A rising soprano with a busy career asks about higher education: ‘As a graduate of two early-music programs, I frequently find myself questioning the value of my degrees’
This piece was first published in the September 2025 issue of EMAg, the Magazine of Early Music America.
Letter to the Editor:
In “The Ups (and Downs) of Collegiate Early Music” (EMAg, May 2025), reporter Kyle MacMillan offered an overview on the status of collegiate early music in North America. While the article offered comprehensive observations on the state of enrollment, faculty positions, funding, and a universal need for recruitment, there is perhaps one significant ingredient missing from the assessment: the students. How can we assess the current state of early music and historical performance in higher education without considering the experience of current students and recent alumni?
MacMillan quoted several directors who spoke of the importance and enrollment impact of secondary students — but what of students whose primary area of study is early music? Department leaders are, first and foremost, publicity professionals for their own departments and positions. They are ready to pivot to highlight positive changes or new ideas — at times to the detriment of their own students and, by extension, to the field at large.
If we use the “pipeline” metaphor of industry development, perhaps we should look to post-graduation prospects and the professional field to ask questions about university enrollment. Some questions worth considering:
- Is it necessary to have a degree in early music/historical performance to perform, teach, or artistically direct in the field?
- Does having a degree in early music benefit anyone when applying for teaching positions or submitting materials for performance opportunities?
- Have early-music programs, and the field by extension, become too isolated from the music industry on a national and international level?
- What percentage of early-music organizations in North America are led by musicians and scholars that studied in an early-music program in North America?
- Are there enough opportunities for advanced students and recent alumni to keep them engaged and encouraged in career pursuits in the two to three years after graduation?
- Do early-music programs and faculty help their students to pursue instruction and opportunities in later types of music — similar to the way secondary students find value (and career opportunities) in studying early music?
- What is the right balance between honoring specialization and dedicated study, and being inclusive to various career paths that intersect with early music?
- The field of early music is interdisciplinary by nature. Can early-music programs offer comprehensive training in interdisciplinarity — is it possible to learn more about early music in non-specialized programs?
- How can we support and properly celebrate the success of early-music programs that offer vastly different curricula: from those that accept students who have never touched a historical instrument, to those that are essentially finishing schools; from those that specialize in Medieval and Renaissance studies, to those who teach primarily high Baroque; from those that prioritize scholarship, to those that prioritize performance?
- Are there more benefits — connections, performance opportunities, resources, technical training, comprehensive career preparation — to be gained from a modern instrument degree and secondary study in early music, than a specialized program?
- As we see early-music programs shutter, are we mourning the lost opportunity for future students, or the legacy of hero-leaders?
- The single greatest recruitment resource for any university program is its alumni. How many early-music alumni could, with a good conscience, still recommend the program they attended?
As a graduate of two early-music programs, I frequently find myself questioning the value of my degrees and making choices of omission when preparing applications.
Don’t get me wrong: I love the music. I love the scholarship. I love understanding earlier cultures through their music. I love the community of artists that this field is home to. But I do often wonder if there is enough meaningful work and sustainable funding in this field to support specialization at the level of the degree program.
Soprano Paulina Francisco has an international career of solo singing, opera, and chamber music and has served as an administrator for several ensembles across North America. She is a winner of the 11th edition of Le Jardin des Voix with Les Arts Florissants and performs with the ensemble regularly. She is the curator of EMAg’s Courant.
