Master of Music Orchestral Conducting

Designed for recent graduates and suitably qualified mature students, our taught Master of Music (MMus) and Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) Orchestral 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 currently the most exciting destination for orchestral conductors, with an active concert schedule.

As a Principal Study Orchestral Conductor, you'll be offered individual tuition from our staff conductors, and also from the many distinguished guest conductors who work with our ensembles and orchestras on an occasional basis throughout the year.

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.

What's covered in the course?

• Regular individual specialist tuition. 
• Opportunities to join choral conducting classes. 
• Access to the Conservatoire’s broad range of ensemble activities, including Symphony Orchestra, ‘Repertoire’ and ‘Pops’ Orchestras, Thallein (Contemporary Music) Ensemble, Brass Band and Brass Ensemble, Symphonic Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. 
• Regular opportunities to rehearse and perform with ensembles within the Conservatoire. 
• Regular opportunities to observe orchestral and ensemble rehearsals, including sectional rehearsals directed by departmental heads or specialist guest tutors, giving valuable professional insight into the detailed working of the different instrumental areas of the orchestra. 
• Regular sessions with pianists in the orchestral repertoire. 
• Bespoke support classes in musicianship and repertoire.
• A core career development module designed to get you thinking about your future professional plans. 
• The flexibility to choose from a broad menu of Professional Development Option modules designed to help you work towards achieving your personal career aspirations.
• In MMus, a core module designed to develop your skills as a researcher or informed practitioner.
• The possibility of transferring from PgDip to MMus once you have begun your studies (but before completion of the PgDip course).