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Competitions
On this page:
- Silver Melted Into Sound Composition Competition
- Concerto-Aria Night Competition
- Randy and Nora Paul Young Artist Competition
Silver Melted Into Sound Composition Competition
Composition Contest Rules and Regulations
In alignment with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Grant awarded to the School of Fine and Performing Arts in 2022, the music festival Silver Melted into Sound again calls for compositions designed to increase repertoire written by underrepresented composers, including people of color, women and other marginalized genders, or persons with a disability and/or draw attention to minority poet Julia de Burgos.
The composition must be written for one of the following ensembles and at the performance level of a high school, Grade 3 ensemble:
- Concert Band – standard instrumentation
- String Orchestra
- Chorus – SATB
The composition must be inspired by the poetry of Julia de Burgos.
- Priority will be given to people who consider themselves to be part of an underrepresented population.
- There is no entry fee.
Entry Information
- Entries must be received via email to gretchen.mcnamara@wright.edu by April 8, 2024, and will not be considered without registration using the link above. In your email submission, please include your name and your diversity qualifications.
- Entries must include a PDF score and a .mp3 or .wav sound file of the composition.
- The winning composition will be announced at the Silver Melted into Sound Music Festival on Friday, May 3, 2024.
- The winning composition will receive a $250 cash prize sponsored by Theta Eta Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity and a world premiere performance by a Wright State University music ensemble during the 2024-2025 academic year.
Two Julia de Burgos poems (PDF) have been pre-selected for use in this Composition Contest.
Concerto-Aria Night Competition
The University Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra perform on Concerto-Aria Night Concert every spring semester. The audition for the selection of winners is held early in the semester, at which off-campus judges are invited to adjudicate the event. Winners of the audition will have the opportunity of performing with one of the orchestras depending on the instrumentation of the work chosen.
To be eligible to audition, each entrant must be a Wright State University music major. The student may audition on his/her applied instrument with the permission of the instructor of that applied area.
It should be understood that for an individual to qualify to perform, a certain musical standard must be shown at the audition time. If no one qualifies, no one will be chosen. To enable more students to appear with orchestra, an entrant will be eligible to perform only during alternate years and no more than two times on any one instrument. It is up to the discretion of the judges to determine the number of winners.
Audition Guidelines
The type of music chosen for the audition by each entrant should be that of the "normal repertoire", i.e., a concerto movement, concert piece, operatic aria, and other similar composition for which an orchestral accompaniment is available. Maximum performance time is 15 minutes.
The availability and complexity of the orchestral accompaniment must be taken into consideration. Dr. Cha and Dr. Leung will make this judgment. Each entrant must receive Dr. Cha or Dr. Leung's signature of approval before final selection of audition literature.
The entrant's applied teacher must sign the application indicating that he/she approves of the audition and literature.
All applicants must furnish their own accompanists (including a second pianist for piano entrants) and be prepared to perform the entire aria or movement (including cadenzas).
The decision to require memorization for both the competition and performance shall be at the discretion of the student's applied teacher.
Each entrant must bring an extra copy of the orchestral or piano score to the audition.
All winners must understand that if they are chosen to perform, they have a commitment and responsibility to be at ALL Monday evening rehearsals of the University Symphony Orchestra or ALL Tuesday and Thursday rehearsals of the Chamber Orchestra prior to the concert.
The criteria to be used in judging performances will be as follows:
- Interpretation
- Musical sensitivity
- Accuracy
- Technical proficiency
- Memorization
No exceptions will be made to any of the above regulations.
Please fill out the 2020-2021 Concerto-Aria Night Auditions (DOCX) application in order to audition.
Randy and Nora Paul Young Artist Competition
The Randy and Nora Paul Young Artist Competition is designed to showcase the finest student performers within the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Wright State University. The winner of the competition will receive a cash prize.
A student may compete in the competition every year the student is enrolled as a full-time music student at Wright State.
There is no consideration for “program balance” in the audition process. The best students, regardless of the performance area, year in school, or type of degree will be advanced to the final round.
Requirements
- This is a solo competition. Contestants may compete with or without accompaniment.
- Memorization is not required.
- All contestants must compete live on the day of the audition. No pre-taped audio, video, or electronic submissions will be accepted.
- Contestants are responsible for providing one original score to the judges (photocopies are not acceptable).
Audition Procedure
- Each applied studio teacher in the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Wright State may submit a total of four students from their applied studio to compete in the Randy and Nora Paul Young Artist Competition. The applied studio teacher will forward the name(s) to Jerry Noble at gerald.noble@wright.edu Students competing in the competition must be registered as a full-time student during the Spring semester.
- Judges, external to Wright State, will be brought to campus on a Saturday morning/afternoon in March or April. The judges will determine who the finalists are, based solely on the quality of the audition, without any preference to “program balance." Based on this audition, the judges will select the students who will perform in the final round of the competition, which will take place during the Honors Recital program.
- The Honors Recital program will take place in mid-to-late April. Judges, external to Wright State, will be brought to campus for the final round of the competition. The judges will determine the winner and runner-up based solely on the quality of the performance. Each student is responsible for providing one original score to the judges (photocopies are not acceptable).
- The decision of the judges is final.
