<p>D2 has high school classmate who majoring in vocal performance (Opera) with minors in modern romance languages (Italian, French) at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.</p>
<p>School had good need based aid, but does require the CSS Profle.</p>
<p>Thank you all! I will look into a bunch of the schools and summer programs you mentioned. I just hate the idea that my son didn’t get to do something because we didn’t know what to do. Arrrgghh!</p>
<p>Lots of us didn’t know what we were doing!</p>
<p>I want to address your son’s academics. If he ends up going to a stand-alone conservatory, grades and test scores will not matter much. He will, however, want to begin languages in high school because Opera students are required to study several languages.</p>
<p>My S is going to be a senior in HS this coming fall. He’s planning on majoring in voice in college. We have been getting recommendations from people who know my son, his personality and his voice. Once we get a recommendation for a particular voice teacher, we try to set up a lesson and tour of the college/conservatory. He wants to get a feel for the teacher before he applies. </p>
<p>For summer programs, my S just finished Songfest in Los Angeles yesterday. The faculty is top notch and S had lessons and coaching with some of the best. It was a great experience. He is headed to Westminster Choir College next week for the Solo Vocal Artist program. We chose it because of daily voice lessons with Westminster faculty. You can PM me after it’s over (July 22) to get son’s feedback.</p>
<p>My advice, fwiw, take it easy, go slow, don’t push. Boys voices don’t mature until their mid-twenties so you’ve got plenty of time. Just make sure he’s working with teachers and coaches that understand young voices. This is a marathon, not a sprint!</p>
<p>Second the marathon. And note that you do have to be cautious about summer programs–my daughter had a friend whose voice was actually ruined during a summer program by a bad teacher in a well-respected program.</p>
<p>Another thing…someone upstream mentioned looking for a teacher in undergrad with a good reputation for sending kids to great grad programs. I second this. It is very important especially for opera. Many of the best programs for opera are really graduate programs…and some post graduate programs (Boston University’s opera institute, for example is for post grads).</p>
<p>Oklahoma City University has a surprisingly good opera program.</p>
<p>I don’t really know anything about the program other than a friend of our’s DD studied Opera at University of Alabama-Birmingham and is now a professional Opera singer. Something to look into.</p>
<p>Another lesser known option is University of New Mexico. The vocal department has several (retired) professional opera singers on faculty and its grads often go onto join any of several touring opera companies. The Santa Fe Opera is only an hour away and students often intern there or take supporting roles in the summer productions.</p>
<p>Some UNM FAQs here: </p>
<p>[UNM</a> Department of Music :: Main](<a href=“http://music.unm.edu/unm_music/faqs/index.htm#4]UNM”>http://music.unm.edu/unm_music/faqs/index.htm#4)</p>
<p>With your son’s stats, he will be eligible for some merit awards at UNM. Most likely he’ll be eligible for in-state tuition rates which put the COA at ~$15,000</p>
<p>Oberlin COLLEGE (my all-cap emphasis on purpose here) prides itself on getting as close as possible, each year, to achieving 50-state representation in its freshman class. That’s from within the USA, aside from the international representation of course.</p>
<p>I am remembering a college student friend from Missoula at Oberlin who felt her hometown address helped her chance of admission to the College. Another friend, raised in North Dakota, was a piano performance student at the Conservatory. She believed that - even though Conservatory admission is audition-based - it “didn’t hurt/ might have helped” that she hailed from North Dakota.</p>
<p>Perhaps your son wants to explore Oberlin’s option for a double degree. One of their options is a 5-year program resulting in two college degrees (B.A. or B.S. from College and the B.Mus from Conservatory.) As you can imagine, this program requires tremendous hard work but the students are phenomenal. The College and Con run two separate admission processes, and he’d have to satisfy both sets of admissions criteria, independently.</p>
<p>Once enrolled, the social life of the campus is integrated and seamless, so he could have roommates from College or Con.
Many students enjoy that fluid experience. I was an Art History major at the college there, but still think fondly of my Opera-major roommate sophomore year, who woke me up with song! I packed away my alarm clock that year.</p>
<p>What I’d be wondering about, in your position right now, is whether his Montana geography (which is definitely helpful towards the College admission process) might also give him a boost on the Conservatory side. </p>
<p>Another thing to consider is that at 15, he doesn’t yet know all the possible career choices. During college, he might continue, or move away from, his current ambition to become a performing artist. </p>
<p>I know one recent Oberlin graduate who came to realize, midway through the Conservatory (and only the Conservatory) that, although fully talented and becoming beautifully trained, he wanted to strike a different balance with his own intellectual and social sides. At the end of his sophomore year, he applied and was accepted, for TRANSFER from Con to College at Oberlin (and a few other places, just as safeties). That’s a very unusual choice, and most students don’t transfer from one to the other – but it is possible.</p>
<p>Embracing the college, and himself as a college student, he selected a popular academic major where he had enough credits to graduate on time. After graduation, he took a Masters degree that prepared him to work in the business/legal aspects of the music industry, and found work he enjoys greatly (last I heard) in the area of copyright in the music publishing industry.</p>
<p>Most Conservatory students finish up as Conservatory students, but it’s interesting to consider that your son might want to be in a position - at a school such as Oberlin or Eastman - where he can move sideways if his career focus changes, and stay on the same campus among the same friends.</p>
<p>I sent you a private message. I see you are a new member, hope you are able to see it.</p>
<p>Indiana University has one of the top opera programs in the country</p>
<p><a href=“http://operagasm.com/2010/07/indiana-university-jacobs-school-of-music-a-legendary-school/[/url]”>http://operagasm.com/2010/07/indiana-university-jacobs-school-of-music-a-legendary-school/</a></p>