At Peabody, we expect graduate students to enter our program with a baseline understanding of themselves, their instruments, and the artistic work they would like to pursue. We also understand that graduate students will be coming from very different backgrounds and levels of performance experience. Therefore, our program offers three graduate-level courses, designed to be taken in any order or combination: Graduate Movement, Graduate Acting, and Graduate Seminar (an audition-focused seminar for the pre-professional singer). Graduate students may also choose to take our performance-based Opera in Action or Opera Workshop courses. These are popular options to get more experience rehearsing a role, collaborating with other singers, and performing onstage.

Opera courses are elective for graduate students, and it is absolutely possible for voice students to participate in opera productions without enrolling in classes. Furthermore, it makes no difference whether the student is doing the MM, DMA, or GPD in Voice. Although the Voice GPD is indeed a performance-intensive program, it does not confer special privileges in casting. Most graduate students will want to get onstage as soon as possible. The Peabody Opera Theatre Program mounts about 6-8 productions each year, for a combined total of around 40 performances. Students are encouraged to find the right combination of classroom work, performing opportunities, and individual instruction that will help them thrive at Peabody and beyond.