Stay tuned for details on the 2025 competition application and deadlines.
Final Round Concert
March 29, 2025 | 7:00 PM
Betty Van Andel Opera Center
Opera Grand Rapids is proud to announce the 2025 VanderLaan Prize.
The 21st annual VanderLaan Prize is an opportunity for college-level voice students to compete for cash prizes and receive feedback from adjudicators who themselves are acclaimed opera artists. Opera Grand Rapids brings world-class professionals into its adjudication process in order to give contestants meaningful instruction and critique. 10 finalists will be chosen to perform in the final-round concert at the Betty Van Andel Opera Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on March 29, 2025. The finalists will sing for three adjudicators and participate in educational and social activities with one another.
This competition boasts one of the largest purses in the nation at nearly $25,000, awarded as follows:
First Place
$10,000
Second Place
$5,000
Third Place
$2,500
Audience Choice Award
$1,000
chosen by audience members during the final-round concert
10 Finalists will receive $500 to be used as a travel stipend. Prizewinners will also receive special consideration for roles in upcoming Opera Grand Rapids productions.
Congratulations to the 2024 winners!
Watch the recording of the Final Round Concert
It is in a spirit of gratitude and humility that Opera Grand Rapids is pleased to announce the renaming of our National Collegiate Vocal Competition to The VanderLaan Prize. Opera Grand Rapids is saddened at the loss of one of our greatest friends, Karl VanderLaan. Karl and his wife Jean have supported our music education programs for nearly twenty years and were constant champions of arts education. Karl and Jean have demonstrated the powerful impact of philanthropy and continue to do so with the establishment of the VanderLaan Music Education Fund at Opera Grand Rapids. Our National Collegiate Vocal Competition was a particular focus of Karl and Jean’s philanthropic endeavors. From sponsoring prizes to hosting dinners for the competitors, the VanderLaans’ generosity boosted the program for years.
Click here to support the VanderLaan Fund for Music Education.
Need a pianist?
Arlene Shrut | Collaborative Pianist
Contact Arlene to make a piano recording at arlene@arleneshrut.com.
As a collaborative pianist, Arlene has collaborated with Renée Fleming, Thomas Hampson, Angela Meade, Isabel Leonard, Carla Rae Cook, Michael Fabiano, Anton Belov, Alissa Deeter, and Takaoki Onishi.
She regularly serves as official pianist and judge for international opera competitions sponsored by The Gerda Lissner Foundation, the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, The Giulio Gari Foundation, The Loren Zachary Society, The Marcello Giordani Foundation, and the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation.
While many of Arlene’s professional activities focus on collaborations with singers, she is in demand with instrumentalists as well, featuring engagements such as her NYC debut with the Yoav Chamber Ensemble, touring with the Grand’Arte Trio, and as a finalist in the Munich International Competition in the violin-piano duo category with Julie Rosenfeld of the Colorado String Quartet, as well as winning the outstanding pianist award at the Music Academy of the West. In January 2014 Arlene teamed with pianist Anna Shelest in a 4-hand version of the Brahms Requiem with Voices of Ascension, under the baton of Dennis Keene, featuring soloists Martha Guth and Richard Zeller. Arlene has recorded for Dorian, Albany, Summit, Centaur, and Orion labels. Her discography includes works from the classical canon and recording premieres by contemporary composers.
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