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Opera Production Competition

2011-2012 Winners Announced

Congratulations to the winners of the 2011-2012 competition!

Competition Guidelines

The current competition round is for entries produced during the period of June 1, 2012 to June 15, 2013. Submission deadline is June 30, 2013.

GOAL: To encourage and reward creative, high quality opera productions in:

• Small professional opera companies
• Opera training programs, including:
  • Academic institutions
  • Music conservatories
  • Summer opera training programs
  • Opera outreach programs

Eligibility and Guidelines

Eligible productions are those presented between June 1, 2012, and June 15, 2013. The submitting institution or a member of the production staff must be an NOA member, with dues current for 2013. Dues for continuing and new members must be paid online (in the member's area).

Entrants must submit three DVD copies of a complete live performance or dress rehearsal, with audience, of a production. The video recordings should be labeled with the names of the opera, composer, and librettist only. There must be nothing on the tapes/discs or their containers that will identify the producing organization or any personnel involved. The videos of the production submitted for consideration by the competition judges must have been produced by one camera in a fixed position from which the frame can encompass the entire stage. Panning and zooming are permitted and encouraged. The videos may not be edited in any way, other than to remove items revealing the submitting institution, i.e. credits/curtain calls, etc. An independent mic system may be used in filming.

Depending on the number of productions entered, entries may be divided into multiple judging levels. The determination of level will be based on such parameters as:

• Production budget (application section II) Please note the change in this section of the application.  If all or part of your production materials were pulled from stock, you must assign a dollar amount for those materials equivalent to the replacement cost rather than listing the percentages of each as was done in past years.
• Size of institution’s music program (application section I)
• Level of vocal training of the singers in the cast (application section III)

Be sure to read and complete the application carefully. In fairness to all entrants, it is imperative that the competition application contain complete and accurate information. Therefore, incomplete and/or inaccurate applications are subject to disqualification. Information contained in the first page of the application will be shared with the judges to help them formulate a standard against which to evaluate the production. The same judges will view all videos in each category.

Announcements of the winners will be made at the Annual Convention and posted on the NOA website. NOA may, for publicity purposes, use submitted production photos on its website or in print materials. Please select photographs of sufficient resolution (min. 300px/in) for quality print production.

Submission Procedure

The submission must include:

• a completed application form (available as a Word document or PDF form).
• a copy of your web receipt for the $25 fee per entry. To pay online, login to the member's area, click on payments and purchases, click on Opera Production Competition Entry Fee, add it to your cart, then proceed to checkout.
• a prepaid, self-addressed mailer if return of videos is desired
• three DVDs of the production
• a CD containing selected production photos for publicity purposes
• a complete printed program (it is not necessary to black out any portion of the program)
• a statement of the director’s concept, explaining choices and approach, to account for any variance from the text; and
• if applicable, written permission from the work’s publisher or copyright holder authorizing the performance.

The judges will be provided with the first page of the application, the director's statement and will view the videos. Therefore, to ensure anonymity of entries, NO identifying references or credits should appear on those materials. Any entry for which the submitted tape or explanatory statement reveals the performance venue or the name of any participating NOA member will be disqualified. The submission fee for entries ruled ineligible will not be refunded. DVDs will not be returned unless accompanied by a pre-paid, self-addressed mailer.

Questions

Questions regarding the competition may be addressed to:
Ken Wood, competition chair, at , or to
Robert Hansen, Executive Director, at or by calling 806-651-2857.