 credits of work.

Students have a variety of options, including completing an internal minor within the School of Music (e.g., a D.M.A. conducting student who minors in ethnomusicology or a Ph.D. in music theory who minors in clarinet performance), completing a minor in a department outside the School of Music (e.g., a D.M.A. in horn performance who minors in Women's Studies or a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology who minors in East Asian studies). Students may, in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, devise a distributed minor that brings together courses from a variety of departments around a particular topic or area of interest. For example, a D.M.A. student in voice devises a minor in vocal health that includes courses in communicative disorders, or a Ph.D. student in musicology devises a minor in Medieval History that includes courses in art history, history, and languages.

DMA Admission Requirements
Please see information on the School of Music Application Process. In addition:

Voice candidates are required to submit a preliminary recording in MP3 format for evaluation (see Uploads for more info). A recording WILL NOT BE EVALUATED WITHOUT A COMPLETED APPLICATION FILE. The recording should include an aria from opera or oratorio plus two art songs. Preliminary recordings must be submitted with your School of Music application and received no later than October 15th for a November audition, and no later than December 1st for all other auditions. Please contact the area chair, Professor Mimmi Fulmer (mkfulmer@wisc.edu), for more information. Applicants will be invited to campus for a live audition based on the preliminary recording and application materials. Early submission of screening recording and application file is encouraged so applicants receive results as soon as possible.

Voice auditions will be held on:
November 17, 2012
January 18 (if necessary) & 19, 2013
February 8 (if necessary) & 9, 2013

If you are invited to audition, you may bring your own accompanist or arrange to have one here. Contact the area chair for a list of accompanists. The applicant is responsible for accompanist fees. A live audition is necessary for admission.

Prepare a program in recital format to include:

*one aria from oratorio or opera
*3 German Lieder
*3 French melodies
*3 Italian art songs
*3 English art songs

Faculty will hear selected pieces from the program. Bring five copies of the list of your audition repertoire to your audition.