Spot On - Performance Classes for Singers

For singers of all levels (Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced)                     

(Welcoming singers from all genres, including Classical, Jazz, Pop and Musical)

Get equipped with a singer's toolkit, packed with essential skills for polished, confident and audience-awing performances.

Choose your own repertoire to work on during the course, supported by live piano accompaniment**. 

Explore eye-opening techniques to improve various areas of your presentation, including

• Platform technique
• Repertoire (befitting your voice type, character and age group)
• Performance skills: How to present yourself on stage
• Gaining confidence through live performance
• Language and diction in your chosen repertoire
• Suitable outfit for auditions/performances

 And finally - Spot On !!!

Subject to feasibility you will be able to present your newly acquired skills and techniques in an end-of-course concert-style performance for peers, invited friends and family, showcasing the outcome of your journey with James and your course companions.

Class dates for the Period October - November 2025

Wednesday 1st October     7:00 – 9:00 PM (Room 100)

Wednesday 8th October     7:00 – 9:00 PM (Room 100)

Wednesday 15th October   7:00 – 9:00 PM (Room 100)

Wednesday 22nd October   7:00 – 9:00 PM (Room 100)

Wednesday 29th October    7:00 – 9:00 PM (Room 100)

Wednesday 5th November  7:00 – 9:00 PM (Room 100)

Wednesday 12th November 7:00 - 8:30 PM  Spot-On Performance for friends and family (Organ Room)

Discount for Students

This course will be available at a discounted rate of €220, exclusively for adult learners participating in AD-Group classes or WSC during the same term, as well as previous "SPOT ON" participants who wish to continue.

To avail of the discounted rate please contact adultdivision@riam.ie to explain your qualifying for the discount and to get a discount code for a reduced fee booking.

**Participants are being asked to submit up to three pieces of chosen repertoire (i.e. a music score (.pdf or .docx) with piano accompaniment), which they would like to work on during the course. All repertoire needs to be sent to adultdivision@riam.ie no later than two weeks before the start of the course, to allow the accompanist to familiarise himself with the pieces. 

Prerequisites

Participants min. age: 18+

Level:  All levels, incl. Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Level Singers

Tutors

James Nelson

James Nelson, from Sligo, though resident in Baltinglass in West Wicklow, is a BA., B.Mus (Hons) graduate from UCD. James was a student of David Harper (UK), Britta Sundberg (Sweden), Edith Forrest & Dr Veronica Dunne (Ireland).

Highlights from an oratorio repertoire of over 60 works include Frank Martin’s “Golgotha” in Bern and Zürich Cathedrals, “L’Enfance du Christ” (Berlioz) alongside Katia Ricciarelli in Rome and Florence, as well as Elgar’s “Gerontius”, Verdi “Requiem”, Britten’s “St Nicolas”, Haydn’s “Creation”, the Bach Passions etc.

More than 50 roles in opera and operetta include Tichon (Katya Kabanova) for Opera Theatre Company in Portugal, Josef (Wiener Blut) and Cecco (Il Mondo della Luna) also for OTC, Basilio (Figaro) for Scottish Opera under the baton of Raymond Leppard, Pinkerton (Butterfly) at Hever Castle in Kent, Snout/Wall (Midsummer Night’s Dream) for Singapore Lyric Opera, Cavaradossi (Tosca) and Calaf (Turandot) for Opera in the Open, Lensky (Onegin) in Russia, Alfredo (Traviata) at Como in Italy, and roles for Opera Ireland, Opera Liceu, New Israeli Opera, and the Wexford, Buxton, and Blackwater Valley Opera Festivals.