SOMD to hold first-ever UO pop vocal competition May 2

The UO School of Music and Dance will hold its first-ever pop vocal showcase and competition May 2 in the Frohnmayer Music Building.

The UO PopVoice competition is open to any current UO student. Students may enter the prescreening round by submitting a vocal performance video via YouTube link to UO PopVoice 2018.

To be considered, video submissions must be under four minutes and the vocal selection must be a cover; it cannot be an original song. Finalists will be selected to compete in the May 2 live showcase, which will be judged by a panel of industry professionals and UO music faculty members beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the music school’s Aasen-Hull Hall.

The deadline to submit a video for the preliminary round is Friday, April 13.

This event kicks off a three-day residency of Hollywood film orchestrator and composer Philip Giffin and studio musician Karen Blake.

Giffin, whose credits include “Die Hard,” “Lethal Weapon” and the TV series “Boomtown” and “Darkwing Duck,” will be working with UO composers and film studies students, as well as songwriting students in the new popular music studies major at the School of Music and Dance.

Blake, who works as a studio singer in Los Angeles, will coach vocal students. The winner of the UO PopVoice showcase and competition will have the opportunity to work with Blake during the three-day residency.