Overview
The Academy's distinctive postgraduate Choral Conducting courses embrace a comprehensive range of sacred music for concert and service plus selected secular repertoire.
It is the UK’s longest-established specialist postgraduate choral conducting course, founded in 1997. We equip students with the necessary skills to become leaders of choirs all around the world. Choosing to study in the centre of London, at the heart of the diverse British choral tradition, provides an unrivalled learning environment.
Classes and Activities
As a Choral Conducting student, you will work intensively with members of the Academy's Chamber Choir. We also have close working relationships with the BBC Singers, the Choir of Royal Holloway, University of London, the Joyful Company of Singers, the Renaissance Singers, and the Music Makers of London as well as the adult and professional and children's choirs of the London Oratory. Self-generated work is seen as essential and we encourage you to take up positions with choirs outside the Academy during your studies.
Rehearsal Techniques
Repertoire
Stylistic Performance Practice
Technique and Interpretation
This is the core of the course, delivered in intensive weekly classes – usually totalling eight hours per week.
Aural skills
A specialist weekly class at advanced level.
Editing
Specialist teaching is available for students who wish to develop scholarly editing skills.
Vocal Technique
Our specialist voice teachers will help you develop your own voice and deepen your understanding of vocal techniques essential for training choirs.
Contextual Studies
You will have the opportunity to study Gregorian chant, chorale and other liturgical music forms up to the present day to give you insight into the religious, cultural and compositional contexts of the core European choral repertoire.
Assessment
In the final year, you are assessed on a self-organised concert outside the Academy and on a rehearsal and performance with the Academy Chamber Choir.
Entry Requirements
Academic Qualifications
You will usually hold a Bachelor's degree at lower second-class honours (2:2) or higher, or an international qualification of an equivalent standard. This degree is normally, but not necessarily, in music.
Written Requirements
Unlike the Master of Arts (MA) track, the Master of Music (MMus) requires you to submit an academic project proposal. This must be uploaded to your Acceptd application profile to demonstrate your readiness for academic research alongside performance.
See Entry Requirements for more information.
Auditions
We want you to view your audition as a practical workshop and an artistic collaboration rather than a rigid test. Our panel is looking for your communicative clarity, your rehearsal efficiency, your physical gestural command, and your potential for growth. Try to relax, focus on how you shape the choral texture and connect with the singers, and let us hear who you are as a conductor.
The Master of Music (MMus) selection process for Choral Conducting is integrated into our postgraduate assessment framework. This allows candidates to demonstrate their artistic authority, aural precision, ensemble-training efficiency, and capacity for postgraduate research through a multi-stage practical audition and an academic evaluation.
Your Audition Repertoire & Process
The Choral Conducting audition process is highly structured and runs across two distinct assessment rounds.
Round 1: Digital Video Pre-Screening
You must upload your first-round video recordings to the Acceptd portal. Your video performance recordings must be filmed strictly from the singers' view of the conductor, showing your full physical height. The recordings must be unedited and continuous, presenting you conducting the following two specific works:
- Parry:My soul, there is a country (from 'Songs of Farewell')
- Byrd:Ave verum corpus
Note: If you are unable to secure a live group of singers for this video session, you are permitted to conduct a piano arrangement of the scores. You may also optionally upload up to a maximum of 10 additional minutes of footage showing you rehearsing or performing a choir in a piece of your own choice.
Round 2: Live Recall Workshop (London)
Candidates selected for the second round will be invited to the Academy in London for a live practical assessment with a small choir of Academy students (12 singers). This round consists of:
- The Set-Work Rehearsal (12 Minutes): You will be asked to rehearse the student choir in one work assigned by the panel from the following list (using the Academy's specific designated editions):
- Gibbons: Almighty and everlasting God
- Tomkins: I heard a voice
- Byrd: Cibavit eos
- Byrd: Venite comedite
- The Own-Choice Rehearsal (12 Minutes): You will additionally rehearse the choir in a contrasting or complementary unaccompanied work (sacred or secular, in English or Latin) of your own choice. This piece must stem from a later musical period than the set Tudor/Renaissance works above. You must bring 14 physical copies of your chosen score (12 for the choir, 2 for the panel).
What to Expect: Panel Interview & Aural Tests
Selected candidates from the live workshop will be invited to a formal interview with the audition panel later the same day. This comprehensive evaluation includes:
- Excerpt Conducting: You will be given a number of unfamiliar choral excerpts directly inside the interview room, asked to comment on them analytically, and conduct their openings on demand.
- Aural Skill Assessments: The panel will test your listening ears through the identification of intervals, determining the number of notes contained within a cluster chord, identifying a common chord after an unrelated named pitch is sounded, and sight-singing.
- General Discussion: A conversation tracking your prior knowledge of choral literature, your specific musical enthusiasms, your career goals, and interpretative matters arising from your rehearsal style.
Postgraduate Academic & Application Profile
Because the Master of Music (MMus) is a research-led track that includes compulsory written components, critical portfolios, or a dissertation alongside your principal conducting studies, your application profile must satisfy both practical and academic benchmarks.
Your digital application profile on the Acceptd portal must contain:
- Concert Biography: A formal biography formatted as you would provide for a concert programme (please note that this is separate from your standard CV).
- Curriculum Vitae (CV): A current copy of your CV detailing your formal musical education, masterclasses, and past ensemble or church appointments.
- Spoken English Introduction: A short recorded verbal introduction introducing yourself, your musical background, and your professional goals to the faculty panel.
- Written Material / Research Proposal: MMus candidates must submit examples of written work or a research proposal to demonstrate that they possess the critical writing and analytical skills required to undertake postgraduate academic research.
Please note: Your ultimate course placement remains flexible. Because the practical audition is identical for both pathways, all MMus candidates are automatically considered for the Master of Arts (MA) track. If the panel feels your conducting standard is excellent but your academic profile is better suited to a purely practical pathway, you may be offered an MA place instead. The programme pathway and choices can be discussed and adjusted with the panel during your assessment.
For more information see auditions.