The 21st Annual Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition culminates on Sunday, February 8, 2009 at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts when eight finalists will compete for cash prizes and study awards. The finals performance begins at 2:00 P.M. in the auditorium. It is free, but donations, of course, would be very much appreciated. Seating is open and the audience may enter the auditorium beginning at 1:45 P.M. As always, the audience will vote for their favorite singer, and the “Audience Choice” will receive and additional prize. The finals concert is always wonderful, and seeing whether the audience and the three distinguished judges who rank the winners agree as to which one is best is great fun. As an added attraction, midshipmen musicians from the U.S. Naval Academy perform for the audience while the judges deliberate. The big news about the vocal competition is that the preliminary round, which is held the week before the finals, will also be held at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. For the past several years the preliminary round was held at a different venue, but the Hall is Annapolis Opera’s home, and being able to hold the preliminaries there is very exciting since holding them in the auditorium allows the judges to better gauge how singers would sound in performance spaces. The preliminary round is closed to the public.

The competition has attracted some wonderful singers in the past. Soprano Colleen Daly, who won the grand prize two years ago and has become an audience favorite, will return to Annapolis Opera in November for the “Dying Divas and Dastardly Dons” performance. She is resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and will cap her tenure there singing Lucia in Lucia de Lammermoor in the spring.