Master programme in Opera, Vocal Performance

Structure of the programme

The Master's programme is taught in English. This means that the language of instruction and course literature is in English. Swedish may be used where reasonable.

Semester 1: You will have singing lessons, rehearsals and develop your methods for musical theatre work. You start your independent work, which is the project you applied with. Through seminars and meetings with researchers and students, you will be given tools to develop your project and your questions.

Semester 2: You further develop and present your degree project. The presentation contains both an artistic and reflective aspect. You will participate in a staged concert. 

Teachers

On the Master's Programme in Opera Singing, Stina Ancker, Professor of Music Dramatic Performance, is the Programme coordinator.

Other teachers you will meet as a student include teachers of opera singing and teachers of musical and theatrical performance.

General entry requirement

• Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor’s degree or professional qualification of at least 180 credit points or equivalent.

Specific entry requirements

• English 5 or equivalent.
• Bachelor of Fine Arts or equivalent higher education qualification in classical singing or opera of at least 180 credits or equivalent.

If you don’t fulfil the formal entry requirements for the programme you may apply for recognition of prior learning, in other words that the knowledge and competence you have acquired through other activities are assessed as the equivalent of the formal merits that are required. Submit your application for recognition of prior learning with your application for the programme.

You may also apply for an exemption/a waiver, that allows you to proceed to the selection process even though you don’t meet the general admission requirements. Submit your application for an exemption/a waiver together with your application.

Read more about how you can show that you meet the entry requirements.

Start your application early

Don’t delay in submitting your application! You may run into trouble if you wait until the last day and your internet connection happens to be down, or you find that your files are in the wrong format. You will not be able to apply once the last date for applications has passed. Keep in mind that your application has to be turned in by 23:59 (Swedish time).

You apply to the programme in two steps

1. Apply to the programme via universityadmissions.se.
Please note! Choose “Autumn 2025” if you search for the course at universityadmissions.se.
Last day for application: 15 January 2025.

Please note that you need to submit supporting documents showing that you meet the entry requirements via universityadmissions.se under My pages/Documents/Upload documents.
Last day to submit supporting documentation: 3 February 2025.

2. Submit your worksample via Varbi (according to instructions below).
Last day to submit worksamples to be part of the selection: 15 January 2025.

Important dates for your application 

• Last day for application: 15 January 2025.
  Please note! Choose “Autumn 2025” if you search for the course at universityadmissions.se.
• Last day to submit supporting documentation for entry requirements: 3 February 2025. Please note! SKH's date is an earlier date then the general date communicated on universityadmission.se. However, you can add certain qualifications later on*.
• Last day to pay the application fee or prove that you are not required to pay the fees: 3 February 2025 (read more under Application and tuition fees below).
• Admission results: Published on My pages on universityadmissions.se 6 May 2025.
• Last day to reply to possible course offer: 19 May 2025.

* 5 July is deadline for you who need to submit proficiency test in English or Swedish.
Deadline for Diploma of Bachelor’s Degree and transcript of records for you who are currently studying the last term of your Bachelor’s Programme, is by the time for registration.

Instructions for worksamples

You need to submit the following work samples via Varbi in order to be part of the admission process. For some programmes the work samples can also be part of the entry requirements. Only files uploaded in the current admission round can be considered for selection.

The use of AI tools/AI techniques is not allowed when creating your work samples or texts, you must create/write everything on your own.

Voice type

You should state your voice type.

State your repertoire

At the vocal tests you perform a repertoire of your own choice. You must prepare seven opera arias plus one lied/art song to perform by heart. A total of eight pieces. One should be in your native language and the others in the original language. 

Project plan

Upload a document with a proposal for an independent project that you want to carry out during the programme. The text should showcase your independent and reflective skills. The project can, for example, take its starting point in a role study or a special aspect of your own practice that you want to immerse yourself in and develop. Also describe why you want to work on this project and what questions this project focuses on.

The text should be 1–2 A4, in Times New Roman, 12 pt, 1.5 line spacing. Use pdf.

Your CV

Upload a CV, where you list your education, professional experience and other relevant experiences in singing that you want to refer to. Use pdf.

Certificates

Upload certificates supporting your CV. Please use pdf.

Film

You should upload a compressed movie clip (mov, mp4, avi) at a maximum of 10 minutes (max 150 MB) where you perform two arias from your repertoire list. You may need to resize the video before uploading it. 

Read more here about reduce video size and What is Bitrate.

The recording should be made so that your voice appears clearly; not in an over-acoustic room, such as a church with a lot of reverberation and with the microphone at a distance, or in a scenic performance where you move far away from the microphone.

Audio file

You should upload a non-compressed audio file (Wav, Aiff), at a maximum of 10 minutes (max 150 MB) where you render the same two arias from your repertoire list as in the film.

The recording should be made so that your voice appears clearly; not in an over-acoustic room, such as a church with a lot of reverberation and with the microphone at a distance, or in a scenic performance where you move far away from the microphone.

Proceed as follow to upload work samples via Varbi

• Register by providing name and e-mail address.
• Fill in you contact information.
• Please note! Fill in the application number you received when submitting your application to the course via universityadmissions.se.
• Submit the requested documents/files.
• Please name the document/file with content and your name for example: CV_ first name_ family name.

Confirmation that you have submitted your work samples via Varbi

When you've submitted your work samples you will receive a confirmation to the e-mail address that you’ve stated. If you don’t receive a confirmation e-mail, you should first check your spam filter. If the confirmation e-mail is not there, contact Varbi's technical support.

E-mail: support@varbi.com 
Phone: +46 520 580 050 (weekdays 08:30–12:00 and 13:00–16:30).

The assessment of eligibility and the selection take place in several stages:

The assessment of formal merits/grades is carried out by the Swedish Council for Higher Education. 

The assessment of artistic merits is carried out by an admission group from Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH) consisting of teachers and professionals from the field. After each stage of the process there will be a decision on who will proceed to the next step. Everyone is informed of whether they will proceed or not.

The selection of applicants takes place in three stages. It is carried out by an admissions committee composed of teachers and professionals in the field. A student can also participate in the admission process but does not make any decisions. At the end of each stage, decisions will be made on who will proceed to the next stage and who will not. Everyone will be notified, regardless of whether or not they progress.

Selection test 1 will be based on the material submitted, with a deadline of 15 January 2025. You will then be informed whether you will proceed to Selection Test 2. The invitation to this test will be sent out no later than week 10, 2025. 

Selection tests 2 and 3 will be held on Thursday 27 March in week 13 at SKH's premises, Teknikringen 35 in Stockholm. Selection test 2 takes place in the morning and if you are called to selection test 3, it takes place in the afternoon so expect to stay all day.

Selection test 2 is a musical performance test where you work with an instructor. Selection test 3 consists of a stage performance test and a short interview.

Here you will find detailed information about the selection process.

If you are a Swedish citizen or a citizen of another EU or EEA country you are not required to pay application or tuition fees. Some other groups are also exempt from the requirement to pay application and study fees.

If you are not a Swedish citizen or a citizen of another EU or EEA country you are required to pay application and tuition fees. The level of the study fees depends on which course/programme they are for, and the level is set in order to cover the actual costs of the course/programme in question. SKH has some possibilities of offering scholarships that cover the study fees for programmes.

If you are required to pay an application fee, the Swedish Council for Higher Education needs to receive your payment by the last date for paying the application fee. The application fee is SEK 900. If you are required to pay the application fee and the Swedish Council for Higher Education has not received your payment by the last date for paying the tuition fee, they will not process your application. Read more here.

The tuition fee of the Master’s program in opera starting autumn 2025 is SEK 287,000 and for the whole program SEK 574,000.

Scholarships to Cover the Tuition Fee

If you are obliged to pay a tuition fee you can apply for a scholarship which covers the tuition fee. The scholarship does not cover any private costs during your studies. Please note that you still need to pay an application fee (900 SEK). The application fee is non-refundable.

Read more about tuition fees and scholarships.