Conducting
Elevate your conducting career
Our Conducting area offers a variety of resources to develop your skills as a conductor, both on and off the podium. We offer weekly individual lessons, practice with student ensembles, and a studio class to discuss, share, and collectively approach the many aspects of conducting.
Contact: Mariana Farah
See the Graduate Admissions page for detailed information on application requirements. Review the Graduate Application Guide as well as the additional information for the Conducting area.
Led by Dr. Mariana Farah and Dr. Bert Pinsonneault, the graduate choral conducting program at UW–Madison offers comprehensive studies in choral conducting, literature, and pedagogy, and prepares students for the challenges of professional life in choral music. Our select graduate choral conducting program gives individual attention to each student with small conducting seminars, intensive choral literature courses, and a large amount of podium time.
Graduate students sing and assist with Concert Choir and Chorale and co-conduct our large auditioned Treble Choir and our non-auditioned mixed group, University Chorus. In addition, all graduate conductors receive training and are involved in the preparation of major choral orchestral works performed annually with the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra.
UW–Madison choral conducting students are afforded several opportunities to learn from leaders in the choral art from around the country. Workshops and masterclasses have been given by visiting artists, including Rick Bjella (Professor Emeritus, Texas Tech University), Ben Spalding (Spire Chamber Choir), Maggie Burk (Director of Choral Activities, Carthage College), Dr. Paul Crabb (Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri), Brandon Boyd (Director of Choral Studies, University of Missouri).
Teaching Assistantships and Fellowships are available to MM and DMA students on a competitive basis.
Contact: Oriol Sans
Please see the Graduate Admissions page for detailed information on application requirements. Review the Graduate Application Guide as well as the additional information for the Conducting area.
The graduate orchestral conducting program offers students a variety of resources to develop their skills as conductors, both on and off the podium. All graduate students in orchestral conducting serve as assistant conductors with the University Symphony Orchestra and with University Opera productions. Doctoral students have the opportunity to conduct the student ensembles in performance. The program has two dedicated Teaching Assistantships, which are offered in rotation.
Contact: Scott Teeple
Please see the Graduate Admissions page for detailed information on application requirements. Review the Graduate Application Guide as well as the additional information for the Conducting area. Note that applicants must have a minimum of three years of teaching experience or equivalent.
The graduate wind conducting program offers students a variety of resources to develop their skills as conductors. The curriculum offers weekly individual lessons, seminars, and conducting laboratory lessons by conducting a student ensemble.
All graduate wind conducting students serve as assistant conductors within the Band program. Graduate students rotate as guest conductors with Wind Ensemble and Concert Band, and function as the primary conductor for one of the University Bands. They also work with the Athletic Band program, and may assist with undergraduate conducting classes.
Related resources
Degrees offered
Admissions
Please see the Graduate Admissions page for detailed information on application and audition requirements. When filling out the Graduate School application, be sure to apply for MM: Music Performance.
Auditions will be held on special days reserved by the Conducting faculty (not on the general graduate audition days).
Degree Requirements
For detailed information on coursework, exams, recitals, etc., visit the Graduate Advising KnowledgeBase. Review the Conducting degree worksheets for specific details.
Admissions
Please see the Graduate Admissions page for detailed information on application and audition requirements. When filling out the Graduate School application, be sure to apply for DMA: Music Performance.
Auditions will be held on special days reserved by the Conducting faculty (not on the general graduate audition days).
Degree Requirements
For detailed information on coursework, exams, recitals, etc., visit the Graduate Advising KnowledgeBase. Review the Conducting degree worksheets for specific details, as well as a three-year timeline and explanation of doctoral milestones.
Doctoral Minor – Required for all Doctoral programs
The doctoral minor adds breadth and depth to the DMA and PhD degree. To ensure coherence, a minor program must be approved by the appropriate department, a student’s advisor, or the Director of Graduate Studies, and must include courses at the 300-level or above. Typically, a minor requires 12 credits of work.
Students have a variety of options, including completing an internal minor within the School of Music (e.g., a DMA conducting student who minors in ethnomusicology or a PhD in music theory who minors in clarinet performance), completing a minor in a department outside the School of Music (e.g., a DMA in horn performance who minors in Women’s Studies or a PhD in ethnomusicology who minors in East Asian studies).
Students may, in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, devise a distributed minor that brings together courses from a variety of departments around a particular topic or area of interest. For example, a DMA student in voice devises a minor in vocal health that includes courses in communicative disorders, or a PhD student in musicology devises a minor in Medieval History that includes courses in art history, history, and languages.