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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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