Choral conducting

Laying the foundations for a career in choral conducting

Key data

Degree: Master of Arts FHNW in Spezialisierter Musikalischer Performance, Studienrichtung Chorleitung
ECTS points: 120
Start of semester: Beginning of September
Studying mode: Full time
Duration: 4 semesters
Teaching language: German, A2 level in German required
Place: Campus Musik-Akademie Basel
Stay abroad: Possible, not curricular
Application fee: 200 CHF
Semester fee: 700 CHF (CH) | 1000 CHF (EU/EFTA) | 1250 CHF (Not-EU/Not-EFTA) More Fees

The FHNW Master of Arts in Specialised Music Performance Choral Conducting is aimed at students with a Bachelor or Master’s degree in Music who wish to pursue a career as a choral conductor.

Perfecting conducting, vocal and instrumental techniques

Students will work with both secular and sacred choral music. This specialised graduate programme aims to produce knowledgeable, versatile and flexible professional choral conductors. Students perfect their conducting, vocal and instrumental techniques, and benefit from tuition that draws on the latest research in a variety of fields such as historical performance practice. Students also learn to adopt a critical approach to the use and reading of primary sources.

Overview

Choral Conducting Minor – Course content:

Evaluating and honing one’s own conducting practice and methods
Development of an individual and expressive conducting idiom based on the technical knowledge and skills acquired to date
Expanding one’s conducting repertoire in preparation for a future career (repertoire for equal or mixed voices; a cappella and instrument repertoire; sacred and secular works; works of varying degrees of difficulty)
Practical work with university choirs, student ensembles and an external orchestra
Extensive exposure to and examination of historical performance practice, relevant source material and academic literature, writing a term paper
Conducting a concert of one’s own devising (Master’s qualification)

Core curriculum

Major module (81 CP):

Choral conducting
Conducting studio
Courses/projects
Choir/chamber choir

Complementary courses

Practical module (27 CP):
Conducting practice and rehearsal techniques
Practical training with university choirs
Practical training with external choirs
Score reading

Theory/context module (3 CP):
Interpretationsforum, Colloquium 48
Contextual events

Elective courses

Personalised module (12 CP):
Minor or courses/activities chosen from the electives on offer
Singing

Detailed module description
Structure

Admission criteria
In order to enter the FHNW Master of Arts in Specialized Musical Performance programme with a Major in Choral Conducting, applicants must be in possession of a Bachelor in Music or a Bachelor in Music and Movement (or an equivalent degree) as well as they must have passed the entrance exam and were offered a free place at the Academy (limited places of admission). Applicants who have submitted all the necessary registration documents in time will be invited to a live audition. For further information on the admission criteria, please see the Studienreglement of the Master of Arts FHNW in Specialized Music Performance.

Required skills

Experience of reading choral scores of different musical styles and eras
Basic conducting skills
Ear training qualification (minimum mark of 4.8, or Grade C)
Excellent piano proficiency and basic score-playing/reading skills
Basic knowledge of early musical notation/clefs and transposing vocals
Choral and/or solo singing experience
Pedagogical abilities, leadership qualities

Language Skills
We expect students to have sufficient German language skills at the beginning of the studies. Students who are not German native speakers must present a A2 German language certificate according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) at the beginning of the studies.

Entrance exam
The entrance exam is split into several parts.

Procedure
A. Individual exam (approx. 45 minutes)
Piano
Sight-reading of a chorale by Johann Sebastian Bach (with a min. of two systems and using modern clefs)
Playing a technically challenging solo piece
Playing an instrumental part in early clefs (soprano, alto, tenor clefs) or for voice transposition (clarinet, trumpet, horn)
Singing
Singing a song either a cappella or accompanied
Score work
Conducting two preprepared choral scores from different eras of the applicant’s choosing, e.g. madrigal, simple motet from the Baroque era or a Romantic choral Song, playing these on the piano, and singing the different parts thereof
B. Choir rehearsal (approx. 20 minute)
Prerequisite
Passing part 1
Choir rehearsal
Conducting a vocal ensemble (provided by the university) based on one or both scores presented during the technical exam.

Evaluation
The jury consists of the lecturers of the respective major and a member of the directional board and they will evaluate the major exam.

Dates
The live auditions will take place at the end of April. The exact dates may be seen here.

Registration
You may apply between 15th December and 15th February.
Along with the registration, it is mandatory to submit the following documents:
A curriculum vitae, a motivational letter, the school leaving qualification, the Bachelor Diploma.
In case that the applicant already holds a Master Diploma, we also need a copy of that as well as the scores for the choral pieces and the piano pieces.

Announcement of the results
The results will be communicated by mail in May.

Learning from the best

Martin Wettges, born in Regensburg in 1983, studied conducting at the conservatories in Cincinnati, Vienna and Munich and has been choral director of the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo since 2018. Previously he held the same position at Opera North in Leeds. In 2016, he changed to the Meininger Staatstheater as choral director with conducting duties, where he regularly conducted symphony concerts with the traditional Meininger Hofkapelle in addition to opera performances. As a choral conductor, he has worked with the choir of the Herrenchiemsee Festival, the Meiningen Kantorei, the Munich Motet Choir, and many others. Martin Wettges is also artistic director of the choral festival Various Voices. He lectured in conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich from 2008 to 2013. In 2012, he was also called to lecture at the Institute for Musicology at the LMU Munich. Since 2011, Martin Wettges has been artistic director of the Music Academy of the German National Academic Foundation in Brixen/South Tyrol, which he founded.