While talent and determination might get you in the door, true greatness comes when you’re training with the best. Our performing arts educators are experienced professional musicians, actors and directors, including almost 30 members of the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera orchestras (half of whom are principals) and veterans of the stage and screen with credits stretching from Broadway to Hollywood.

Music is a calling. Musicians are musicians because they have to be, and preparing for a life in music requires an unwavering desire to perform and perfect one's art. Music performance majors arrive with artistic desire and leave with the skills and knowledge to begin a life in music.

Because of the Theatre Conservatory's reputation for excellence, students from around the world have studied theatre at CCPA/Roosevelt. The university recruits nationally for theatre students, however word of mouth remains the best recruitment tool, as graduates have become "ambassadors" for the program. A major selling point is the conservatory's outstanding internship program. Students receive academic credit for interning at Chicago's professional theatres.