National Collegiate American Spirituals Summit and Voice Competition

About

We are honored to announce our hosting of the Dr. J LanYe’ (BM '66, Vassos) 2023 National Collegiate American Spirituals Summit and Voice Competition. The event is being held in memory of three of Dr. LanYe’s esteemed colleagues and mentors: William Appling and Leota Apple, two pioneering Black members of the CIM Piano Faculty, and composer Hale Smith (BM ‘50, MM ‘52, Honorary Doctorate ‘88).

The festivities begin with a tribute concert with featured guest Dr. Marcus Aurelius Thompson (NEC; Institute Professor, MIT) at 7:30pm on Friday, October 27. The event continues on Saturday with a roundtable discussion on the performance, history, and future of Black spirituals, taking place from 1:30 to 3:00pm. The weekend concludes with the Sixth American Spirituals Collegiate Solo Voice Competition between 3:30 and 6:00pm, with a first-prize award of $300 and a runner-up award of $150. All events take place in CIM’s beautiful Mixon Hall.

Purchasing Tickets

Tickets can be purchased online or in-person at the CIM Box Office for $25; note that one ticket allows admittance to all three weekend events, so please keep your ticket for the entire weekend. Pending availability, tickets purchased in-person at the CIM Box Office (11021 East Boulevard) are available during regular business hours up until 3:00pm on Friday October 27, 2023.

The weekend of the summit, parking will be available in the on-campus lot located next to our residence hall (1609 Hazel Drive) for a nominal fee. Street and meter parking are available, but limited.

Competitor Registration

The first-prize winner of the Voice Competition will receive an award of $300, with the runner-up receiving a prize of $150.

College-aged vocalists of all races and genders interested in registering should send an email to Sam Bivens (sam.bivens@cim.edu) with:

their name, preferred pronouns, and age;
their vocal Fach;
a PDF score of their accompanied spiritual; and
their current educational institution and degree program (e.g., CIM, BM in Soprano Performance).

Competitors will be asked to perform two spirituals, one accompanied and one unaccompanied, but these need not be specified at the time of registration. CIM will provide an accompanist and will schedule brief rehearsal time for each performer during the weekend of the event; this information will be shared as the date of the Summit nears.

Note that competitors receive free admission to the Summit’s events, but any guests of the competitors are kindly requested to purchase tickets.

Please submit your registration information to sam.bivens@cim.edu by Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 11:59pm EDT.

Space is limited, so we invite you to apply as soon as possible. There is no fee to apply to the vocal competition.

National Collegiate American Spirituals Summit and Voice Competition

About

Dr. J LanYe'

William Appling

Leota Apple

Hale Smith

Marcus Thompson

Purchasing Tickets

Competitor Registration