Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ÊÓƵ’s Conservatory of Music has been named a national semifinalist in multiple categories for the 2023 The American Prize.

The American Prize annually hands out awards of excellence in the performing arts among nonprofit arts organizations and schools across the country. Award recipients are announced in the fall.

Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ÊÓƵ has been selected as a for two Opera Theatre productions: Suor Angelica/Curlew River and The Nefarious, Immoral, but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare.

Copeland Woodruff, director of opera studies, is a .

Kristin Roach, music director, is a .

With four degree options, integrate intellectual virtuosity with musical virtuosity in a supportive, creative community.Ìý

Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ÊÓƵ has fared well in The American Prize in recent years. In 2022, faculty and students who were part of the Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ÊÓƵ New Music Ensemble (LUNME) during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic won an American Prize in Virtual Performance for a music video recorded mostly on cell phones while scattered across the country.

In 2021, Mark Dupere, director of orchestral studies, received a third-place honor for the Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ÊÓƵ Symphony Orchestra in the College Orchestral category, and Woodruff received a third-place honor in the College Opera category for the 2020 production of The Marriage of Figaro.

Opera Theatre, meanwhile, has had a history of success with The American Prize. In 2017-18, two Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ÊÓƵ productions tied for first place: The Beggar’s Opera and Hydrogen Jukebox; and Woodruff won the first Charles Nelson Reilly Prize in Stage Directing. In 2018-19, Count Ory won a Special Judges’ Citation.