A leading Harrogate district arts festival has launched a nationwide search to find and reward talented young classical singers.
The Northern Aldborough Festival’s New Voices Singing Competition offers a prize fund of £7,000.
The winners will also receive performance opportunities at leading UK music festivals, including Leeds Lieder, Newbury Spring Festival, Ryedale Festival and Music@Malling, as well as the Northern Aldborough Festival itself.
The judging panel includes Dame Felicity Lott, one of Britain’s leading sopranos,
Robert Ogden, the festival’s artistic director, said:
“Hundreds of young singers graduate every year with dreams and aspirations to become professionals, but the majority have to seek temporary work while they build their careers.
“A competition success can be a turning point for a young artist. Our festival has, from its inception, strived to support and nurture young talent.”
The winner will receive The Seastock Trust Prize of £5,000, with a second prize of £1,500 from The Yorkshire Music Future Fund, and a third, audience prize of £500.
St Andrew’s Church in Aldborough hosts many of the festival events.
The competition is open to solo singers and ensembles of up to eight performers, and celebrates classical vocalism in all its forms. It is open to vocalists aged 21-32 years-old. Deadline for entries is Friday 14 April, 2023.
Mr Ogden, who is also an opera singer, said:
“At a time when the arts sector — particularly opera — has faced funding cuts, we feel a competition to help launch singing careers is of its time. What’s more, there are very few significant open vocal competitions north of London.”
The judging panel also includes the artistic director of The Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn, director of Leeds Lieder, Joseph Middleton, and artistic director of the Northern Aldborough Festival, Robert Ogden. The panel is chaired by Sir Andrew Lawson-Tancred, chairman of the Northern Aldborough Festival.
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The semi-final and grand-final will be performed live to audiences at the end of this year’s Northern Aldborough Festival, which is hosted in the North Yorkshire village from Thursday 15 to Saturday 24 June 2023.
It will be the 29th festival and highlights include trumpet star and winner of BBC Young Musician of the Year, 26-year-old Matilda Lloyd and the youngest winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition for 40 years, Sunwook Kim.