Blackwater Valley Opera Festival and the Royal Irish Academy of Music launch joint award

Blackwater Valley Opera Festival (BVOF) and the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) have announced the creation of a joint prize which will support the studies of two RIAM master’s students every year.

Each year, the BVOF/RIAM Next Generation Awards will select two students on the conservatoire’s Master in Music Performance course to receive a bursary of €20,000 (€10,000 in Year 1 and €10,000 in Year 2) to help them complete their programme at the RIAM.

RIAM Director Deborah Kelleher, said: ‘This is the largest entrance bursary in the history of the Academy, the largest of its type in Ireland, and indeed, bursaries this generous are rare across conservatories worldwide.’

She added: ‘The new award will open the doors of the RIAM to students across the globe, who may not otherwise have the means to study at Ireland's oldest conservatoire, right in the heart of Dublin.’

The award will go to one vocal student and one instrumental student and is open to all applicants to the RIAM’s Masters in Music Performance programme. This year’s vocal award will have a particular focus on applications from tenor/countertenors.

Award winners will be chosen through their RIAM audition. The award will also give chosen students access to a performance opportunity at Ireland's Blackwater Valley Opera Festival  in Co. Waterford.

BVOF director, Eamonn Carroll, said: ‘It has always been our ethos to support and promote exceptional talent and we are delighted to partner with RIAM on this important initiative.’

Blackwater Valley Opera Festival aims to showcase emerging Irish talent alongside established international artists to enrich the cultural life of the region. Lismore Castle has been the Festival’s home since 2010, but festival performances also take over a variety of venues across the valley including Salterbridge House, St Carthage’s Cathedral, Villierstown Church and Tourin House.

RIAM is Ireland's oldest conservatoire, offering junior, pre-college, undergraduate and postgraduate musical training. The conservatoire is an associate college of Trinity College and the University of Dublin, and is ranked in the top 50 institutions in the world for the performing arts.

RIAM has invested €25 million in a new campus set to open in September which will include a recital hall, library and research facilities as well as an opera studio and therapy and sonic arts facilities.

Students interested in studying at master’s level at the RIAM from September 2022 can apply between 1 March - 12 April 2022. You can find application information here.

You can find out more about Blackwater Valley Opera Festival here.