Here We Go Again: Applications open for 2023 – 2024 Tulsa Sings! Competition

If you sing in the shower or in the car and think you deserve a better audience, Tulsa Sings! invites you to audition for the 2023-2024 vocal competition. Embedded with the Signature Symphony at Tulsa Community College, the selected finalists perform with the professional orchestra and will work with New York City-based vocalist and concert performer, Scott Coulter.

“Since we started the competition in 2018, Tulsa Sings! has become not only a great resource for recognizing and celebrating Tulsa talent but a wonderful way to grow the musical family of the Tulsa community,” said Coulter. “It’s always one of the most special experiences of my year.”

In talking about the entire process, past Tulsa Sings! participants say the audition process and opportunity to be coached and mentored by Coulter is a valuable experience.

“Being back onstage with the full orchestra and collaborating with other great singers and musicians brought me right back to why I fell in love with music,” said Andrea Bar, the 2023 Tulsa Sings! grand prize winner and audience favorite. “I would encourage anyone [who] loves to sing to take a chance and send in a video. You have nothing to lose but an incredible experience to gain, if you are selected.”

Andrea Bar, a former cruise line performer who recently moved back to Tulsa, performs as a Tulsa Sings! finalist during the April 2023 concert with Signature Symphony. She was named Tulsa Sings! grand prize winner and audience favorite. (Photo courtesy of Signature Symphony and Tulsa Sings!)

The deadline to complete the online entry form and submit a link to an audition video of you singing, no more than three minutes in length, on a platform such as YouTube or Vimeo, is Oct. 9 at 5 p.m. Anyone can audition who has a connection to Tulsa as a current or past resident. 

Contestants selected to move on to the next round of the vocal competition will be notified of in-person callbacks leading up to the announcement of the finalists on Dec. 15, 2023, at Signature Symphony’s “Christmas in Tulsa” concert. Complete Tulsa Sings! details, registration information, and rules are at signaturesymphony.org/tulsa-sings.

Olivia Fu, a Carver Middle School seventh grader, performs as a Tulsa Sings! finalist in a concert with Signature Symphony in April. (Photo courtesy of Signature Symphony and Tulsa Sings!)

The Tulsa Sings! finalists will be part of the “Tulsa Sings! Best of Broadway” concert on April 6, 2024. At the concert, a panel of judges selects the grand prize winner and the audience members vote for their favorite. The Tulsa Sings! winner is given the opportunity to be the featured or guest vocalist in a future Signature Symphony concert and the audience favorite will also be invited to perform at a future Signature Symphony concert.

Ashton Denzel Jones, a 2014 Union High School graduate and current educator, performs as a Tulsa Sings! finalist during the April 2023 concert with Signature Symphony. (Photo courtesy of Signature Symphony and Tulsa Sings!)

The “Tulsa Sings! Best of Broadway” concert is the last of five concerts for the 2023-2024 Signature Symphony season, marking its 45th year.

Concert	Date
Bluegrass to Bohemia (feat. violinist Tessa Lark)	Sept. 30, 2023
Christmas in Tulsa	Dec. 15 & 16, 2023
Inspirations (feat. Tulsa Youth Symphony)	Jan. 27, 2024
Inevitable Beethoven: The Struggle for Creation	March 2, 2024
Tulsa Sings! Best of Broadway	April 6, 2024

All performances take place at the Van Trease Performing Arts Center for Education on the TCC Southeast Campus. Tickets are on sale now. Season tickets for the five-concert series start at $156, representing a 20% savings over buying individual tickets. Single tickets start at $39. To purchase tickets, call the VanTrease PACE at (918) 595-7777 or visit signaturesymphony.org.

The 2023-2024 Signature Symphony Corporate Season Sponsor is TTCU Federal Credit Union. In addition, this project is supported in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Oklahoma and the National Endowment for the Arts.

If you are not a singer (not all of us are, and that is okay!) and therefore are not going to enter the competition, you are highly recommended to attend the Tulsa Sings concert in April. It is a great way to support the competition, the Signature Symphony, and our local musical talent. Concert attendees also get to cast their votes for the winner of the Audience Favorite award. Last season’s Tulsa Sings! concert was memorable because the Audience Favorite award winner, Andrea Bar, was also the grand prize winner picked by the judges. That was the first time in the competition’s history that the same person won both awards.

To learn more about what attending the Tulsa Sings! concert is like, you can read the Connection’s review of last April’s concert here.