Master Concert (Classical Voice)

In the Master's degree course Concert (Classical Voice), students acquire the prerequisites to work successfully as professional concert singers. In addition to developing a profound vocal technique, the focus is on song, oratorio, concert and vocal pedagogy.

Deepen your own interests in the elective area

Students can deepen their interests in the field of contemporary music (in cooperation with the IzM) and/or historical interpretation practice (in cooperation with the HIP department). The training in the central subjects of singing, concert repertoire, song interpretation and pedagogy is supplemented by a wide range of electives to deepen individual interests and skills, in which accompanying courses in self-management, movement/health are offered. Working on internal and external artistic projects is a central component of the training.

Networking, support and team teaching

The degree program is particularly committed to networking the teaching staff of all modules in the interests of the students. Through various team teaching formats and a close exchange between lecturers and students, personal and individual support for students is to be achieved.

Through the development of comprehensive skills, students are enabled to adapt to the constantly changing professional field and to successfully contribute to the changing cultural landscape as soloists and ensemble singers and to do justice to a wide variety of performance formats.

in 2011, the vocal department of the HfMDK was awarded the Hessian Excellence Prize for University Teaching.

Please note: We offer the Master of Opera and Voice for students with the career goal of becoming a singer-actor.

Admission to the Master's degree course Concert (Classical Voice) requires a degree from a university of music or a comparable university in Germany or abroad with a major in singing or a comparable degree, sufficient knowledge of the German language (B2 for non-native speakers), a certificate of ENT and a passed aptitude test.

ENT certificate

• The ENT certificate must be issued by a specialist in phoniatrics and prove the vocal physiological suitability for a singing course.
• The ENT certificate must not be older than six months at the time of application.
• If you are unable to obtain the ENT certificate before March 1, please submit it by e-mail by June 15.
• Foreign certificates will also be accepted, provided you enclose a translation into German.
• We may also ask you to submit a phoniatric certificate at a later date.

The aptitude test for the Master Concert (Classical Voice) includes a digital pre-selection in accordance with §11 of the aptitude test regulations.

For the digital pre-selection, the following must be submitted as a video as part of the online application:

• Name and self-introduction in a few sentences about your musical career and motivation for the Master's program
• Selection of 3 works of different styles from the program to be submitted for the presence aptitude test (see below)

The repertoire must be sung in the original language and in 2 other languages in addition to German. The oratorio arias can be performed with sheet music, songs must be performed by heart and can be presented with a playback piano accompaniment or without piano accompaniment if no accompanist is available for the audio recording.

Please upload your videos to a streaming platform of your choice (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo, Clouds, etc.). The videos must be accessible without a password and must be able to be streamed without downloading the file.

Please create one video file per work. Please submit the links to the videos with your online application.

We recommend that you are under the age of 28 at the start of the degree course Master Concert (Classical Voice).

The program can only be carried out on the basis of good linguistic communication skills, which is why a good knowledge of German is a prerequisite for the vocal program.

If you pass the digital pre-selection (see above), you will be invited to the first attendance round, which will be carried out unchanged on the basis of the full program.

The examination takes place in two attendance rounds of approx. 10 minutes each and can therefore extend over several days. In each round, the commission selects from the repertoire submitted. If suitability appears possible in the first round, an invitation to the second round will be extended.

In addition, it is checked on the basis of files (academic achievements from the previous course(s)) whether the applicant has sufficient knowledge of Italian. If not, the examination board may impose an obligation to take further Italian courses as part of the elective area.

Further provisions regarding the aptitude test and other admission requirements are governed by the aptitude test regulations of the University of Music and Performing Arts in their current version.

A challenging program of approx. 40 minutes duration must be submitted, including

• 4 arias from oratorios, chamber cantatas or other concert literature, at least one of which must include a recitative,
• one opera aria (staged)
• 6 songs
• A prepared prose text or a poem in German of a maximum of 5 minutes in length, to be performed from memory
• A discussion will take place in the presence rounds as determined by the examination board.
• Oratorios and songs must be chosen from at least 3 periods, including
  • at least one aria by J.S. Bach, one by Mozart/Haydn and
  • a composition after 1970 or a work of the Second Viennese School (this refers to works composed (after 1908) by the Second Viennese School and its followers that are composed free-tonally or dodecaphonically. In this sense, works composed before 1970 by Messiaen, Dallapiccola and others are also admissible);
• the operatic aria may be chosen at will.

The repertoire must be sung in the original language and in at least 2 other languages in addition to German. The oratorio arias can be performed with sheet music, songs and opera arias must be performed by heart.

The Study and Examination Regulations (SPO) set out the framework conditions and regulations for your studies. They apply together with the General Regulations (for Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes) or the SPoL (for teacher training degree programmes). All versions of the SPO for your degree programme (including earlier versions for students of previous academic years) can be found at Examinations.