The Northern Aldborough Festival has announced the launch of The New Voices Singing Competition.
Set up to find the country’s best classical vocal talent, the competition offers a prize fund of £7,000 and performance opportunities at leading UK music festivals. Entries are now being accepted from solo singers and ensembles with up to eight members, aged between 21 and 32 years old.
The winner will receive The Seastock Trust Prize of £5,000. The second prize winner will receive £1,500 from The Yorkshire Music Future Fund, while third place takes home the Audience Prize of £500. The judging panel includes soprano Dame Felicity Lott; the artistic director of The Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn; Joseph Middleton, director of Leeds Lieder; 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.
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.
Robert Ogden, artistic director at the Northern Aldborough Festival, says, ‘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.’
‘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,’ he adds.
