Choral conducting

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)

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

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.

Learning from the best

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.

Prof. Raphael Immoos

Dozent für Dirigieren

Learning from the best

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.