Look at the results of nearly any singing competition and you will see one singer’s name next to each prize. But in the case of one particular competition’s results, you will see singers’ names—yes, plural—next to each award. Why? Because these singers are performing together in a scene and representing their college or university, an experience made possible by the National Opera Association’s (NOA) Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition (COSC).
Since 2009, this competition has been giving college-aged singers the chance to perform scenes of up to eight minutes at the NOA’s annual convention, giving more singers the chance to be seen and heard by a national audience than is possible with competitions for individual singers. COSC is the brainchild of Julia Aubrey, director of opera at the University of Mississippi and NOA’s immediate past president (2012–2014). Since NOA’s mission is to promote artistic excellence and education in opera, she wanted to involve more students in the convention, which offers continuing education opportunities for opera educators, professionals, and students.
“I returned home every year after our conventions with an enriched idea of what it means to be an opera educator,” Aubrey says. “[My students] needed an opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences with their peers about what it means to be an aspiring opera singer. The process of preparing a scene for competition, a performance opportunity on a national level, and the possibility of receiving recognition for superior production answered these needs.” Four years ago, thanks to COSC, Aubrey’s university made a national name for itself when its students won first place with a scene from Gianni Schicchi.
Even though only a few universities participated the first year, Aubrey relates that entries doubled the second year and interest continued to grow, prompting NOA to add more divisions. Initially, there was one division, but undergraduates were competing against graduates—so, to accommodate growth and create a fair competition for voices of similar ages, there are now three categories: Opera I Division (undergraduates, through age 22), Opera II Division (ages 23 and up), and the most recent addition for the 2015 competition—Musical Theatre (also for undergraduates) to reflect a trend among U.S. opera companies of programming musical theatre.
More categories translate to more finalists translate to more opportunities to gain experience and attend the convention; students are able to observe and participate in masterclasses and network with directors and teachers. “Our students can see the work of their peers from across the country, to observe how their vocal technique, stylistic nuance, acting, and movement skills compare,” says Marie Allyn King, director of opera and musical theatre and professor at Wichita State University, a 2014 winner and a 2015 finalist in Opera II. “Also, opera directors and those who run Young Artist Programs can see the level of talent at our school.”
So, why the emphasis on scenes? “There are many voice competitions, and there are theater competitions of various types, but nothing focusing on the opera scene,” says Paul Houghtaling, associate professor of voice and director of opera theatre at the University of Alabama School of Music and NOA’s vice president for regions who administers COSC. “Young singers don’t immediately bite off large roles. They begin to test the waters and try roles through small portions—through scenes. Scene study is the initial role study for a young singer in college. I did many scenes from The Magic Flute before I sang my first professional Papageno. Scenes will always be important for healthy training of young singers as they figure out appropriate repertoire.”
Talk about a happy coincidence: COSC was Houghtaling’s first experience with NOA. John Douglas, a coach on John Moriarty’s staff at the New England Conservatory of Music, suggested to Houghtaling that NOA could be an excellent resource for him and his students. “The national convention was in Atlanta in 2010, a short drive from Tuscaloosa,” Houghtaling explains. “Entering the competition and advancing to the finals allowed me to ask my department for funding to bring students.” He joined the COSC committee and moved up the ranks to become vice president for regions. It delights him that students are involved in the convention, with their energy and excitement.
Houghtaling takes great care to make sure that the competition is fair and transparent. For starters, all singers must be enrolled in a degree program when the finals take place in January. COSC is open to all colleges and universities who are NOA members. “Some schools are large with well-known music programs, while other institutions are small, have small music programs, and may or may not offer music degrees,” he says. “As long as they produce opera scenes and offer that experience to their students, they are eligible to apply for the competition.” Those who enter have to submit video recordings in October for the preliminary round, and judges choose four finalists in each of the three divisions to compete live in the finals at the NOA National Convention.
It is significant that the videos for the preliminary round are submitted blindly—nothing to identify the singers or the school. “We are not judging schools or production values,” Houghtaling says. “The scenes are judged on the totality of the opera experience [using] all of the elements of our craft: singing, acting, movement, use of the space, effectiveness of the storytelling, energy, and theatrical and musical expression—the overall quality and effect of how they present what they present.”
Also significant, the scenes presented on the videos do not have to be the same scenes presented in the finals. “Because the convention takes place in January, the deadline for videos has to be in October. By mid-October, most schools haven’t produced an opera or a scenes program, so they have to use a video of a performance from the year before,” Houghtaling explains. “A good way to look at our preliminary round is [that it’s] a qualifying round, much like in gymnastics. In the finals, competition starts anew.”
Apparently, videos serve as application materials and as motivation for the students. “Knowing that the recordings we are making might be considered for competition makes the students perform at a higher level—they have less tolerance for mistakes—and we end up with a better artistic product,” says Rebecca Renfro Grimes, opera workshop director for Sam Houston State University School of Music, a frequent finalist in Opera I and a second-place finisher in 2015. Grimes is delighted that COSC not only gives her students the chance to travel and perform outside their local region, but also gives the school’s opera program national recognition; she is grateful to the university’s administrators for their encouragement and funding.
Reading through the competition’s rules reveals that most of the guidelines are straightforward, but a few of them deserve further explanation. For instance, students are ineligible to enter if they also teach at the school. According to Houghtaling, if they teach, “that means they are professional singers, which would be highly unfair to other singers in the competition.”
Another rule states: “All submitted scenes must be from a show which has already received a full production by a professional opera or musical theatre company or a university/college program.” At first glance, this rule seems odd—what does a professional opera or musical theatre company have to do with a competition for colleges and universities? The rationale: receiving a full production means that the piece is established. “Early on, some schools were submitting scenes from new chamber operas to get those operas heard,” Houghtaling explains. “In effect, the schools were entering a composer and his work, not the students and their work, and that’s not the spirit of COSC. We are not discriminating against new works, but there are other vehicles for them at NOA. For COSC, we want scenes from operas that have at least had a world premiere.”
Two other rules can be explained simply. Sets and props are minimal in the finals because a school within driving distance of the convention could easily bring sets and large props with them, while a school across the country could not, so the restriction creates an equal setup for everyone. And the eight-minute restriction is in place purely for logistics, to prevent an overlong competition within the time frame of the convention’s other events. Yet, have no fear—Houghtaling reports that “nobody has trouble finding a scene under eight minutes.”
Students who have appeared in the finals include soprano Cheyna Alexander and tenor Nicholas Szoeke. Alexander, from the University of Nevada–Las Vegas, entered COSC based on the decision of Linda Lister, UNLV director of opera theater and voice, when the Musical Theatre category was added. Alexander sang the Baker’s Wife (joined by Xavier Brown as Cinderella’s Prince) in “Any Moment/Moments in the Woods” from Act II of Into the Woods, one of her favorite musicals. The scene won first place.
“We have submitted opera scenes in the past, so I knew this was a great opportunity for our school to branch out and try something different,” says Alexander. “Musical theatre has always come more naturally to me because that is what I started singing before I trained operatically. It was really a treat to compete against such great singers from all over the country and to hear the talent that is out there . . . it challenges me to do the best I can, and friendly competition is always healthy.”
Another benefit of COSC, Alexander points out, is exposure to repertoire. In her case, it was the opening scene from The Light in the Piazza. “I have heard some other musical numbers from the show,” she says, “but I have never heard this particular scene, and it is something I would like to be part of in the future because of how musically interesting the piece is.”
Szoeke, a 2015 finalist in the Musical Theatre division, has a unique distinction: he was a finalist four years in a row—his sophomore, junior, and senior years with Sam Houston State University, and then as a master’s student under Houghtaling at the University of Alabama (the two met at the competition, and Houghtaling recruited him to Alabama). “Each year,” Szoeke says, “I was lucky enough to be cast in the scene that my university was entering in the competition. It was a great honor to be able to represent my school and to have another chance to get up and do what I love—perform.” Like Alexander, he took advantage of the opportunity to observe other singers.
“I listen for the beauty of their tone and how they are using their vocal techniques to add to the character,” he says. Observing singers’ movements around the stage and their use of physicality to bring characters to life, gaining new ideas for characters he has performed and hopes to perform, and the exposure to numerous characters from operas, operettas, and musicals are also on his list of highlights. Perhaps best of all, Szoeke has received only positive comments and feedback from the judges and audience members.
That reaction, in itself, gives Houghtaling great pride, since he works hard to establish a supportive environment for the singers and give them the chance to learn. “We don’t put stock specifically in winning,” he says. “There’s no monetary award, just plaques and certificates. It’s about the valuable experience of performing in front of a knowledgeable and supportive audience that knows opera. Maybe we inspire the students to work harder, and maybe they’ll enter the competition again. Everyone comes away feeling like a winner.”
Competition rules are available at www.noa.org/competitions/opera-scenes-guidelines.html. The deadline to apply for the 2016 competition is October 18, 2015. Finals will take place in Indianapolis in January 2016.
