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Guidelines for the Divison of Vocal Studies Preliminary and Final Rounds (2024):

  1. Before signing up to compete, you must receive permission from your studio teacher.  The deadline to sign up to sing in the preliminary round is Monday, September 9, 2024 at noon.  To request to sing, you must 1) sign up for a time on a provided SignUp Genius link, and 2) fill out a Departmental Performance Request Form, listing September 17th as the performance date.  Students who do not do both of these tasks will not be eligible to participate. 

  2. Each singer may sing up to 5 minutes in the preliminary round, and up to 9 minutes in the Division final round.

  3. A preliminary round judged by members of the Vocal Studies faculty will be held on Tuesday, September 24th, 2024 at 3:45 pm in Voertman Hall.  This round is closed to the public and without an audience.  Judging method:  Each faculty member ranks their top 8 candidates from 8 to 1, with 8 being the best score.  The total score is calculated for each singer, and separately, the quantity of votes received is tallied. Studio teachers may not vote for their own singers.  If adding the quantity of votes to a score produces a different order within the pool of finalists and/or alternates, there will be a runoff vote.  Faculty may vote for any singer in this runoff vote.

  4. Once the results of the preliminary round are known, a drawing is held to determine program order for the semi-final found to be held the following week. The results of the preliminary round are emailed to the voice faculty and then posted on CANVAS.  Singers are listed in alphabetical order in the announcement of who has moved on to the next round.  Advancing singers must, within 24 hours, complete their entry in the Departmental Performance Request Form for the semi-final round.  The program for the semi-final round is then sent to the program office.  

  5. The performance order of the semi-final round is determined by random drawing of names. The semi-final round is open to the public (voice students are expected to attend) and is adjudicated by an outside judge who selects 3 finalists and one alternate for the College of Music final round.  Those three finalists take part in a master class with the judge immediately following the announcement of those finalists.    

  6. Both graduate and undergraduate students who are qualified may compete.  A student must be enrolled in applied voice lessons as a Vocal Performance Major (BM, MM, or DMA), GAC-Voice candidate, GAC-Opera candidate, or Voice Concentration (BM).  

  7. Students who have completed all degree requirements in a previous semester will not be allowed to compete even though they may be enrolled in voice.

  8. Students may not enter with repertoire previously performed by that student with orchestra in a UNT performance, e.g., UNT Opera, regardless of change of status or degree program.

Guidelines for the College of Music Final Round:  

The finals of the 2023-24 William Gammon Henry Concerto Competition will take place in Winspear Hall of the Murchison Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, October 10, 2023 from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

All finalists and all accompanists must be available for this entire time period. No special scheduling requests allowed. Students should contact their applied faculty professor regarding information on the preliminary round(s). Performance time onstage - 9 minutes.

Approximately 6-7 winners will be selected by a panel of outside judges, for performance with the Concert Orchestra on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 at 7:30 PM.

Concerto Competition Guidelines:

The number of finalists altogether from all performance areas shall not exceed 18. This allows each finalist a maximum of 10 minutes on stage, and means that the final round will last for 3 hours. Each performance area should determine its own timeline and procedures for reaching their designated number of finalists. Names and contact info (email and cell phone) of finalists, names of their accompanists, title of concerto movement or aria (in detail), etc. must reach Dr. Clay Couturiaux by 7:00 PM THURSDAY, October 5. Woodwinds: 3 Brass:3 Strings:3 Voice: 3 Percussion, guitar, harp: 3 altogether Keyboard: 3 (1 organ, 2 piano. If there is no organ finalist, then piano may have 3).

Repertoire: Students may compete with one movement of a multi-movement work; the entirety of a one movement single work, or multiple movements of a multi-movement work as long as the combined total duration is preferably no longer than 10 minutes. In addition to the level of performance, factors which may be considered when choosing the winners include length of entire program or difficulties involved (rehearsal time) in preparing a student orchestra and a student conductor to perform a given work. Memorization is required unless it is in the tradition of the instrument to perform as a soloist from score. Students competing in the finals with music will be presumed to have such a performance approved by their department or division. Finals are performed with piano accompaniment ONLY. Students who have been past winners of the competition are ineligible to compete as a soloist, regardless of any change in status or degree program. Previous solo winners may compete as part of a double (or other multiple) concerto as long as at least one entire academic year has passed since the student’s previous performance with the orchestra. Competitors selected to the final round must submit the Concerto Competition Materials Acquisition Form to the Orchestral Studies Librarian (charlesbaldwin@my.unt.edu) as soon as they are selected as finalists, but no later than the day of the competition finals. This form is available at: https://orchestra.music.unt.edu/willam-gammon-henry-concerto-competition The purpose of this form is for the Orchestra Librarian to determine if the score already exists in the UNT Orchestral Studies Library and if not, to be able to order it along with parts in time for rehearsals to begin. Additionally, scores and parts which may at one time have been in the library might be missing or might be so old as to no longer be in good condition for rehearsals and performances.

Judges in the final round may include a conductor of a professional orchestra; a director of a chamber or recital series; and a member of a major symphony orchestra. The conductor will possibly choose one finalist to appear with their orchestra in their 2024-2025 season, and prize money of $2000 will be awarded to the performer at the time of that performance. The conductor has the right to request a different concerto from the one auditioned at the final round, taking into account recent past performances of a given work by their orchestra and/or budgetary or programming considerations. The chamber or recital series director will possibly choose another finalist to perform on their 2024-2025 season, and the prize money of $1000 will be awarded at the time of that performance.