The Kathleen Ferrier Award Competition 2020
65th Competition

The Competition is open to singers of any nationality who, on or before 3 February 2020, have completed at least one year of a continuous higher education course in music at a recognised conservatoire or music school in the UK or Eire or who have completed the equivalent year of continuous study in the UK or Eire with a recognised vocal coach; they must also be currently resident in the UK or Eire. All singers must be 28 or under on 24 April 2020.

As well as a first prize of £12,500 and a second prize of £6,000, there is the Ferrier Loveday Song Prize of £5,000 and Help Musicians UK Accompanists Prize of £5,000.

Preliminary auditions for the 2020 Kathleen Ferrier Awards at Henry Wood Hall were interrupted in March when, after three of the scheduled five days of auditions, the country went into lockdown. All the applicants were told that we intended to complete the competition in the autumn and over the summer dates were found in November, again at Henry Wood Hall. 

With no live audience at the Competition this year, we are delighted to host the Semi-Final and Final online, so that you can still watch at home.

The Semi-Final will be available in three parts and we will release a new video at 6pm each day, from Wednesday 9th through to Friday 11th. The Final will take place on Sunday 13th December from 6pm. 

The jury for the 2020 competition is Valerie Beale (Chair), Rosalind Plowright, Ryland Davies and Christopher Glynn.

The Competition will be streamed on the Kathleen Ferrier Awards website from the following times: 

Semi-Final Part 1 Wednesday 9 December 2020 from 6pm
Semi-Final Part 2 Thursday 10 December 2020 from 6pm
Semi-Final Part 3 Friday 11 December 2020 from 6pm
Final Sunday 13 December 2020 from 6pm

The Prizewinners will be announced at the end of the Final film c 8.30pm

The videos will remain available to watch until the end of January 2021 and are free to view, though we hope some of those who do watch might make a donation.

Rules and Repertoire requirements may be downloaded from here

Kathleen Ferrier Awards Risk Assessment may be downloaded from here

Covid-19 Screening checklist may be downloaded from here