Performance

Entry requirements

A bachelor degree with a 2:1 (hons) in music or a related subject.

We may also consider relevant professional experience instead of formal musical qualifications, if you can demonstrate a good level of musical understanding or practical experience when you apply.

Months of entry

September

Course content

This course offers a wealth of performance opportunities and introduces you to a wide range of musical studies at an advanced level. You’ll study with one of our expert professional instrumental/vocal teachers and with the guidance of our resident repetiteur and experienced performance staff to develop your skills in technical proficiency, presentation and interpretation in musical performance.

You’ll be encouraged and supported to take an interest in performance research to enhance your musical and artistic development. Through individual lessons, performance classes and masterclasses, you’ll prepare and perform a recital as the major part of your course, and explore the challenges of performing a large-scale musical structure through the concerto/song-cycle/extended work module.

You can choose to carry out an applied performance study, allowing pursuit of a distinctive individual performance project, and/or present a second, shorter recital on a different instrument/voice from that of your main recital. To put your performance into context you’ll also study a module focused on researching performance and you can pursue an optional module in another area of music such as musicology, or the music industry.

The course is ideal if you wish to pursue advanced performance studies, or are an existing performer wishing to enhance your skills or undertake continuous professional development.

We have a variety of excellent facilities to support your learning, including rehearsal, performance and practice spaces, a lab for studying the psychology of music and studios for sound recording, software development and computer music composition.

We also have good working relationships with a range of prestigious arts organisations: we host BBC Radio 3 concerts, Leeds Lieder and the Leeds International Piano Competition, as well as enjoying a close partnership with Opera North and many other organisations in a city with a thriving music and cultural scene.

You could also choose to study for a Postgraduate Diploma qualification over 12 months full-time or 24 months part-time.

Information for international students

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component . For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Arts and Humanities (6 weeks) and Language for Social Science and Arts: Arts and Humanities (10 weeks).

If you need to study for longer than 10 weeks, read more about our postgraduate pre-sessional English course.

Fees and funding

We have a generous range of funding available for postgraduate study. Find out more on the University of Leeds Postgraduate Scholarships database here.