Albany opera singer Bonnie Staude is calling on the community to help her raise funds for her upcoming Master’s degree at a renowned music conservatoire in the UK.

Staude was accepted into the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester last year to study a Master of music in vocal performance, but while she received a scholarship to cover part of her fees for the two-year program, she must stump up for the remaining tuition and living costs.

“It’s a very exciting thing to get into but it’s a big financial undertaking, especially coming from all the way across the world, so I’m fundraising over these few months to try and help support the gap in tuition and my living costs because living abroad is pretty crazy,” Staude said.

“This fundraiser is essentially to help me be able to get there.”

For Staude, the Master’s degree is a “natural progression” after completing a Bachelor of music at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Art last year.

“About midway through last year I was looking into schools around the world, but I was very drawn to England, particularly just studying in the cultural centre of opera and the arts,” she said.

As of Tuesday, Staude had raised $925 of her $5000 target, with 175 days to go before her course starts in September.