Singers to compete for the crown of N.H. Opera Idol at Concord City Auditorium

Members of Piccola Opera rehearse for this week's two performances of Operatastic. Courtesy
Members of Piccola Opera rehearse for this week's two performances of Operatastic. Courtesy

If there’s one knock against this city, it’s the relative lack of opera competitions we have around here.

Thankfully, opera fans, your dreams will all come true this Saturday when the Piccola Opera and Opera New Hampshire present New Hampshire Opera Idol at the Concord City Auditorium.

This will be an all-day affair featuring 40 opera singers belting it out, giving it their all to try to become the next N.H. Opera Idol. And by all day, we mean all day – the preliminary round starts at 10:30 a.m., and the final round begins at 7 p.m. and will run a good chunk of time beyond that point.

That’s a lot of singing.

“The way we structure the competition is during the day, generally between 9 and 4, we have the preliminary round, when the 40 singers go on stage, they sing a selection, they may be asked to sing a second, then the eight to 12 singers that will go on to the final round will be selected from that preliminary round,” said Ashley Noelle Therrien, development director at Piccola Opera. “They typically receive a phone call, and those eight to 12 go back to the theater that evening for the final round concert.”

It will certainly be a tough competition. Whittling a field of 40 down to just a dozen or fewer means there will surely be a lot of talent left out. But that’s the kind of cutthroat world opera is.

The preliminary portion of the competition is free and open to the public. The finals will cost $25, with tickets available on Eventbrite through either operanh.org or piccolaopera.net. Tickets can also be purchased at the door.

Singers will come to the competition prepared to sing three arias, or songs. One must be in English and the others can be in other languages.

“You want to be able to sing each language and sound like a native speaker of that language,” Therrien said.

In the prelims, the singer may only sing one song, or they could be asked to sing another if the judges would like to hear a little more. In the finals, the judges will choose which of the three arias the singer selected will be sung – it could be one that was already sung earlier or it could be one the judges haven’t heard yet.

There’s a lot on the line for this competition. Apart from the obvious pride and bragging rights that come with winning something like this, there’s also some cash – $750 for first place, $500 for second, $250 for third and $100 for Audience Favorite, which will be decided by audience members using paper ballots handed out at the event.

If that cash wasn’t enough of an incentive, there will also be performance contracts awarded. Unlike the more famous American Idol competition, in which winners get a bona fide record deal with some multimillion-dollar label, this one is more along the lines of a local performance – not that that’s anything to scoff at.

The categories the singers will be judged on are style, diction, accuracy and presentation, and there are usually one to two judges in the prelims and two to three in the finals, Therrien said. Winners of the prelims will get a phone call shortly after the performance and they’ll get a couple hours to rest before coming back for the finals at 7 p.m.

Author: Jon Bodell

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