To the University of Adelaide,

We are deeply concerned by the proposed sweeping changes to the Elder Conservatorium of Music. In particular we are dismayed by the complete elimination of Classical Voice Performance and the proposed incorporation of Voice into the area of Conducting and Ensemble Studies (voice/choral singing). This involves the “disestablishment” of the two permanent Voice positions. No justification has been provided by the University for the specific elimination of Voice Performance.

Despite requests made to both the Director and Executive Dean, there has been no clarification provided regarding the future curriculum of Voice studies should these proposals be implemented in 2016. More distressingly, current Classical Voice Performance students have received no detailed information regarding the continuation of their studies.

The proposed changes will do serious and long-lasting damage, both to the ongoing musical health of the SA community and to the reputation of both the Elder Conservatorium and the University of Adelaide. A conservatorium which does not offer Voice Performance can no longer properly claim to be a leading music institution.

The Elder Conservatorium Classical Voice Department has had outstanding success locally, nationally and internationally. Two of the four finalists of the University’s prestigious 2014 Beta Sigma Phi Classical Music Awards were students of Classical Voice, one of whom was the overall winner. The department has very successfully produced operas on a regular basis, providing valuable operatic experience for singers and instrumentalists. Students and alumni are integral to and active throughout the Adelaide arts community, performing in Festival and Fringe performances, in opera, music theatre, concerts, church services, as soloists, in choirs, amateur and professional theatre, charity and fundraising performances, and teaching singing to children and adults.

Classical Voice graduates include nationally and internationally renowned opera singers. These include Sally-Anne Russell, Miriam Gordon-Stewart, Grant Doyle, Greta Bradman, Gisele Blanchard, Sky Ingram, Robert McFarlane, Teresa la Rocca, Douglas McNicol, Catriona Barr, Nick Lester, as well as national and international music theatre and cabaret artists Johanna Allen, Michaela Burger, Daniel Koek. Graduates also number amongst the chorus, minor principals and Young Artists at the State Opera of South Australia and Opera Australia.

The proposal to incorporate Voice into an Ensemble or Choral context has major ramifications for the quality of Voice tuition at the Conservatorium and therefore statewide. Singing exclusively in a choir can in no way be described as adequate training, even for choral singers. Quality ongoing one-on-one classical voice training is vital.

The absence of Classical Voice Performance training will have a colossal impact on the wider South Australian arts community, eventually resulting in a lack of quality trained local singers in all the areas in which they are currently active. Should these changes be implemented, talented and aspiring singers will no longer be able to study in South Australia. Promising students will either be lost to interstate institutions or their talents will remain undeveloped through lack of opportunity. The tremendous contribution Elder Conservatorium Voice students and graduates make to the arts in South Australia, and both nationally and internationally, only serves to highlight how widely this loss will be felt and the damage that will be done both to the community and to the reputation of the University.

We urge you to reconsider this proposal.