The 3rd International Singing Competition,
The Alida Vane Award
Date: 1.08 - 4.08.2017.
Venue: The Ventspils Culture Centre, Str. Kuldīgas 18, Ventspils LV -3601, Latvia.
Competition Organisers
The 3rd International Singing Competition, The Alida Vane Award is organized by Ventspils Culture Centre and supported byVentspils city municipality and the State Culture Capital Foundation.
This competition is being held to honour Latvian opera singer Alida Vane's memory and to promote the Latvian musicians achievements in the world's music cultural context as well as promoting academic singing, discovering new talented performers and facilitating their professional development.
The Competition is open to singers aged 18 - 33 of any nationality.
The staff of Jury will be international and will consist of eminent opera singers, musicians, vocal coaches and representatives of musical theatres & festivals. The chairperson of the Jury is the world known Latvian opera singer Maija Kovaļevska.
The participants will contest for the winner's title and the opera singer's Alida Vane Award of EUR 1500. The winners of the 2nd and 3rd places will be benefited with monetary prizes and diplomas. All finalists will receive diplomas presented during the Awarding ceremony and Winners Gala Concert on the 3rd August.
The Jury reserves the right not to award Alida Vane Award. In this case the Juryhave the right to divide monetary value of the main prize to the runner ups. The amount will be divided at the discretion of the jury. The decision of the jury is final and cannot be appealed.
The contestants of the 2nd round, who will not pass through to the final round will be able to participate in the master class led by Maija Kovaļevska, on the 2nd August 2017.
The Awards Ceremony will be held following on the 3rd August at The Centre of Performing Arts "Jūras vārti” in Ventspils.
All prize winners and finalists are obliged to sing at the Awarding ceremony and Winners Gala Concert in The Latvian Society House,Gold Hall, at the Capital city of Latvia, Riga on the 4th August without being remunerated.
The best contestants of the 2nd Round could be invited to take part in one of these concerts.
Competition Rules
- The criteria of evaluation system:
Voice quality, technical skills, musical presentation, artistic personality and program.
2.Procedure of the Competition:
2.1The contest will be in 3 rounds.
2.2In the first round all applicants registered by 20th May, will provide their audio/video recordings. The audio/video recording uploaded via YouTube. The recording should be available for Jury till the 4th August 2017.
The recording from 2017 must be of a high quality, professionally recorded or with mobile phone web camera, but not edited. The Organising committee retains the rights to disqualify recordings with evidence of studio amplification or editing. The applicant must indicate the date of recording, performer's name, surname, operatic character, title of opera, the title of aria song and composer.
2.3For the 2nd round in Ventspils the chosen contestants will be informed by e-mail only, by the 25th May.
2.4Thenumberof the finalists will be announced after the 2nd Round by the Jury according to the circumstances.
2.5The order of performance will be randomly selected on the 31st July during the registration in Ventspils Culture Centre. The contestant performances will take place in alphabetical order from the selected letter and will remain valid till the end of competition.
2.6The 2nd and 3rd rounds of the competition will be open to the public. The audience will have rights to vote for their preferred singer who will be awarded with the special Public Award prize.
2.7The students oftheJurymemberscantakepartinthe competition, but those Jury members are not allowed to vote for their students or have impact on the decisions of other Jury members and their decisions.
2.8Thewinnersofthe 1st InternationalVocalCompetition, AlidaVaneAwardin 2013 cannotparticipateinfuturecompetitions. Exceptions arewinnersofthe 2nd VocalCompetition, AlidaVaneAwardof 2016 whoparticipatedin junior class.
3.The program of the contest. 3.1. 1st Round: audio/video-recording of two contrasting music pieces - one aria from any opera and one art song. The two pieces should not be longer than 10 minutesaltogether.
2nd Round: two contrasting opera arias with piano accompaniment. One aria should be from operas by Handel, Mozart, Donizetti, Bellini or Rossini. Another aria could be selectedfrom any opera of any period. The two music pieces should not be longer than 12 minutesaltogether.
3rd Round/Final: three music pieces - one aria from oratorio/ cantata, one aria from opera/operetta and one art song.
One of them should be composed by Latvian composer or composer of the nationality or country which contestant presents and one needs to be composed in the 20th century. The three music pieces should not be longer than 15 minutesaltogether.
3.2.No aria/song could be repeated in any Round.
3.3.All music pieces must be performed from memory. All the arias must be sung in the original language and original tonality. Songs may be transposed. All music pieces performed in the competition must be published works and printed.
3.4.The Jury has the right to interrupt any performance exceeding the time limit.
3.5.An extra set of scoresofmusicpiecesfromthe 2nd and 3rdroundsshould be presented to the Jury during registration in Ventspils.
4. The application:
4.1. All participants will need to complete an application form. Application with all attachments (application package) must be submitted by 20 May 2017, via e-mail to the following address:
4.2. The application package must include:
- application form;
- copy of passport or ID card;
- scan or copy of proof of payment of the registration feein the amount of 35€;
- a link to audio/video recording on You Tube.
- The registration fee 35 € (thirty-five euro) must be paid via bank transfer by the
20thMay to the following bank account:
Receiver: Ventspils pilsētas domes Kultūras centrs
VAT no: 90001156868
Address: Kuldīgas iela 18, Ventspils. LV - 3601
Bank: AS Swedbank
SWIFT code: HABALV22
IBAN code: LV40HABA0551000953389
In the payment, participants will need to state his/her full name, surname in the payment document and indicate Registration fee for Alida Vane Vocal competition in the 'transaction detail' section.
4.4. The registration fee is not refundable.
4.5. Contestants selected to go to take part in the next round will be informed by 25th
May, by email only.The selected contestants must confirm their continued participation by the 1st June, 2017.
4.6. The participant fee for the 2nd Round is 40 € (forty euro).The participants of the
2nd Round will be informed about method of payment. The participation fee shallnot be reimbursed in case of absence or sickness.
5.Additional conditions: 5.1. Once chosen, pieces cannot be changed after the registration deadline. 5.2. The registration for the 2nd Round will be held on the July, 31 at Ventspils Culture Centre,KuldigasStr. 18, Ventspils, from 12:00 till 14:00.Registration after the designated time might be approved by the organisers at theirdiscretion.A late entry for registration or performance may result indisqualification.
5.3.During the registration participant have to provide original ID card or Passport.
5.4.Contestants can participate in the competition with his/her accompanist or apply
for the competition’s official accompanist services free of charge.
5.5. Contestants who require an accompanist provided by the competition must
provide accompanists with scores and have to send scanned musical scores of the
programme of the 2nd and 3rd rounds by e-mail by the
1st Jun. The rehearsal for the 2nd round will betakingplaceon 31st Julyafter
registrationandwillnotbelongerthan 20 minutes. Therehearsalforthe 3rd
roundwilltakeplaceon 2nd August and will not belonger than 30 minutes.
5.6.Organisers of the Competition have the right to audio/video record all the rounds
of the Competition and the final concert. The organisers have the right to use the
said recordings for promotional purposes.Contestants will not have monetary
claims on interviews, recordings and/or broadcastings.
The competition organisers hold the rights to publish photos and information
included in the applications and to publish the competition results.
The competition organisers hold the rights to broadcast any part of the
competition on the Internet.
5.7.Contestants are responsible for obtaining their own visas to enter Latvia.
5.8.Contestants are kindly advised to obtain travel insurance. The organisers of the
Competition will take no responsibility for any accidents occurring tocontestantsduring the competition.
5.9.Participants must cover their own accommodation and travelling expenses all throughthe competition (accommodation from 31.07. – 4.08 in Ventspilsand on the 4th in Riga).
5.10.Contestants of the 2nd round will be offered a possibility to reserve
accommodation in the Ventspils Music High school hostel (2 - 3 persons in
room, prize ~10 EUR per night). Reservations need to be indicated in the
application form.The Hotel accommodation in Ventspils and Riga must
be booked directly by contestants.
5.11.The participation in the competition is voluntary. By taking part in the
competition the participants confirm that they are familiar with the
regulations of the competition and that they will follow them.
- The regulations of the contest and application form can be found on the Ventspils Culture Centre home page