The NATS Summer Program Auditions (SPA) is a unified summer program audition opportunity that allows singers to submit their application and video auditions in one place to be considered for multiple programs. For 2022 applications, interested students paid a one-time $25 fee (unless otherwise noted) to submit to up to five participating programs of their choice. Nearly 40 organizations participated in this second year that NATS has offered the program.

All singers who participated in SPA also were automatically eligible for one of several Dillard Scholar Awards in memory and honor of the late NATS president Jane Dillard who passed away in 2020. Dillard spent more than 30 years as professor of voice at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She also served as president of NATS from 2004 to 2006. The Dillard Scholar Awards are intended to help singers cover the costs of attending a summer program or young artist program.

Congratulations to the 2022 Dillard Scholar Award recipients and their teachers!

• Justice Yates ($1,250 award) to attend AIMS in Graz. Teacher: Mary Jane Christeson
• Riley Ortega ($750 award) to attend Vienna Summer Music Festival. Teacher: Rebecca Salter
• Samantha Warshauer ($500) to attend Vienna Summer Music Festival. Teacher: Emily Riggs

“We’re so pleased that NATS can help support singers who want to pursue summer program opportunities — both from an application and financial standpoint,” said Executive Director Allen Henderson. “Thanks to the wonderful work by NATS members Serena Hill LaRoche and Elizabeth Johnson Knight, the NATS Summer Program Auditions offering continues to flourish. We extend our congratulations to the three 2022 Dillard Scholar Award winners and their teachers.”

The Summer Program Auditions (SPA) initiative will return for 2023, and more information will be available at a later date. Applications will open for submission around December 1, 2022, and programs will begin looking at materials mid-January 2023.