News & Views

How will Audition Oracle be helping to support singers next?

Audition Oracle – Tue 19 Feb 2019 @ 9:53

In 2017 we established the Audition Oracle Singers Preparation bursary to help singers turn up to their next engagement fully prepared and ready to go. Throughout 2018 we awarded at least one recipient every month and have been delighted to have helped some twenty plus singers in an a small but real way. We have loved hearing the developments of all the artists we have supported. 

For 2019 we have chosen to supported the creation of Opera: By Voice Alone - an initiative that provides an opportunity for aspring and professional opera singers to enter a classical singing competition on a level playing field. 

This competition is all about removing unconscious bias and allowing us to really listen to your voice without the distraction of anything else that we may know about you as an aritst. First round auditions take place blind behind a screen. No names, CVs, experience or visuals. The voice is simply assessed on the here and now. It's a unique opportunity that precludes nobody from competing for the possibility to sing in front of casting professionals from our major opera houses.

We want everyone who is an aspiring or professional opera singer to take part. Age, gender, ethnicity, background, state education, private education, chorister, soloist, trained at music college, didn't train at music college, disability. None of this will come into the equation. We simply want you to share your voice with us and take that as the starting point for our selection process. We want to see what happens when we listen to you By Voice Alone. 

OPERA: BY VOICE ALONE

Auditions are scheduled as follows:

• Round One: Blind Audition
• Saturday 16th (limited availability), Sunday 17th, Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th March 2019 (full), National Opera Studio, Wandsworth
• Wednesday 27th (full) and Thursday 28th March (limited availability), Craxton Studios
• Further dates may be added – please enquire
• Recordings can be submitted
• Round Two: Jury & Panel Audition – Wednesday 1st May 2019, National Opera Studio, Wandsworth.
• Round 3: Competition Final – 7.30pm Monday 20th May 2019, Kings Place, London

Please email [email protected] to join the waitlist for any of the full audition dates. We hope to shortly release a few dates in early April.

The closing date for applications is midnight Thursday 28th February 2019 for the live auditions and midnight Sunday 31st March for recorded submissions

LIVE AUDITION APPLICATION LINK

RECORDING SUBMISSION APPLICATION LINK

**If the volume of applications reaches a certain number before the closing date given above, By Voice Alone reserves the right to close applications early – early application is recommended**

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Georgia Mae Bishop - Mezzo Soprano: Final winner of 2018 AO Awards

Audition Oracle – Tue 5 Feb 2019 @ 8:36

We are delighted to announce mezzo-soprano Georgia Mae Bishop as our final winner of the Audition Oracle Singers Preparation awards for 2018. We kept the announcement under wraps until Opera Holland Park announced that Georgia will be singing Madame Arvidson (Ulrica) in Ballo in Maschera for the OHP Young Artists. The award will go towards coachings and lessons to enable Georgia to turn up fully prepared for this exciting debut.

Georgia Mae Bishop, Mezzo Soprano

Born in Jersey, mezzo-soprano Georgia Mae Bishop is a recent graduate of the prestigious Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She holds a masters in performance with distinction from the Guildhall School and a BMus (hons) from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. 

Whilst at the Guildhall she was the winner of the Chartered Surveyors vocal competition and a recipient of an Opera Awards Foundation bursary. Other competition successes include 2nd prize at the Wagner Society Singing Competition (2016) and finalist in Fulham Opera’s Robert Presley Memorial Verdi Prize (2017). 

Described as ‘a performer with a strong vocal personality and stage presence’ (Opera Magazine), Georgia has received critical acclaim for her portrayal of numerous roles on the operatic stage. Recent credits include Filipyvena Eugene Onegin (Opera Loki), Mistress Quickly (cover) Falstaff (Garsington Opera), Zita Gianni Schicchi (Barbican Concert Hall), La Prieure Dialogues des Carmélites, Vera Boronel The Consul, Zenobia (cover) Radamisto (Guildhall Opera), title role Carmen, Ruth Pirates of Penzance (Dartington Opera), Sorceress Dido and Aeneas (Opera Lyrica), Cyrus Belshazzar (Trinity Laban Opera), Witch Hansel and Gretel (Guernsey Symphony Orchestra). Georgia has also performed as a part of the chorus with Grange Park Opera and British Youth Opera.

Georgia made her Barbican Hall debut with the LSO as Alto Soloist in Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust, and her Royal Festival Hall debut as the contralto soloist in a performance of Ustvolskaya Symphony no.4 with the LPO. Other concert highlights include; Alto Rhapsody Brahms, Sea Pictures Elgar (Canterbury Symphony Orchestra), Alto semi-chorus soloist Elijah, (St John’s Smith Square), Folk Songs Berio, (South Bank Centre), Messa da Requiem Verdi, Messiah Handel, and The Apostles Elgar, (Ely Cathedral).

Georgia has taken part in masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender in the Wigmore Hall, excerpts of which were later played on radio BBC 3’s Music Matters, Dame Felicity Palmer, Amanda Roocroft and Dame Kiri te Kanawa. 

Georgia is incredibly grateful to The Worshipful Company of Weavers, The Steel Charitable Trust, The One Foundation, The Paul Brown Charitable Trust, The Opera Awards, The John Lobb Trust, The John Hosier Trust and the Drapers Company who supported her during her studies.  

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Opera: By Voice Alone

Audition Oracle – Wed 16 Jan 2019 @ 8:05

Innovative Singing Competition Will Challenge Unconscious Bias in Opera and Judge Artists By Voice Alone

Throughout 2018 Audition Oracle pledged and awarded a minimum of £300 every month to individual artists to help with performance preparation and creating their own performances. In totally we award approximately £6,000 worth of support with our final December winner soon to be announced! For 2019 Audition has decided to financially support the creation of an innovative competition with the aim of not only supporting voices requiring further training but also creating pathways for existing and emerging artists to connect to the profession.

Press Release: Launch of By Voice Alone

Opera: By Voice Alone

We are pleased to announce the launch of an innovative new singing competition taking place in London in 2019.

‘By Voice Alone’ offers classical singers the chance to take part in a major competition without the age limits, restrictions and requirements of many other contests, and to be heard by representatives from the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera and The Grange Festival. In a major step towards tackling unconscious bias in casting, the first round is a blind audition, with no names, CVs or headshots – ensuring all applicants are judged by voice alone. Applications open at the end of January with the first auditions taking place in March and April.

The competition’s primary aims are to discover and support raw talent and to open up the singing profession to artists from as diverse a pool as possible. By beginning the three-stage competition process with a blind audition, By Voice Alone offers an alternative to the more traditional audition and casting processes and removes the typical markers of success that are often used to determine a candidate’s suitability for a position. Consequently, singers are judged not by their CVs, prior experience, age or background – but purely by their vocal ability. Melanie Lodge, the competition’s creator, hopes that this will open up the classical singing profession to those who have found themselves overlooked in the past.

“We hope that By Voice Alone will be the first step towards making a significant and measurable change to the levels of diversity represented on the UK’s concert, oratorio and opera stages. We want to see more BAME artists on stage, more disabled artists on stage, and more artists with a range of backgrounds and training. We feel strongly that achieving this will create a richer artistic offering for audiences, and as young people from diverse backgrounds see something of themselves reflected on stage, we’re confident it will encourage them and their families to engage more with classical music, too.”

The panel for the first round will comprise judges recommended by the UK’s major opera houses and summer festivals, many of whom will attend in person for the second round. Confirmed jurors include David Gowland (Royal Opera House), Michelle Williams (English National Opera), Kathryn Joyce (Welsh National Opera), Sarah-Jane Davies (Scottish Opera) and Scott Cooper (The Grange Festival.)

“What has been overwhelmingly exciting is the willingness of these companies to embrace the ethos behind By Voice Alone,” said Melanie. “Almost all the major houses and summer festivals are keen to be involved, and even those who can’t be there in person at the competition have been incredibly responsive and supportive of our shared aim of widening access to the profession. It’s something that we can all get behind and work together to make happen. We’ve met with a lot of encouragement from companies who are keen to lead change, and who see By Voice Alone as an exciting opportunity to collaborate and disrupt the industry in a really positive way. This is all about finding and nurturing raw talent, and giving singers who might have previously been invisible a platform to showcase their potential in a very real way.”

In addition to the opportunity to be heard by industry professionals, there is a prize fund of £5,000 on offer. This includes two ‘Raw Talent Encouragement Awards’ of £500 each that will be made from the first round, in recognition of two singers with outstanding vocal potential that would benefit from further training. The remaining prizes will be awarded at the competition final on 20th May.

Contact information

For further information and for branded materials, please contact Melanie Lodge at [email protected]/07838101766, or visit the By Voice Alone website at www.byvoicealone.com

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Soprano Filipa Portela receives Audition Oracle award

Audition Oracle – Mon 24 Dec 2018 @ 9:00

Filipa Portela - Soprano

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Irish Tenor John Porter receives latest Audition Oracle Award

Audition Oracle – Thu 22 Nov 2018 @ 18:00

This month we are delighted to announce Irish tenor John Porter as our latest Audition Oracle Singers Preparation Award winner. Audition Oracle are delighted to be able to contribute to John’s preparation of Anthony in Sweeney Todd with Northern Ireland Opera. Performances will take place in February of Next year. Book your tickets here!

John Porter - Tenor

Hailing from Donegal, Ireland, John is a graduate of Royal Academy Opera and University of Ulster. He currently studies under the tutelage of, Rosa Mannion, Catrin Wyn-Davies and Audrey Hyland. Also an alumnus of the Georg Solti Accademia and Les Azuriales, John has found professional advance as a former Young Artist for Garsington Opera and Northern Ireland Opera. More recently he was declared a finalist in Accademia Teatro alla Scala competition.

Operatic roles include: Rodolfo | La bohème, Nemorino | L’elisir d’amore, Basilio | Le nozze di Figaro, Nadir | The Pearl Fishers, Rinuccio | Gianni Schicchi, Beppe | Rita, Spoletta | Tosca and Ulysses | Ulysses, A Musical Odyssey (Laurence Roman; première) and opera scenes including: Bill | Flight, Graf Albert | Die tote Stadt, Pylade | Iphigénie en Tauride, Il Duca | Rigoletto and Alfred | Die Fledermaus. This season he has performed Tony | West Side Story for The Bath Festival, Pedrillo | Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Diva Opera, Kornélis | La princesse jaune for Northern Opera Group and Borsa | Rigoletto for Northern Ireland Opera whilst simultaneously covering Il Duca and looks forward to joining Northern Ireland Opera again to perform Anthony in their production of Sweeney Todd

On the concert platform, John has performed works including personal favouritesBach’s St John Passion; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. Also confident in recital John enjoys breathing life into characterful song cycles such as Schubert’s Schwanengesang, Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, and Finzi’s Til Earth Outwears.

John is grateful for the support he has received in his career thus far including that of The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, The Kathleen Trust, The Richard Lewis Jean Shanks Trust, The Nicholas Berwin Charitable Trust, and The International Opera Awards Foundation.

Further information about John can be found on his Audition Oracle Profile.

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