MusM Composition (Instrumental and Vocal music)

• Pursue your career as a composer, with outstanding performance and opportunities, including guaranteed professional workshops and/or performances.
• Take full advantage of our lively performance and research culture, including Quatuor Danel concerts, Mantis festivals and cutting-edge research fora.
• Study in a city that is home to more professional music-making than any UK city outside of London.
• Study at a top five UK university for Music (Complete University Guide 2022).

Our MusM Composition (Instrumental and Vocal) master's course offers intensive training for composers and provides excellent preparation for doctoral work or a career in the professional world.

With a strong focus on practical music-making and supported by an outstanding programme of workshops and performances by professional musicians, it offers an invaluable opportunity for composers to hone their skills and develop their personal voice.

You will benefit from:

• links to ensembles as an integral part of the course;
• interaction with the music profession, including the BBC Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata;
• opportunities to develop professional skills, for example through collaborating, rehearsing and networking with professional musicians; learning to arrange/orchestrate; undertaking outreach opportunities; and collaborating in the creation of performances;
• flexibility to develop your own compositional and research interests;
• close ties with electroacoustic composers in NOVARS, and the flexibility to combine electroacoustic course units with those for instrumental and vocal composition;
• integration into the active research culture of The University of Manchester, through research seminars, performance workshops and concerts.

Full entry requirements

An overall grade of 6.5 in IELTS with 6.5 in writing an no skill below 6.0 is required or 93+ in the TOEFL iBT with a minimum writing score of 22 and no skill below 20.

If you have obtained a different qualification, please check our English language requirements to ensure that it is accepted and equivalent to the above requirements.

Career opportunities