’You will be welcomed into an innovative, nurturing and collaborative faculty with an exceptional record. Our aim is to help each student reach their full musical and artistic potential.’
Vocal & Opera
Vocal and operatic study at the Royal College of Music is designed to cater for your individual talents and aspirations.
We have an outstanding reputation for producing international classical artists, and students will receive training specifically designed for exceptional young singers preparing for a successful performing career.
As a student-centric institution we aim to keep the individual’s needs at the core of both our one-to-one and class provision. Students will work on developing a secure and flexible vocal technique with the help of our team of internationally acclaimed vocal professors and repertoire and operatic coaches. Our comprehensive range of classes will enhance all aspects of your craft and enable you to present yourself with confidence, authority and autonomy in a professional context.
’Being a part of the Vocal & Opera Faculty is, in one word, fulfilling. We are given the maximum opportunity to learn and practise our art.’
’The Vocal & Opera Faculty is so supportive of everyone. I’ve had some amazing experiences during my four-year Bachelor degree and have felt supported throughout by staff and fellow students.’
One-to-one lessons
One-to-one lessons are at the very heart of every RCM student’s learning experience. The Vocal & Opera Faculty is proud to have an impressive team of internationally acclaimed vocal professors, repertoire and operatic coaches. Our world-class professors offer students not only first-rate teaching, but also mentorship and networking opportunities.
Our close links with the wider music industry provide exceptional options to develop your career.
The RCM Opera Studio is one of the world’s leading advanced training courses in the world. Based in our purpose-built and fully functioning Britten Theatre, its nurturing environment offers training at the highest level for performers from around the globe and we host a number of fully-staged operatic productions a year. All our opera productions are attended by international press and agents, and are often streamed on opera international platforms, such as Medici TV.
Performance opportunities
Students in the RCM’s Vocal & Opera Faculty perform in operatic performances, recitals, oratorio performances and much more. They have numerous opportunities to perform modern and period works in collaboration with the Composition and Historical Performance faculties as well as working with distinguished artists both inside and outside the RCM across faculties on song, chamber music and other themed projects. These include recent collaborations with production company Tête à Tête and projects with English National Opera.
RCM singers have performed on the world’s greatest operatic and concert hall stages including the Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Wiener Staatsoper, Glyndebourne Festival, English National Opera, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Theater an der Wien, Metropolitan Opera New York, Santa Fe and Aix-en-Provence festivals, Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall.
In addition to performances within the RCM, further opportunities exist for external work through our extensive contacts in the music business and the engagements offered by the RCM Creative Careers Centre.
Vocal students benefit from regular masterclasses given by international artists and coaching from the répétiteurs of London’s world-renowned opera houses.
Soprano performing with a pianist on Open Day
Vocal masterclass with Louise Alder
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Soprano performing with an ensemble on Open Day
Vocal masterclass with Jonathan Lemalu
 Gabriel Tufail-Smith (Bartolo) 6x4.jpg)
Soprano performing in RCM Opera School’s production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (2025)
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RCM Opera School’s and Tête à Tête's production of Revolutions, featuring Ed Driver's Airtime (2024)
Soprano performing in Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony
Singers performing in the chorus of Les fêtes d’Hébé, a collaboration with the Académie de l’Opéra de Paris and Centre de musique baroque de Versailles
Our students enjoy regular masterclasses with high-profile visitors including:
- Sir Thomas Allen
- Louise Alder
- Sophie Bevan
- Dame Sarah Connolly
- Danielle de Niese
- Joyce El-Khoury
- Serena Gamberoni
- Angela Gheorghiu
- Sumi Jo
- Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
- Simon Keenlyside
- Gregory Kunde
- Ann Murray
- Brindley Sherratt
- Nicky Spence
- Roger Vignoles
- Edith Wiens
- Roderick Williams
Recent directors for operatic productions have included:
- Sir Thomas Allen
- Jeremy Sams
- Liam Steel
- Louise Bakker
- Ella Marchment
- Olivia Fuchs
- Stephen Barlow
- Polly Graham
- Bill Bankes-Jones
RCM vocal students are regularly recognised at international singing competitions including:
- Kathleen Ferrier Awards
- Wigmore Hall and Bollinger International Song Competition
- International Competition of Belcanto Vincenzo Bellini
- BBC Cardiff Singer of the World
- Grange Festival International Singing Competition
- Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
- Royal Over-Seas League Annual Singing Competition
- Cesti Competition
- Tenor Viñas Competition
- S’Hertogenbosch Singing Competition
- Göttingen Competition
- London Mozart Competition
Many progress onto internationally renowned Young Artist Programmes including:
- Jette Parker Artists Programme
- Bayerische Staatsoper Studio
- L’Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra national de Paris
- Zürich Opera Young Artists Programme
- Houston Grand Opera Studio
- Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Programme
- Scottish Opera
- Welsh National Opera’s Associate Artist scheme
- National Opera Studio
- ENO Harewood Young Artists
- Strasbourg Opera’s Jeunes voix du Rhin
- Stuttgart Opera Studio
- Bayerische Staatsoper Studio
- Frankfurt Ensemble
RCM singers have gone on to perform with renowned companies across the globe, many performing principal roles on the world’s greatest operatic stages. Such destinations include:
- Barbican
- Bayerische Staatsoper Studio
- Carnegie Hall
- Deutsche Oper Berlin
- English National Opera
- Garsington Opera
- Glyndebourne Festival Opera
- Grange Park Opera
- Houston Grand Opera
- La Scala, Milan
- Liceu, Barcelona
- Lyric Opera of Chicago
- Metropolitan Opera, New York
- Oper Frankfurt
- Opéra Bastille
- Opera North
- Royal Albert Hall
- Royal Festival Hall
- Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
- Scottish Opera
- Strasbourg Opera’s Jeunes voix du Rhin
- Stuttgart Opera Studio
- Theater an der Wien
- Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
- Théâtre du Châtelet
- Vienna State Opera
- Welsh National Opera
- Wiener Staatsoper
- Wigmore Hall
Celebrated alumni
- Louise Alder
- Sir Thomas Allen
- Sophie Bevan
- Alfie Boe
- Sarah-Jane Brandon
- Sally Burgess
- Paul Charles Clarke
- Dame Sarah Connolly
- Roderick Earle
- Gerald English
- Dame Anne Evans
- Helen Field
- Gerald Finley
- Michael George
- Martyn Hill
- Jason Howard
- Ruby Hughes
- Jacques Imbrailo
- Ben Johnson
- Della Jones
- Dame Gwyneth Jones
- Rosemary Joshua
- Janis Kelly
- Andrew Kennedy
- Jonathan Lemalu
- Jenny Lind
- Valerie Masterson
- Pumeza Matshikiza
- Vuyani Mlinde
- Robert Murray
- Ian Partridge
- Sir Peter Pears
- Dame Joan Sutherland
- Camilla Tilling
- Sarah Walker
- Elizabeth Watts
- Catherine Wyn-Rogers
- Lawrence Zazzo
The RCM’s Creative Careers Centre, which is recognised internationally for its innovative approach to supporting young musicians, provides an unparalleled service to current students and recent alumni. The dedicated team partners with leading consultants, reputable arts organisations and local communities, delivering unique career-building opportunities and a direct route to the music industry.
The work of the Creative Careers Centre allows students to discover their professional identity, gain hands-on experience and new skills, develop an entrepreneurial mind-set and build a fulfilling professional portfolio.
Extensive performance and teaching opportunities are available, as well as valuable guidance on CV and biography writing, concert programming, communication skills, project management, marketing and publicity, online promotion, financial matters and how to develop a business idea.
The Royal College of Music is proud to offer its students fantastic practice and performance facilities with resources to support teaching and learning. We continually improve our facilities to ensure RCM students have the best opportunities.
Explore our facilities with a video tour of the RCM
Key facilities at the RCM include:
- The Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall - our primary performance venue for orchestras and large ensembles.
- Our 400-seat Britten Theatre, home to the RCM’s thriving International Opera School.
- A new Performance Hall, offering an alternative space for ensembles, with a retractable stage, Fazioli grand piano and variable acoustics.
- Intimate spaces for solo and chamber performance in our Performance Studio and Parry Rooms.
- Sound-proofed Amadeus Music Pods for private practice.
- A purpose-built percussion suite – you can watch a video tour on YouTube.
- Over 160 pianos, including 60 grand pianos and 20 early keyboards, as well as organ rooms.
- A Blüthner Practice Suite which holds ten Blüthner Model A upright pianos.
- Instrument surgeries including luthier services.
- RCM Studios: a commercial-grade facility, enabling live broadcasts around the world.
- Digital Innovation Lab: advanced recording and mixing suite.
- RCM Library with more than 200,000 scores, books and recordings in its lending collection, as well as access to more than 400 music journals.
- Recently refurbished RCM Museum, holding more than 14,000 instruments, portraits and images, as well as a climate-controlled performance space and the associated Wolfson Centre in Music & Material Culture | Royal College of Music (rcm.ac.uk)
Royal College of Music alumni receive RPS Award nominations
A host of Royal College of Music musicians have received nominations in the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards 2026, with alumni featuring in 7 of the 12 categories.
Honorary awards conferred at the Royal College of Music
This week, the Royal College of Music has conferred 25 honorary awards to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to music, music education and the RCM.
Royal College of Music students and alumni feature in major new film The Choral
A heart-warming and poignant film about the power of music, The Choral features a host of musicians from the Royal College of Music.
Royal College of Music announces its public performance programme for Spring 2026
The Royal College of Music (RCM) Spring 2026 Season puts the spotlight on chamber music as well as programmes ranging from Baroque to disco.
The Royal College of Music (RCM) is honoured to have been awarded a Queen Elizabeth Prize for Education, the highest national honour in UK higher and further education.
Courses available
Undergraduate
Postgraduate
Graduate Diploma in Vocal Performance, GradDip
Master of Music in Performance, MMus(Perf)
MMusEd Teaching Musician | Royal College of Music
Contact the Vocal & Opera Faculty
If you have any general queries about vocal at the RCM please contact our Vocal & Opera Faculty Administration team. If you have any queries about auditions or the admissions process, please contact our Admissions team.
Vocal & Opera Faculty Administration
General enquiries about the operation of the faculty and consultation lessons
Royal College of Music
Prince Consort Road
London SW7 2BS
United Kingdom
Registered charity No. 309268
