The Duncan Williams Voice Programs aim to address systemic barriers faced by singers of color within opera and classical music. Our mission is to discover rising talent while supporting singers and meeting needs that are often unaddressed in traditional competitions.
Traditional Competitions
High Costs to Participate
Application fees are a barrier that disproportionately affects communities of color and removing them is the first step to a more equitable competition.
Creating a competitive audition recording can be costly to many singers. From booking a recording space and engineer to hiring an accompanist, or even feeling pressured to buy a new dress, suit, or other audition-specific garments, singers have already invested heavily with no guarantee of getting an audition.
Age Limits
Most competitions have a maximum age for singers to be eligible. This has excluded many singers who came to classical music later in life, take a break in schooling, take time off from school to work and save money, or who have other less traditional pathways toward a career in music.
High Travel Costs
Singers are often responsible for their own travel expenses from airfare and rental cars to hotels. This can often be prohibitive to participation for many singers.
Euro-centric Repertoire
Many competitions focus on European canonical operatic repertoire, often excluding living and Black and Latinx creators.
A Single Performance is Considered
Most competitions generally award prizes based solely upon the performance the singer gives on that day. While we support competitions with this goal, it sometimes leaves out other attributes that make a great artist.
Duncan Williams Voice Competition
No Fees
The Duncan Williams Voice Competition is a no-fee competition We hope to address barriers related to costs by:
Encouraging homemade recordings (iPhone, Android, zoom recording.)
Support and reassure singers that they should audition in clothes that they feel comfortable and confident in with no expectation of traditional “formal” audition attire.
Granting partial subsidies on a case-by-case basis to singers with demonstrable need
Open to Anyone 18+
Our Developing Artist division is for singers ages 18-25, and our Emerging Artist division has no upper age limit to accommodate singers of any age.
Travel Costs are Covered
Should singers advance to the later rounds of the competition, travel-related expenses will be covered. This includes flights, overnight accommodation, and travel to and from the venue during the semi-finals and finals in New York City.
Representative Repertoire Required
While each division has its own requirements, both include works by Black and Latinx creators.
Holistic View of The Artist
While singing well is always the focus of a great audition, the Duncan Williams Voice Competition has the goal of approaching each artist as an individual, taking into account the life experiences that bring them to the stage and inform their work on and off the stage. One way the competition will address this is through a personal statement submitted with the application.