Naftzger Young Artists Auditions and Awards

Naftzger Competition Information

Click the links below to learn more about competing, including rules and requirements.

Please feel free to send any questions to naftzgeryoungartists@wichita.edu.

Eligibility Schedule Performance Requirements Awards Additional Details Application

Eligibility

The competition is open to students who are enrolled in and pursuing a degree at a college, university, or conservatory in the United States.
The competition is held in four divisions:
1. Voice
2. Piano
3. Winds, Brass, and Percussion
4. String Instruments
Voice contestants must be at least 20 years old but not have reached their 29th birthday as of March 19, 2027. Instrumental and Piano contestants must be at least 18 years old but not have reached their 27th birthday as of March 19, 2027.
Previous Naftzger Young Artists Award winners are not eligible to compete.
Contestants must have a valid Social Security Number or appropriate International Tax Identification Number at the time of the competition.

Schedule

Invited contestants will compete only within their division on Friday, March 19, 2027. Two contestants will be selected from each division to perform in the finals. If necessary, Friday evening, March 19 or Saturday morning, March 20 will be used to complete the selection of finalists. The first round auditions are open to the public at the discretion of the judges.
Specific audition times in the first round cannot be guaranteed; however, every effort will be made to accommodate requests.
Finals will be Finals will be March 20, 2027 at 1 p.m. in Wiedemann Hall on the Wichita State University campus. Presentation of awards shall follow immediately. One person will be named the Naftzger Young Artist Award winner and win $5,000. Three other division prizes will be awarded at $2,000 each, and four division runner-up awards at $500 each.

Performance Requirements

Each contestant shall submit and be prepared to perform a recital program of approximately 45 minutes that demonstrates a variety of styles and repertoire from at least three different centuries (i.e. 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st) in accordance with the following category specifics:

Piano / Instrumental

At least one large-scale work, such as a sonata, suite, or other multi-movement work by established composer.
An assortment of other works that fulfill the performance requirements.
Please provide movements and timings of each work to be performed.

Voice

Two or more standard arias or works for voice and orchestra chosen from opera, oratorio, or other works normally performed with orchestral accompaniment.
A varied list of art songs, which must include at least one selection from 17th or 18th-century Italian song, German Lieder, French Mélodie, or contemporary art song.
A minimum of three languages should be demonstrated in the chosen repertoire.
Inclusion of repertoire from musical theatre or operetta is optional.
Please provide the title of the opera or song cycle and timings of each selection.

Awards

Cash prizes totaling $13,000 will be awarded.

Naftzger Young Artist Award: $5,000
Three Naftzger Division Awards: $2,000
Four Naftzger Division Runner-Up Awards: $500

Additional Details

Each contestant invited to Wichita shall appear at their own expense and furnish their own accompanist.
All selections must be performed from memory when it is customary to do so. Please bring one copy of your music for the adjudicators.
The selection of any and all winners and subsequent presentation of prizes is at the sole discretion of the judges. Their decisions shall be final.
The Wichita State University School of Music reserves the right to make binding decisions regarding contestant eligibility and conformity to regulations or their intent to any situation not specifically covered by the above.

Application

Each contestant shall submit with their application an audio or video recording representative of their current performance level. Recordings should not exceed 30 minutes in length. The music performed on the recoding need not necessarily be the same as the music submitted in the application for the actual auditions. Please email a link of the recording to download or stream to naftzgeryoungartists@wichita.edu by February 20, 2027
Recordings will be used in preliminary judging to determine those invited to Wichita for the semifinals and finals on March 19 and 20, 2027.
A non-refundable $50 entry fee is required with each application. Payment can be made by credit card through the online application form.
Applications must be submitted by February 20, 2027.
Applicants will be notified of acceptance on or about February 26, 2027.

Apply Online

Judges

Molly Fillmore

Voice

Described by Gramophone as “a compelling interpreter”, Molly Fillmore made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Helmwige in their production of Der Ring der Nibelungen. She returned to the Met to sing a principal role in Satyagraha by Philip Glass. Both productions were shown live in movie theaters around the world as part of the Met’s Live in HD series as well as on PBS stations nationwide as part of their Great Performances series. She can be heard and seen on the Grammy-winning Deutsche Grammophon recording of Die Walküre from The Metropolitan Opera, as well as on the recordings of the Met’s production of Satyagraha. Her album, Bold Beauty – Songs of Juliana Hall, with faculty colleague Elvia Puccinelli, features a song cycle (Cameos) for which Ms. Fillmore wrote the poems, called “vivid glances” by Gramophone. The recording earned a designation of “Critic’s Choice” in the March 2022 issue of Opera News. Her second album, Let us the fleeting hours enjoy!, was released in early 2026 on the Navona label and contains musical works from Regency-era England. Collaborators on that album include fellow UNT faculty and two of her former studio members. Molly Fillmore made her soprano debut in the title role of Salome at San Francisco Opera. Other American opera appearances as a soloist include Seattle Opera, Spoleto Festival, and Washington National Opera. She made her role debut as Marietta/Marie in Die tote Stadt with Theater St. Gallen, Switzerland and sang the title roles in Turandot and Tosca with the University of North Texas Symphony. Before her switch to dramatic soprano repertoire, Molly Fillmore had an international career as a mezzo-soprano, including five seasons as a principal soloist in the ensemble of Oper der Stadt Köln (Cologne Opera), where she appeared in over twenty roles. On the concert stage, Molly Fillmore has appeared as a soloist in an operatic concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, the Detroit Symphony, Utah Symphony, Choral Arts Society of Washington, at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, the Interlochen Arts Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Festival, and on DeustchlandFunk Radio. Molly Fillmore has sung Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and the Bachianas Brasileiras of Villa-Lobos multiple times, and she has sung both the soprano and mezzo-soprano parts of a favorite work, the Verdi Requiem, several times on professional stages. Molly Fillmore made her solo operatic debut with the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center Opera House while a junior at American University. By the time she had completed her Master of Music degree, she had appeared in seven solo roles (including a leading role in the zarzuela El Gato Montes) with the Washington National Opera and as a soloist in numerous concerts at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. A native of northeast Ohio, she graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in music from American University and holds a Master of Music degree from The University of Maryland. She taught voice at Michigan State University for ten years and, in 2014, joined the faculty at the University of North Texas, where she holds the position of Professor of Voice and Chair of the Division of Vocal Studies. For more information, visit www.molly-fillmore.com

Place Holder

TBA

Winds / Brass / Percussion

TBA biography

Place Holder

TBA

Strings

TBA biography

William David

Dr. William David

Piano

After a distinguished forty-year career as a faculty member at Iowa State University and founding member of the Ames Piano Quartet, William David retired and moved to Colorado in 2012. Since his relocation he has performed with members of the Colorado Symphony and faculty from Colorado State University, University of Denver, and the University of Wyoming. David has also taught at the Lamont School of Music Summer Academy at the University of Denver. He recently served as a judge at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. In the past four years, David has collaborated with violist Basil Vendryes, principal violist in the Colorado Symphony, on four compact discs for the Toccata label. All are also available on Apple Music and Spotify. During his years at Iowa State, David’s primary performance focus was as member of the Ames Piano Quartet. The APQ concertized throughout the United States and internationally in Austria, France, Mexico, Taiwan, and South Africa. In January 2003 the Quartet spent a week performing and teaching in Havana, Cuba, the first American chamber music group to be invited there in over 40 years. They have recorded 15 critically acclaimed CDs. The Dorian CD of the two Dvorak Piano Quartets was named “one of the chamber music recordings of the century” by Fanfare magazine. Also, a distinguished pedagogue, Dr. David served a semester as artist-in-residence at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, the most prestigious music school in the country. Dr. David was promoted to the rank of University Professor in 2005. This title recognizes faculty members who have had a significant impact on their departments and the university during their careers at Iowa State. David received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree summa cum laude in piano performance from the University of Michigan. His major teachers there were Gyorgy Sandor and Eugene Bossart.

Past Recipients

View a list of past winners

Administration

The Naftzger Young Artists Auditions and Music Awards are administered by Wichita State University's School of Music and are made possible by The Naftzger Fund for Fine Arts, Inc. Created by Mr. and Mrs. M.C. Naftzger in memory of L.S. Naftzger, Ida L. Naftzger, and Lee Southwell Naftzger II.