My daughter- who is now a senior in high school was just notified that she has been accepted for a live audition in VP at the Shepherd School of Music. Can anyone can tell us from experience how many performing opportunities there are at Rice for undergraduates? Also what about University of Michigan? This information is not easy to find, we have spent hours looking with no success and would like information from people who went there or are familiar with these schools. Are any undergraduates cast in Operas? We are assuming undergraduates perform in mostly Opera scenes and ensembles. Thank you!
@coloraturakid - Tossing this one to you for the answer to the Rice question, please!
@urenough - My D just finished her first semester at
The Shepherd School of Music. Congrats to your D for passing her prescreen. It’s a highly selective, very intimate program. My D is one of 3 Freshman VP students.
I would say that the performance opportunities for BM VP majors at Shepherd are there, but that was not why my D chose the school. Undergrads are not historically cast in roles in the operas, but it does happen. They are traditionally the chorus.
There are many concerts, recitals, and chorale performances for VP majors at Rice.
My D chose Shepherd because of her teacher, first. The selectivity of the program, second and thirdly because of the studio connection to MM students. She decided after performing non stop in HS, precollege and Summer study that her desire was to focus on protecting, training and growing her voice as safely as possible. VP is a long, long haul. Many BM and BFA programs do not nurture young voices correctly. Performing roles written for mature voices is a reckless trend that sadly happens all over US campuses.
My D was deciding between 2 schools las April. One conservatory with no graduate program and Shepherd. It went down to the wire ( both full tuition offers.) and she flew back to each to take additional lessons in each studio. My D decided that less performing and more nurturing/training was the best bet for her in the long term. She will be performing her whole life long!
SO- As a freshman & a sophomore it’s mostly class recitals and choral ensemble concerts. As a juniour and a senior students do opera scenes. As a senior you can in be cast in the main stage opera roles. That happened this year at Shepherd.
I hope my long winded response helps, feel free to PM me if you have further questions.
I wish you and your D a healthy & successful audition season. It’s rather a rollercoaster ride. Hold on tight.