At Harvard College Opera, we pride ourselves in providing professional-level operatic performance opportunities to undergraduates. Our productions tend to cast a variety of voice parts and fachs, and previous shows have collectively included every voice part, including contraltos and countertenors. Our casts vary in size depending on the opera, but we typically seek out operas with 3-10 principal singers and 5+ ensemble singers. As a rule, we do not perform operas that do not feature a chorus.

Auditions for annual HCO productions take place during the last week of August or first week of September. Auditionees should prepare an aria (preferably in the language of that year’s opera) or other classical selection and will be provided with an accompanist. Callbacks are held in the days immediately following HRDC Common Casting. More information about callbacks and cast lists will be provided closer to the time of auditions and will be posted prominently on this website. Prospective chorus members may audition at this stage or should contact the music director for a given year independently if the fall casting period has already passed.

All students across Harvard University and other local programs are welcome to audition, as indeed we have cast several singers from the New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, and Harvard Graduate Schools in the past. However, auditionees from these groups should note that, in keeping with our mission, priority in casting will be accorded to Harvard undergraduates.

Following casting, all singers with principal or ensemble roles are expected to learn their music independently over the course of the fall semester, with the support of a few music coachings. Full rehearsals, staging, tech, etc. begin in January, and require gaining approval to return to campus for J-term (which we will assist in securing, but for which you must guarantee your availability). Performances are distributed over either one or two weekends, and tend to fall somewhere within the final week of January and the first week of February.

For more information about mainstage production auditions, please feel free to email us at production.harvardcollegeopera@gmail.com, or to contact any member of our Executive Board directly.

The staff of Harvard College Opera is entirely composed of Harvard undergraduates, and includes stage managers, orchestra managers, set designers, costume designers, props designers, lighting designers, technical directors, rehearsal pianists, and more. Members of the staff have the opportunity to work alongside experienced technicians in the historic Agassiz Theatre and enjoy a high degree of artistic freedom. Moreover, given our accelerated schedule and short (approximately month-long) residency during a period without consistent class meetings, Harvard College Opera mainstage productions provide a uniquely intensive and enriching opportunity for immersion and collaboration.

The senior staff of each opera is typically selected based on self-volunteering and personal recruitment in March and April of the preceding year, although hiring for some roles may continue into the fall and even winter. Likewise, our junior staff and shadow role recruiting and J-Term internship applications remain open well into the fall semester.

If you are interested in joining the staff of a Harvard College Opera production, email us at production.harvardcollegeopera@gmail.com.

The orchestra of a Harvard College Opera production, like the cast and staff, is generally comprised of Harvard undergraduates, drawn from such ensembles as the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, the Bach Society Orchestra, the Brattle Street Chamber Players, and many more. Instrumentalists have the opportunity to play with a group of very talented and dedicated musicians, under the direction of our music director. There is also a consensus among our orchestral musicians that performing art in which music, drama, and singing are so deeply interwoven — something true in this degree only of opera — provides a uniquely challenging and rewarding experience difficult to replicate anywhere else at the undergraduate level.

Auditions for the orchestra generally take place during the last week of September, but details of particular operas may open a longer window of consideration. Prospective orchestra members should prepare three minutes of a piece of their choosing. Following decisions, approximately four rehearsals take place in the fall, followed by approximately four more rehearsals (including dress rehearsals and sitzprobe) in late January (during the early semester move-in period, not J-term). (Note that these figures are highly subject to change, however, based on the selection of opera for a given year — as more complex orchestrations warrant, intuitively, more rehearsal.) Between four and six performances then take place between the last week of January and the first week of February.

For more information about Harvard College Opera’s mainstage orchestral opportunities, please reach out directly to our current production’s Music Director at production.harvardcollegeopera@gmail.com and/or email the Orchestral Liaison at season.harvardcollegeopera@gmail.com.

Crucial to our rehearsal process are our team of répétiteurs, or rehearsal pianists, who accompany vocal rehearsals in the fall and J-term prior to our sitzprobe. These are usually confident, experienced musicians with strong sight-reading abilities because they are ultimately responsible for learning to play the piano reduction of an entire opera, but the schedule for doing so is subject to contingency: rehearsals do not follow the order in the plan, and sometimes J-term schedules change on short notice (due to illness, weather, extra time in rehearsal, etc.). Often, these pianists may also have some experience accompanying, performing, or otherwise collaborating in the production of vocal music, but that is not a requirement of the position.

This is an unparalleled experience for pianists with a broader interest in opera as an art form. You will have the ability to witness the entire vocal aspect of the production come together from beginning to end, and will accompany the singers — in all senses of the term — through the entire learning process. Many of our past répétiteurs have been credited as assistant conductors and some have also gone on to Music Direct future Havard College Opera mainstage productions and ARTS FIRST Festival performances, often citing their experiences as rehearsal pianists as formative in those journeys.

For more information about Harvard College Opera’s opportunities for pianists, please reach out directly to our current production’s Music Director or email our Artistic Director at season.harvardcollegeopera@gmail.com.

The two directors—music director and stage director—for each Harvard College Opera production are both undergraduate students, and do not always but usually tend to have previous experience with directing. Stage directors are responsible for the theatrical side of productions, entailing holding character discussions with cast members, running blocking and staging rehearsals, coordinating technical staff and producers, and developing an overall cohesive vision for the show. Music directors are, contrariwise, responsible for the musical side of productions, entailing holding music coachings with cast members; running orchestral, choral, and ensemble music rehearsals; coordinating with orchestra and chorus managers to recruit musicians and acquire scores and parts; and conducting final performances. Directors are also ultimately empowered with choosing the opera for a particular year (from a shortlist of 3-5 operas selected by the Board of Operators), as well as with running auditions and casting roles.

Directors are typically interviewed by the Board of Operators in March or April of the preceding year, and assistant director roles may or may not be made available in the following months depending on the preferences of the directors. Both the music and stage director roles are intensive and require a high level of commitment from the moment of acceptance to the final days of performance; prospective directors of either type should ensure they have no material conflicts in January, and should likewise work to ensure they have enough capacity in the fall to dedicate to preparation for the show. It is not an overstatement to say that the entire production can depend on the actions of our directors, and indeed, the unique level of commitment put in by our directors has tended to be what has made previous Harvard College Opera productions so special.

If you have any interest in directing or assistant-directing a Harvard College Opera production in the next cycle or at some other point in the future, please email us at harvardcollegeopera@gmail.com or reach out to any of the members of our Executive Board (presidents and vice presidents of the Board of Operators) directly.

The production team of Harvard College Opera is entirely composed of Harvard undergraduates and typically consists of separate financial, publicity, and technical producers, or of a team splitting these duties in some other fashion. Producers gain experience in facilitating the business side of opera and in collaborating with directors, other staff members, and many immensely talented musicians in realizing a professional-level production on a highly accelerated timeline. As a fully operational non-profit organization funded principally by ticket sales and audience donations, Harvard College Opera relies on its producers to continue to execute its mission of bringing high-quality opera performances to all of Harvard and beyond into the wider community.

Producers for each opera are typically selected in March or April of the preceding year, but associate and shadowing positions will usually remain open to recruitment even into the beginning of January. If you have any interest in helping produce a Harvard College Opera mainstage show, email us at production.harvardcollegeopera@gmail.com.

Harvard College Opera has long posted performance videos to our YouTube and other channels, but until our 2022 production of Le Nozze di Figaro, none had required more than an amateur level of expertise to execute. In 2022, we began livestreaming our operas to a wide digital audience, and the work our audio and video engineers in the success of that operation was invaluable.

As we look to maintain a high standard for livestreaming and cinema-quality performance recordings going forward, there is ample opportunity for AV engineers, videographers, and cinematographers to find gainful, challenging, and rewarding work within our mainstage production tech team.

If you would be interested in contributing to our mainstage production in any of these areas, please reach out to us at production.harvardcollegeopera@gmail.com.