2025–2026 Senior Brass and Voice Performance Competitions

National Coordinator: 
Adam Booher, NCTM

Registration will open November 1, 2025

 

***ATTENTION***

Brass and Voice (Senior and Young Artist only) Performance Competitions are two-tiered competitions: the Preliminary Round, by video submission only (Click Here For Details ); and the Final Round, live at the MTNA National Conference. Entrants will compete without regard to the state or division in which they live or take lessons, and seven will be selected in both the Brass and Voice categories from a nationwide pool of applicants to compete in the Final Round.

  • Live piano accompaniments are required for video competitions live competitions.
  • MTNA active membership dues must be paid before submission of the registration. A $200 nonmember teacher fee will be assessed if entrant's teacher has not paid active membership dues for the 2025–2026 membership year.
  • Primary communication is via email. The registration must have accurate email addresses for entrant, teacher and parents. Be sure to check spam/junk folders regularly for confirmations and other important information.
  • Registration will be available November 1, 2025 on the Acceptd website. Video deadline: December 3, 2025, 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. There will be no exceptions.

Registration Procedure

  • Age: 15–18 on January 1, 2026
  • Entry Fee: $150 (includes $25 Acceptd fee).
  • Registrations and all fees will be submitted on the Acceptd site and will be available November 1, 2025.
  • Video deadline: December 3, 2025, 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. There will be no exceptions.
  • Read the Video Guidelines

Competition Categories

  • Brass (Trumpet, Horn, Euphonium, Trombone, Tuba) and Voice.

Brass

Awards made possible by the MTNA Foundation Fund

  • National Winner: $2,000
  • National Second Place: $1,000
  • National Third Place: $500
  • National Merit Awards: $100

Voice

Awards made possible by the MTNA Foundation Fund

  • National Winner: $2,000
  • National Second Place: $1,000
  • National Third Place: $500
  • National Merit Awards: $100

National Awards

  • To receive a monetary award, national performance competition winners are required to perform on the Senior Winners Concert, which takes place from 3:30–5:30 p.m. on the day following the competition at the MTNA National Conference, March 21–25, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois.

Guidelines

See Performance Competitions Guidelines.

Repertoire Requirements

  • No changes in repertoire are allowed following submission of the registration.
  • Repertoire must remain the same for both levels of the competition (Preliminary Round and Final Round).
  • All repertoire submitted with the registration must be prepared for both levels of the competition (Preliminary Round and Final Round).
  • Programs may be over or under the performance time limit. Programs over the time limit at any level of the competition will be cut at the judges' discretion.
  • For every category, entrants can only enter 10 minutes over the maximum time allowed at the National Round.

    MTNA Foundation Fund Senior Brass

    • The program must contain compositions from at least two different periods of music (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionistic, Contemporary). Transcriptions and arrangements are allowed.
    • Memorization is not required.
    • Entrants are limited to one entry per category. Brass entrants may perform on any instrument(s) of their choice (e.g. Tenor Trombone/Bass Trombone and so on).
      Performance time:
      • Maximum performance time: thirty (30) minutes

    MTNA Foundation Fund Senior Voice

    • With the exception of early Italian songs and arias composed before the time of Handel, an art song is music composed for one voice and keyboard.
    • The program must contain only four selections: (include the name of any identifying work from which a song is taken)
      • two non-English art songs sung in the original language (must be two different languages)
      • one art song sung in English (original language)
      • one selection of the entrant's choice (art song highly encouraged; arias chosen from the operatic or oratorio repertoire may be programmed as appropriate)
    • Memorization is required for all repertoire.
      Performance Time:
      • Maximum performance time: fifteen (15) minutes