VanderLaan Prize

The 2025 VanderLaan Prize application is open!

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.

The winner of the VanderLaan Prize is obligated to return to Grand Rapids and perform at our annual gala May 15, 2025.

2025 COMPETITION TIMELINE

COMPETITION FORMAT

Round 1: Application

• 1A: All applications are prescreened by the Opera Grand Rapids artistic staff, and the top 100 are chosen. Additionally, the first five students who apply from each Opera Grand Rapids Collegiate Consortium school are automatically passed through prescreening.
• 1B: The top 100 applicants are thoroughly reviewed by three anonymous industry professionals. Written feedback is given to each contestant, and the top 10 applicants are chosen to sing in the final-round concert.

Round 2: Concert in Grand Rapids, Michigan

• 2A: All 10 finalists sing one aria for three world-renowned adjudicators. The adjudicators choose the top three singers independently using ranked-choice voting.
• 2B: The top three contestants sing one final aria, and the adjudicators collectively determine the order of the prizewinners.

First-Round Application

Contestants must submit several materials for the first round:

1. Video recordings of two arias

• • At least one piece must be in a language other than English.
  • Only arias from operas are permitted. No art songs, musical theatre, oratorio, or other genres.
  • Videos may be submitted only as YouTube links.
  • You may submit video recordings with a live pianist, a prerecorded accompaniment, or even without any accompaniment at all. Our first-round adjudicators are aware of this rule and will not penalize applicants for singing without a live pianist. We aim to make this competition as accessible as possible and acknowledge that not all students can afford a live pianist. Feel free to record from a recital hall or your bedroom.

2. Photocopy of an ID with date of birth clearly displayed

3. Application fee

• • FREE for students who attend a school in the Opera Grand Rapids Collegiate Consortium
  • $50 for all other students applying before January 1, 2025
  • $75 for all other students applying January 1, 2025 or later
  • A limited number of fee waivers are available based on financial need. You must provide a 2023–24 or 2024–25 FAFSA Student Aid Report (SAR), and the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) must be $2,500 or less. Fee waivers are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so students should apply as early as possible.

ROUND 1 ADJUDICATION

All first-round adjudicators will remain anonymous. After prescreening, each application will be adjudicated by three opera professionals along the following criteria:

• Tone/vocal quality (5 points)
• Breathing/alignment (5 points)
• Language/diction (5 points)
• Musicianship (5 points)
• Artistry/stage presence (5 points)

The three anonymous adjudicators will each rate applicants on each category for a total of 75 points. The ten applicants with the highest scores will receive $500 and proceed to the final round.

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.

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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.

Full Biography >>

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