More than a decade ago, George Shirley had a vision to provide a stage for the preservation of the African American Art Song & Operatic Aria repertoire. This vision included concern that African American vocal students in Detroit were no longer receiving the music education that was once an integral part of Detroit education. Marrying this with his passion for mentoring the next generation of operatic stars, the George Shirley Vocal Competition was born. He entrusted one of his own former students, Dr. Louise Toppin, to make his vision a reality.
The first competition was held in 2011 in Detroit, Michigan. Nearly a dozen high school students participated in the competition and a total of $1,000 was awarded in scholarship funds. The initial competition was a part of the Detroit Spiritual Festival conducted by Nina Scott and held in January of each year. The competition continued its collaboration with the festival for a second year before moving to Wayne State University in downtown Detroit in 2013.
In 2014 the competition expanded to include a collegiate division. With this expansion, the competition moved to Kerrytown Concert House for not only the competition, but the initiation of a fundraising event called A Heritage Holiday Concert. Special prizes were introduced for spirituals and women composers, adding to the already existing Willis Patterson Prize for Art Song, established in 2012.
Further expansion in 2015 saw a partnership with the Detroit Opera House, which allowed competitors to perform on the Opera House’s breathtaking and storied stage. Also, as a part of the continuing development plan, a trial preliminary competition round was introduced in Washington DC for qualified high school students. The winners of this newly-introduced high school preliminary round secured monetary prizes and qualified to perform in front of the judges in Detroit. The success of the preliminary model will led to additional preliminary competitions for high school students in other cities in future years. Also in 2015, the GSVC welcomed business sponsorships, in addition to a growing list of donor supporters, including Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, which sponsors the first place prize for high school students through 2021.
In 2016, the GSVC introduced expanded prizes and sponsorships to include the Hilda Harris’ Prize for best Mezzo-Soprano and sponsorship of the Harold and Cherie Bridges Patrick’s First Prize, College Division in honor of Lynn Bridges. The competition also received an initial donation from the Women of Color in the Academy at the University of Michigan to launch endowment of the Shirley Verrett’s Scholarship for graduate/pre-professional singers, which represents the competition’s next level of assistance to students of singing.
2017 represented an important milestone for GSVC, as the scope of the competition was broadened to include composers of African descent, in addition to vocalists, through the Marquita Lister’s Composers Competition. Three composers were invited to Detroit to compete for prizes with the grand prize ($1,000) of the inaugural competition going to Brandon Spencer of Detroit, MI. The competition also debuted the Patricia Miller’s Operatic Aria Prize of $1,000. In addition to the competition, the competing vocalists were invited to participate in four masterclasses by international artists George Shirley, Marquita Lister, Patricia Miller and Robert Sims.