Choral Conducting PgDip (Part-Time) (Taught)

Designed for recent graduates and suitably qualified mature students, our taught Master of Music (MMus) and Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) Choral Conducting courses provide the technical training, collaborative opportunities and podium time necessary to help you prepare for a career as a professional conductor. Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is an exciting destination for choral conductors to gain experience both internally and externally through an active recording and concert schedule, plus opportunities to engage with and observe the work of choirs and choruses at the CBSO (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra), Ex Cathedra, and Birmingham Cathedral.

Our established Choral Conducting specialism allows you to work weekly with a dedicated chamber choir (RBC Camerata), rehearsing and performing a variety of works throughout your training. You'll be offered tailored individual tuition from our principal conducting tutor Julian Wilkins, and will work with him and Jeffrey Skidmore (Ex Cathedra) through the Conservatoire’s flagship RBC Chamber Choir.

You'll work across the whole spectrum of the Conservatoire’s music making, from core contemporary repertoire and student composition projects, through the central romantic and classic masterpieces back to period performance techniques.

It's normal for conducting students to be proactive in presenting performances of projects that they've generated themselves. You'll receive support and professional advice in pursuing such projects, which should be viewed as an essential element of your studies. Both PgDip and MMus courses provide excellent opportunities to develop other skills relevant to a future career in the music profession.

You'll have full access to our superb £57 million facilities, including our Concert Hall, 150-seat Recital Hall, our black box performance space known as The Lab, and more than 70 practice rooms, ensemble rooms and workshops; all acoustically designed to provide a music-making environment that is world class.

We also offer the opportunity to study for an MMus via our 12-month route. To be eligible for this route, applicants must be able to show evidence of an extremely high level of achievement in the Principal Study area and a strong academic record at undergraduate level (or equivalent). If you are interested in the 12-month route, please email an initial enquiry about your potential eligibility to conservatoire.admissions@bcu.ac.uk as it is not possible to apply for this route via UCAS.