A celebration of local talent

As part of the Dream Festival they are launching three competitions to celebrate their local community. A Songwriter competition in association with Brazen Sound Studios, and two brand new competitions: the Exeter Musical Theatre Singing Competition and the Exeter Monologue Competition.

This is a wonderful chance to discover talent in Devon. They have an exciting lineup of guest judges and prizes for their finalists.

Exeter Musical Theatre Singing Competition

• Entry fee: £5
• Age categories: 7-15, 16-21, 22-35, 35+
• Deadline – 30th April

Judges

Naomi Schulke

Naomi is a Singing Teacher and Writer based in Cornwall. She began life as a classical singer, before training in Musical Theatre and working as an Actor, Musician and Singer. She has performed for some of the leading UK production houses including West Yorkshire Playhouse/ Lyric Hammersmith, Coventry Belgrade, Queens Hornchurch, Birmingham Rep and Pitlochry Festival Theatre, as well as on tour. She has been teaching singing for over twenty years with training from Estill International, Vocal Process, Vocal Health Education and Dr Kari Ragan. Her approach is entirely student-led, with a strong emphasis on allowing individuals to develop their own unique sound in a healthy and positive way. Naomi is an Associate Lecturer of Singing at Falmouth University teaching across the Musical Theatre, Acting and Theatre and Performance BAs. She is a self-confessed voice nerd and believes you can never know too much!

Luke Simnett

Luke is a musical theatre composer and singer-actor. Luke has performed at Wembley Arena, the Royal Albert Hall and a number of shows in Royal Tunbridge Wells.
As a composer Luke’s new musical Night Flight recently received its debut professional concert in Oxford starring the No.1 classical chart-topping coloratura soprano Nadia Eide (The Voice UK Semi-Finalist, 2021) along with Katy Treharne (“Christine”, The Phantom of the Opera) and other West End leading artists. He has also had workshop productions of previous musicals he composed professionally produced at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival (directed by the Off-West End opera director Ilan Reichel and featuring West End and international Stars) and the York New Musicals Festival.

What to do: Apply through the application form. Then you will need to send a video of you singing one Musical Theatre song to a backing track. Any style is allowed, but no adult language please because there will be a live final. Max length – 2 and a half minutes. Videos should be sent to louisa.j.morgan@gmail.com

Videos will be judged by a collection of local singing teachers and finalists will be selected. 
The final will take place on Saturday May 28th at the Cygnet Theatre. There will be an opportunity for a rehearsal in the theatre in the afternoon. You will need to provide a backing track – please get in touch if you are having problems sourcing one. The final will be judged by Luke Simnett and Naomi Schulke and prizes will be awarded for the winner of each age category. All finalists will be given two tickets each for family/friends to attend. The event will also be live-streamed through Facebook.

Prizes: To be announced. There will be a finalist from each age category.

Exeter Monologue Competition

• Entry fee: £5
• Age categories: 7-15, 16-21, 22-35, 35+
• Deadline: 30th April
• Judges to be announced
• Prizes to be announced

What to do: Apply through the application form. Then you will need to send a video of you performing one monologue. Any style/era is allowed, but no adult language please because there will be a live final. Max length – 2 and a half minutes. Videos should be sent to media@cygnettheatre.co.uk
Videos will be judged by the in-house team at the Cygnet Theatre
The final will take place on Sunday May 29th at the Cygnet Theatre. There will be an opportunity for a rehearsal in the theatre in the afternoon. The final will be judged by guest judges (TBA) and prizes will be awarded for the winner of each age category. All finalists will be given two tickets each for family/friends to attend. The event will also be live-streamed through Facebook.

Songwriting Competition in association with Brazen Sound Studios and SoundLaunch

• Apply directly through the Brazen Sound website: https://www.brazensound.studio/index.html
• Entry fee: £5 
• Ages 16+
• Deadline for application: 31st April

Prizes: The winner will receive a live studio recording at Brazen Sound Studios, a 15 minute slot on stage at Exeter Respect Festival and a coaching session with Kate Graham of SoundLaunch.

What to do: Apply through the Brazen Sound website. You will need to send a video recording of you singing your song. 

Winners announced 29th May.