Online Learning

Online Learning courses are designed to provide distance learning opportunities to those interested in delving deeper into operatic subject matters. All online learning courses are self-paced, allowing for a flexible learning schedule. Each course features video lectures, supplemental readings, and, when applicable, score excerpts for further study. While the ability to read music is not required for these courses, it may be helpful for certain topics.    

Please note that all of our Online Learning courses are hosted on the Thinkific platform, and clicking on any of the courses will take you to the Thinkific website. Click here to view our current online learning offerings.   

Course enrollment is available at any time, and content will remain available to you for 60 days from your date of registration.   

To fully experience our online learning courses, please make sure that JavaScript is installed and enabled on your web browser.   

Lecture videos may only be viewed while actively logged into the online platform.  

For questions, please contact onlinelearning@metguild.org.    

Current Online Learning Courses Include:  

 La Divina and the Callas Effect
In the eyes of many operagoers, Maria Callas—referred to as La Divina (“The Divine One”) by her devoted fans—is widely considered opera’s greatest diva. She epitomizes the golden standard against which today’s singers are still compared 64 years after her Met debut. Join lecturer Matthew Timmermans in this four-lecture series as he explores what makes Callas La Divina.

Operatic Libretti and Librettists  

This course explores the life and work of librettists including Lorenzo Da Ponte, Salvadore Cammarano, Michel Carré, Jules Barbier, Luigi Illica, and Giuseppe Giacosa. In addition to discussions of biographical and historical contexts, classroom lectures, assigned readings, and listening will focus on source materials behind operatic libretto texts. Participants will also learn about the process of adaptation and interpretation of texts within operatic frameworks, and the relationship between composers and librettists at different points in opera history. 

Operatic Libretti and Librettists contains an introductory video and five video lectures. Supplemental readings, videos, and score excerpts are also provided.    

The Ring Cycle: Music, Motifs, and Magic  

Featuring video lectures, supplemental readings, and score excerpts, this four-part course focuses on Wagner’s masterwork, the Ring cycle. Each session provides an opportunity for in-depth exploration of one of the cycle’s operas. Composer, conductor, and lecturer Victoria Bond will provide insight into the musical evolution of each work—from the lighter fare to leitmotifs to the rich, complex musical textures that are woven throughout this epic story of myth and magic.  

Introduction to Score Reading    

This course teaches the fundamentals of score reading through video lectures, supplemental readings, and score excerpts. Beginning with music notation and building through score structure, you will develop the tools to explore the intricate workings of a score and experience a new way of listening to opera.    

Opera Boot Camp: Conductors and Conducting     

Conductors are vitally important in the opera house, leading and directing the ensemble of musical forces that comes together during a performance. In this course, based on the Guild's wildly popular Opera Boot Camp series, lecturer Dr. Naomi Barrettara explores the role of the conductor in opera, discussing the history, mechanics, and musical elements of conducting, as well as the extraordinary careers of some legendary conductors.    

Opera 101: Voice Types 

The spectrum of voice types in opera is complex and varied. This Opera 101 course will focus on the different categories of voice types found throughout the operatic repertoire and explore how singers select the roles that are best suited to their voices. Topics to be covered also include the fach system and comparing and contrasting voices of the past and present.

 Opera 101: Opera History 

There is something for everybody in opera, but it can be daunting to figure out where to start. In this Opera 101 course, lecturer Dr. Naomi Barrettara provides an introduction to opera history and musical terms, designed to be friendly for both newcomers and veteran operagoers.

Verdi Voices 

Giuseppe Verdi was the major Italian musical dramatist of the 19th century and one of the most important opera composers of the 19th Century and one of the more important opera composers in history. In this four part course, lecturer Jane Marsh will discuss Verdi's use of the voice and its development across his compositional periods