Revamped Regional Vocal Scholarship program now more accessible to rural and regional students

OA Regional Vocal Scholarship 2019Opera Australia has announced a redesigned and more easily accessible opportunity for vocally gifted senior students across regional Australia to apply and audition for a scholarship online.

Opera Australia’s rebranded Regional Vocal Scholarship, formally known as the Regional Student Scholarship, has become more accessible by allowing eligible students to undertake a brand new application process entirely online facilitated through Vimeo and YouTube.

Students from year 11 and 12 who live 100km or further away from their nearest capital city centre are invited to apply for a vocal scholarship that could fast-track their opera or musical theatre career. The distance criteria does not apply to students who are from the Northern Territory or Tasmania.

“The Regional Vocal Scholarship is one of the outreach programs we’re most proud of and looking beyond our major cities in order to recognise and mentor young talented students in regional areas is a very exciting and important responsibility for us,” says CEO Rory Jeffes.

Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini added “We are looking for very talented singers across all genres, if there are students out there keen to pursue a career in the performing arts, we want to hear from them!”

Opera Australia’s Regional Vocal Scholarship is an accessible way for talented senior students to further develop their journey into the music industry that they may have never been exposed to otherwise. Travel, accommodation and meal allowances will be provided for each successful scholarship recipient.

To apply, students will need to provide contact information, a letter of recommendation from a music or vocal teacher, and two links to audition videos singing an opera, classical or musical theatre piece via the Opera Australia online portal. Once applications have been considered, four successful vocalists will receive the Scholarship prize of a week-long visit to Sydney in January 2020.

The program aims to build on each recipient’s musical capability with access to exclusive workshops held by some of Australia’s leading industry experts, tickets to world-class performances at the Sydney Opera House, and the chance to perform for CEO Rory Jeffes, Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, and Opera Australia guests.

Applications are now open and close Friday 28 June 2019. For more information, visit: www.opera.org.au for details.

Image: Galatea Kneath, Ellie Rose and Monique Grima are 2019 Scholarship Recipients – photo by Keith Saunders