Northern Aldborough Festival launches vocal competition

North Yorkshire’s Northern Aldborough Festival has today announced the launch of its new competition for singers. The New Voices Singing Competition is open to UK solo singers and ensembles of up to eight performers.

The competition winner will receive the Seastock Trust Prize of £5,000, as well as performance opportunities at UK music festivals including Leeds Lieder, Music@Malling, Newbury Spring Festival and Ryedale Festival. A second prize of £1,500 is also available from The Yorkshire Music Future Fund and the competition’s third prize is an Audience Prize worth £500.

Festival artistic director Robert Ogden (pictured) said: ‘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 [is needed] to help launch singing careers is of its time.’

The competition will be judged by a jury chaired by festival chairman Sir Andrew Lawson-Tancred, and will include Ogden alongside soprano Dame Felicity Lott; Christian Curnyn, artistic director of The Early Opera Company and Joseph Middleton, director of Leeds Lieder.

Applications are now open to vocalists aged 21-32 years-old, with entries welcome until 14 April. The competition semi-final and grand final will be performed live as part of this year’s Northern Aldborough Festival, which will run from 15 to 24 June 2023.

Founded in 1994, the Northern Aldborough Festival aims to bring high quality musical talent from all over the world to rural locations where it would not normally be heard.