2025–2026 Young Artist Brass and Voice Performance Competitions

National Coordinator:
Christina Wei-Yuh Xie, NCTM

Registration will open November 1, 2025

ATTENTION

Brass and Voice (Senior and Young Artist only) Performance Competitions are two-tiered competitions: the Preliminary Round, by video submission only (Click Here For Details ); and the Final Round, live at the MTNA National Conference. Entrants will compete without regard to the state or division in which they live or take lessons. Seven finalists will be selected in both the Brass and Voice categories from a nationwide pool of applicants to compete in the Final Round.

Live piano accompaniments are required for video competitions and live competitions.
MTNA active membership dues must be paid before submission of the registration. A $200 nonmember teacher fee will be assessed if entrant's teacher has not paid active membership dues for the 2025–2026 membership year.
Primary communication is via email. The registration must have accurate email addresses for entrant and teacher. Be sure to check spam/junk folders regularly for confirmations and other important information.
Registration available November 1, 2025 on Acceptd site. Video deadline: December 3, 2025, 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. There will be no exceptions.

Registration Procedure

Age: 19–29 on January 1, 2026
Entry Fee: $160 (includes $25 Acceptd fee).
Registrations and all fees will be submitted on the Acceptd site and will be available November 1, 2025.
Video deadline: December 3, 2025, 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. There will be no exceptions.
Read the Video Guidelines

Competition Categories

Brass (Trumpet, Horn, Euphonium, Trombone, Tuba) and Voice

Brass

Awards made possible by the MTNA Foundation Fund

National Winner: $3,000
National Second Place: $1,500
National Third Place: $750
National Merit Awards: $100

Voice

Awards made possible by the MTNA Foundation Fund

National Winner: $3,000
National Second Place: $1,500
National Third Place: $750
Merit Awards: $100

National Awards

To receive a monetary award, national performance competition winners are required to perform on the Young Artist Winners Concert, which takes place from 3:30–5:30 p.m. on the day following the competition at the MTNA National Conference, March 21–25, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois.

Guidelines

See Performance Competitions Guidelines.

Repertoire Requirements

No changes in repertoire are allowed following submission of the registration.
Repertoire must remain the same for both levels of the competition (Preliminary Round and Final Round).
All repertoire submitted with the registration must be prepared for both levels of the competition (Preliminary Round and Final Round).
Programs may be over or under the performance time limit. Programs over the time limit at any level of the competition will be cut at the judges’ discretion.
For every category, entrants can only enter 10 minutes over the maximum time allowed at the National Round.

MTNA Foundation Fund Young Artist Brass

The program must contain compositions from at least two different; periods of music (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionistic, Contemporary). Transcriptions and arrangements are allowed.
Memorization is not required.
Entrants are limited to one entry per category. Brass entrants may perform on any instrument(s) of their choice (e.g. Tenor Trombone/Bass Trombone and so on).

Performance time:

Maximum performance time: forty (40) minutes

MTNA Foundation Fund Young Artist Voice

The program [a minimum of six (6) selections] must contain repertoire in the original language from each of the following categories: (include the name of any identifying work from which a song or aria is taken).

Two (2) arias from opera or oratorio repertoire, sung in the original key
Two (2) art songs (contrasting languages)
One (1) piece written in the 21st century (art song, opera or oratorio repertoire only; musical theater selections are not eligible)
One (1) piece of choice (chosen from art song, opera or operatic oratorio literature)

Memorization is required for all repertoire.