From the highest of high notes to the depths of their souls, competitors in the 2023 Classical Voice Vocal-Arts Competition for Emerging Artists of the Northern Virginia Business and Professional Women’s Club wowed a viewing audience as they gained performance skills and earned scholarship funds.
The biennial competition, held Nov. 4, asked competitors ages 18 to 26 to perform one selection from each of three categories: arias, art songs and either a Negro spiritual or work by a contemporary African-American composer.
“We have people tuning in across the country, from coast to coast,” said Rev. Felicia Crawley, who chaired the vocal-arts competition at the local level and promised those watching from near and far that the performances “will blow you away.”
Local competition serves as the launch pad for winning performers to move up to the Mary E. Singletary Classical Voice Vocal-Arts Competition, conducted since the early 1980s by the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs. Its championship is named in honor of the late Leontyne Price.
“Our organization has chosen to strive to encourage young people in their pursuit of vocal excellence,” Rev. Crawley said, noting that vocal training not only benefits all types of musical performance, but also public speaking.
“They are all committed to becoming winners,” Rev. Crawley said of past, present and future contestants.
Taking home first-place honors and moving on to higher levels of competition was Samira Plummer-Brown, a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts and the University of Michigan who this fall is working toward a master’s degree in music at George Mason University.
“I’m so overjoyed,” she said after being announced as the winner. “It truly is a blessing.”
Plummer-Brown will now move on to the district level and perform in Baltimore in March 2024, representing the local Northern Virginia Business and Professional Women’s Club.
Baritone John Solomon Collins finished second and soprano Kirsten Holmes third in the local competition.
“All of our contestants, regardless of where they placed, they are winners,” said Sherelle Carper, immediate past president of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, who was on hand to lend support.
“My heart is smiling,” added Tyra Garlington, who served as mistress of ceremonies at the event.
“We sincerely appreciate our three amazing contestants,” added event co-chair Dr. Deborah Jackson. “Their enthusiasm, talent, and hard work enriched the experience for all of us.”
Adjudicating the performers were judges Julia Braxton, Theodore Thorpe III and Loretta Giles.
Janet Ford, president of the Northern Virginia Business and Professional Women’s Club, noted that the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs dates its heritage back to 1935. Despite being founded in an era of segregation and limited opportunities for women, it proved “such an optimistic organization” that growth throughout the decades was inevitable, she said.
Held in person prior to COVID, the local competition moved online during the pandemic, but organizers hope to be back in an in-person venue for its next installment, said Darnell Wise-Lightbourn, co-chair of the local competition.
No matter the format, the goal of giving young performers a platform is key to the event, said Phyllis Coleman-Lacy, a member of the organizing committee.
“This is our future, and we are proud,” she said.
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For information on the Northern Virginia Business and Professional Women’s Club, see the Website at www.NOVABPW.org.
