Hello all! I’ve been looking at Oklahoma City University’s musical theatre major which requires it’s students to be classically trained (voice, music theory, etc.) and also requires the students to audition for the operas as well as the musicals. I am super interested to know if there are other schools with programs like this that anyone knows about.
Off the top of my heard, NYU Steinhardt has a BM with an emphasis in Music Theatre, so does James Madison University through the School of Music.
When looking at the websites for information, make sure that you are looking at Steinhardt (not Tisch) at NYU, and at the School of Music (not the School of Theatre and Dance) at James Madison in order to find the BM program information. Tisch also offers a BFA in Drama with Musical Theatre as the emphasis through New Studio on Broadway, and James Madison a BA in Musical Theatre through the School of Theatre and Dance.
Here are some schools that offer a BM-MT: James Madison University, The Catholic University of America, Belmont University, Missouri Baptist University, University of Southern Maine, University of Miami, NYU Steinhardt, Florida State University, Western Carolina University, Baldwin Wallace University, Arizona State University, Oklahoma City University, University of Colorado at Boulder, Westminster Choir College, and University of Central Oklahoma.
Additionally, Onstageblog put out a “top 10” list specific to BM-MT not too long ago. Here’s a link:
Baldwin Wallace and Belmont are two others I can think of you may wish to look into. Both have a Bachelor in Music in MT
The University of Illinois has a new BM program in Lyric Theatre, with a lot of cross-over with classical training and opera: https://music.illinois.edu/degree/bachelor-musical-arts-lyric-theatre
Arizona State’s program combines opera and musical theatre: https://music.asu.edu/music-theatre-and-opera
Pepperdine’s Music and Theatre degree program offers cross-over with their opera program, which is very well-regarded.
As mentioned by other posts, NYU Steinhardt and OKCU are two schools that I believe have a classical basis to their MT programs with cross-over into opera or operatic styles possible.
My d was also very interested in auditioning for several BM programs this last year along with many MT BFA programs. One that isn’t mentioned often is U of Illinois. They have a Lyric theatre program that is fairly new. My d auditioned there at Chicago unifieds and loved them! She also auditioned at Steinhardt, Miami, Belmont, ASU and FSU. Actually, she canceled her ASU audition after a few acceptances elsewhere. My d ultimately decided to go to okcu in the fall. Best of luck!