Train as a professional by working as one
Singers develop their craft within a professional performance environment, shaped by fully staged productions and close collaboration with leading orchestras and opera houses. The programme offers an intensive bridge between study and the professional opera world — for singers ready to take the next step.
Performance as the core of learning
At the DNOA, performance is central to the way singers are trained. The programme is built around intensive, practice-based learning in which artistic craft, reflection, and professional experience are fully integrated. Throughout the academic year, students take part in fully staged opera productions, concerts, and staged performance projects, placing them in the working reality of the profession from the outset.
The stage functions as both performance space and classroom. Rehearsals are treated as a vital learning environment, where singers develop vocal technique, musical insight, and dramatic expression as a unified artistic practice. This process is guided by a dedicated core team and enriched by international guest teachers and creative teams, ensuring close alignment with the demands of today’s opera world.
Repertoire is selected with the individual singer in mind. Works and roles are chosen for their pedagogical value, supporting artistic growth while helping each student define their own vocal and artistic identity. By the end of the programme, singers will have performed a broad and carefully curated range of repertoire in public settings, building skills and experience that translate directly to professional work.
Performance in a professional context
Strong partnerships with leading orchestras, opera companies, and cultural institutions are an essential part of this training. Performance opportunities are created in close collaboration with partners such as the Residentie Orkest (co-producer of fully staged operas), the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra (including annual performances at the Bredeweg Festival Amsterdam), and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. The Academy also maintains close professional ties with the Dutch National Opera, Nederlandse Reisopera, Opera Zuid, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, and the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, alongside collaborations with the Nationale Master Orkestdirectie and ensembles from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Royal Conservatoire The Hague.
The aim is clear: to prepare singers not only for their first engagement, but for a sustainable, adaptable, and artistically fulfilling professional life.
DNOA in the words of an alumnus
My time at the Dutch National Opera Academy has been invaluable to my development, not only as a singer, but as a human being. The big strength of DNOA is putting the student at the centre of the program. This might seem obvious, a bare minimum even, but should not be taken for granted. All the coaches work together to serve the students the best way they can. The production repertoire is chosen specifically for the students, as opposed to other programs which practically turn their audition process into a casting. The curriculum is demanding yet well thought-out and ever developing. It prepares young singers for professional life, balancing production experience with audition training and artistic development. Paul McNamara leads the academy with vision, knowledge, spirit, inspiration and above all, kindness; traits which are all reflected in the members of his team. The result is a safe and nourishing environment in which the student is allowed to experiment and grow.
What is especially worthy of praise is DNOA’s capability of self- reflection. Through the years, Paul and his team have proven to take worries and complaints seriously and are willing to improve things, showing again that the students are really at the centre of the program. It is acknowledged that every student comes to DNOA for different reasons, with a different path to follow. Although the curriculum is largely the same for all singers, the individual needs of each student are seen, explored and facilitated. This amount of integrity is, in my view, rare.
DNOA is in the practice of building interesting artists, not generic opera singers. It proves that one can demand discipline and hard work from their singers while still providing a safe and integer environment. It sends skilled professionals into the work field who know what they are worth, but who are also kind and friendly, which is exactly what the world needs. My voice, my artistry, my understanding of the opera world and my understanding of myself; all have grown immensely in those two years.
Wessel Wirken DNOA graduate (2025)
Useful resources
Our curriculum
Read more details about the curriculum, programme objectives and assessment criteria.
Financial support
Find out more information about financial support through scholarships and funds.
Our facilities
Find out about the facilities that our partner Universities offer in Amsterdam and the Hague.
The closing date for applications to join the programme in Autumn 2026 is Sunday 11. January 2026.