Auditions

Opera Birmingham and Samford University are excited to announce the launch of the Opera Birmingham Studio at Samford University.  This two-year program will allow singers to enroll in Samford University’s graduate vocal performance degree while simultaneously receiving professional performance opportunities throughout Opera Birmingham’s season.

 Studio Artists will be assigned comprimario or cover roles in Opera Birmingham’s staged productions, appear as guest artists at Opera Birmingham concerts and events, and participate in joint Opera Birmingham/Samford Opera educational programs.  Studio Artists will also be cast in Samford Opera’s scenes programs, and perform a principal role in an opera or musical.  Weekly voice lessons, masterclasses from visiting guest artists, seminars and classes in performance, literature, and history are included as part of the master’s degree program.

 Up to two Studio Artists will be chosen for the program, to receive full tuition (through a mixture of scholarship and graduate assistantship) plus an annual stipend of up to $5,000.  Additional singers may be accepted into the program, including performance and training opportunities, with partial financial assistance offered.

Interested artists must apply for admission to Samford University; more information on the application and audition dates can be found at www.samford.edu/arts/music/admission.

Opera Birmingham is currently holding local house auditions on Oct 11th, and once completed, will begin reaching out individually to those non-locals who have requested an audition via auditions@operabirmingham.org for any Lead roles which are still outstanding at that time.

House auditions will be held in March 2026 for the 2026-2027 Season.

Opera Birmingham is committed to diversity in our casting to reflect the diversity of our community here in Birmingham.  We invite performers, directors, conductors, and designers of all races and ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientation, abilities, and ages to submit materials for consideration.  For our current planning, we are particularly interested in artists who are:

• Minority artists, especially Black/African-American creatives

• Early-career artists

• Artists based in the Southeast.

Members of the Opera Birmingham chorus perform in our productions throughout the year, and have the opportunity to participate in our Opera Shots pop-up concerts and other small performances throughout the year.

Please send an email to auditions@operabirmingham.org to be added to our chorus audition list, and we will send a notification when future auditions are scheduled.