MA Specialised Performance | Choral Conducting

Basel Academy of Music

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Is it your professional goal to conduct choirs professionally? Would you like to develop an expressive conducting language and practise working with university choirs, student ensembles and external orchestras during your studies? Would you like to develop, rehearse and perform your own concert project? Then our Choral Conducting degree is the next step after a successful BA or MA degree in Music.

Factsheet

Degree: Master of Arts FHNW in Spezialisierter Musikalischer Performance, Studienrichtung Chorleitung
Study mode: Full-time
Learning environment: Onsite
ECTS points: 120
Next start: 14.9.2026
Duration: 4 semesters
Language: B1 level in German required
Staying abroad: Possible
Application fee: 200 CHF
Semester fee: 750 CHF (CH) | 1000 CHF (EU/EFTA) | 1250 CHF (Not-EU/Not-EFTA)

At a glance

Expansion of the ensemble’s repertoire by incorporating historical performance practice and sources
Development of an expressive conducting language with practical relevance to various choirs and ensembles
Critical study of sources

Why study this?

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.

The course contents the following topics:

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)

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.

This study course is aimed at musicians who wish to specialise in choral conducting and pursue a career as a choral conductor.

Study variant available

The combined master's program – Choral Conducting and education in music pedagogy

MA Music Pedagogy | instrument/voice | Choral Conducting

Students who already hold a master's degree in Musical Performance with an instrumental/vocal major have the possibility to combine in one Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy programme artistic specialization in Choral Conducting and pedagogical education in their own instrument. This dual profile considerably expands their career opportunities.

MA Music Pedagogy | instrument / voice | Choral Conducting

Thinking of choosing an artistic specialisation or Music Pedagogy as a second master’s degree? Why not both? Students who have already completed a master’s degree in Performance, instrument/voice, have the opportunity to combine their artistic training in Choral Conducting with their own instrument or singing as part of an MA in Music Pedagogy. Learn to conduct choirs and ensembles at various levels professionally and, at the same time, acquire the qualification to teach your instrument or singing at educational institutions or independently.

Structure and programme contents

The BA and MA degree programmes at the Basel Academy of Music are based on modules.

The legally binding structure provides an initial guide to the content and weighting of the subjects on the degree programme.
The detailed content and modalities of the individual subjects can be found in the module descriptions.
The study regulations come into force together with the study and examination regulations of the Basel Academy of Music FHNW and form the legal framework.

Structure

Structure MA SP Klassik Choral Conducting in German

Module descriptions

Below please find the link with all the information on the module descriptions of several FHNW universities.

Switch the language settings to English.
Filter by semester, Hochschule für Musik Basel FHNW, the desired degree programme or other criteria to display the relevant module information.
Use the PDF button to call up a document from each overview and save it for yourself.
Course registrations are made via the intranet.

Module descriptions

Study Regulations

Study Regulations Master of Arts FHNW in Specialized Music Performance in German

Lecturers

Martin Wettges

More details

Institut Klassik

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All Lecturers

Requirements, admission, entrance exam

In order to enter the FHNW Master of Arts in Specialised Musical Performance programme with a Major in Choral Conducting, applicants must be in possession of a Bachelor in Music (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 Study regulations of the Master of Arts FHNW in Specialised Music Performance.

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 B1 German language certificate according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) at the beginning of the studies. This certificate must be complete, i.e. all modules (reading, listening, writing, speaking) have been tested separately and passed at least at level B1 overall. Only certificates that have been certified with the ALTE-Q-Mark seal of approval (e.g. the B1 certificate of the Goethe-Institut or the telc certificate) are accepted. The required certificate B1 must be submitted with the confirmation of admission but not later than 31st May. Exceptions will be decided upon by the head of degree programme.

General Registration Procedure All about Studying in Basel

Entrance Exam

The entrance exam is individual for each study programme direction.

Dates

Registration
You may apply between 15th December and 1st March.
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.
For second master students the Master Diploma.
the scores for the choral pieces, the “Lied” and the piano pieces.

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

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

Procedure

The entrance exam is split into two parts.

Procedure
A. Individual exam (approx. 45 minutes, not public)
Piano
- Sight-reading of a chorale by Johann Sebastian Bach (with up to four 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 of a Lied either a cappella or accompanied

Interview

Score work
With regard to Part B (choir rehearsal) of the examination with a vocal ensemble:
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 Lied, playing these on the piano, and singing the different parts thereof

B. Choir rehearsal (approx. 20 minutes, internal to the university)
Prerequisite
Passing part A

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.

Organisational matters

Projects / Ensembles

At Hochschule für Musik Basel, students have the opportunity to participate in various project and ensemble programmes.
To the overview of the recurring offers.

Quicklinks

Files and Regulations