Laying the foundations for a career in choral conducting
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)
The FHNW Master of Arts in Specialised Music Performance Choral Conducting is aimed at musicians who wish to specialise in choral conducting.
Holders of a FHNW Master of Arts in Specialised Music Performance Choral Conducting are qualified to lead choirs and other vocal ensembles, whether amateur, semi-professional or professional, and different line-ups.
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
As a general rule, the FHNW Master of Arts in Specialised Music Performance Choral Conducting follows directly on from a Master’s programme in Music Performance or Music Pedagogy with an Instrumental Major. In exceptional cases, students holding a Bachelor degree or equivalent qualification may be admitted on the programme. Prospective students must also pass the entrance exam and win a place on the programme (numbers are limited).
Only applicants who have submitted the required registration documentation duly completed and on time will be invited to take the entrance examination. Applicants must also be sufficiently proficient in the German language from the outset (e.g. German B1 certificate).
General information about the entrance exam, aptitude test and exam dates can be found on the Entrance Exams page.
Admission criteria
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
Entrance exam
The entrance exam comprises two parts:
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)
Piano: Playing a technically challenging solo piece
Piano: Playing an instrumental part in early clefs (soprano, alto, tenor clefs) or for voice transposition (clarinet, trumpet, horn)
Singing of a lied either a cappella or accompanied
Conducting two pre-prepared choral scores from different eras of the applicant’s choosing, e.g. madrigal, simple motet from the Baroque era or a Romantic choral Lied, playing these on the piano, and singing the different parts thereof (literature reference: Chor aktuell, Bosse 1983)
Interview with examiners
Choir rehearsal (approx. 20 minute):
Conducting a vocal ensemble (provided by the university) based on one or both scores presented during the technical exam.
Raphael Immoos is professor of choral conducting and conductor of various vocal ensembles at the FHNW School of Music. He was a member of the artistic advisory board of the European Youth Choir Festival, he conducted the Academic Orchestra Basel and managed the Cappella Nova vocal ensemble with a focus on contemporary music. In 2013, Raphael Immoos succeeded Fritz Näf as artistic director of the Basler Madrigalisten.
Raphael Immoos is professor of choral conducting and conductor of various vocal ensembles at the FHNW School of Music. He was a member of the artistic advisory board of the European Youth Choir Festival, he conducted the Academic Orchestra Basel and managed the Cappella Nova vocal ensemble with a focus on contemporary music. In 2013, Raphael Immoos succeeded Fritz Näf as artistic director of the Basler Madrigalisten.
Academy of Music
An international institute of higher education and research
The application window is open from mid-December to the end of February. Information days on the degree programmes are held in mid-January. More information about the info days at musikstudium-basel.ch
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, B1 level in German required
Place:
Campus Musik-Akademie Basel
Stay abroad:
Possible, not curricular
Application fee:
200 CHF
Semester fee:
700 CHF for Swiss citizens and students with legal place of residence in Switzerland | 1000 CHF for students from EU-/EFTA-countries | 1250 CHF for students from third countries