Pittsburgh Festival Opera Presents The 9th Annual Mildred Miller International Voice Competition

Pittsburgh Festival Opera presents the 9th Annual Mildred Miller International Vocal Competition

The Mildred Miller International Voice Competition was founded in 2011 to identify and nurture talented young singers. The competition is named for Pittsburgh Festival Opera founder Mildred Miller Posvar, who sang for 26 illustrious seasons at the Metropolitan Opera and other world capitals. Miller's acclaimed recordings include Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with conductor Bruno Walter, Mozart's Le Nozze de Figaro with Erich Leinsdorf, and the commemorative concert and album celebrating the Boston Pops Orchestra 100th anniversary with Arthur Fiedler.

This year, 228 singers applied and 21 semi-finalists have been invited to Pittsburgh to sing for a panel of internationally-acclaimed judges, led by the company founder and competition's namesake Mildred Miller Posvar. The Semi-Final Round held at the Kresge Theater at the Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts is open to the public free of charge.

The following day, eight singers selected by the judges from Saturday's Semi-Final Round, present arias during the Final Round. From these eight finalists, three are selected as winners and a fourth chosen as "Audience Favorite." Winners receive prizes ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 and will be featured in recital in April preceding the 2020 summer festival season. Afterwards, audiences enjoy a wine & cheese reception while they mingle with Mildred, the judges, and the event's finalists at a ticketed party/reception.

Tickets are $35 for the finals and $95 for the finals + reception with the singers and judges and are available by calling Pittsburgh Festival Opera at 412-621-1499 or visit pittsburghfestivalopera.org and click the link on the home page, news and events.

Pittsburgh Festival Opera's upcoming 2020 Season runs July 10 through 26, 2020 at several venues throughout the City of Pittsburgh. More information, season subscriptions, and single tickets will become available in the coming months and can soon be found at pittsburghfestivalopera.org, or by calling the Festival Box Office at 412-326-9687.

Approaching its 43rd season, Pittsburgh Festival Opera is dedicated to presenting innovative opera, including American works, reinterpretations of older works, and new works, for the widest possible audience, focusing on diversity in programming and casting, crossing boundaries and bringing together talents from all the arts, encouraging new talent, and broadening audiences through outreach and education to create a body of work that is original, entertaining, contemporary and relevant.