Meredith Livingston a juror for vocal competition in Eastern Europe

UW-Green Bay vocal music Prof. Sarah Meredith Livingston (at far right in photo) traveled to Trnava, Slovakia in late May to help adjudicate the biennial Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky International Vocal Competition. More than 100 singers, primarily from Eastern and Western Europe and Russia, participated in the well-known competition founded in 1971. The mission of the competition is to stimulate further development and artistic growth of talented young international singers, and to promote the vocal works of Slovak/Czech/Polish composers, particularly those of Schneider-Trnavsky (1881-1958), a native of that area of Slovakia.

It was Meredith Livingston’s fourth time judging the competition. While there, she also selected a singer for the Sharon Chmel Resch Travel Award, a scholarship that allows one singer to attend the semi-finals of the Czech/Slovak competition to be held on the UW-Green Bay campus in November 2011.  The singer, L’ubomir Popik, baritone, will be a guest here in Green Bay and will compete with other singers for the $5,000 first prize. Meredith Livingston’s trip was sponsored by the U.S. Embassy, Bratislava, Slovakia.

The international jury for the Schneider-Trvavsky competition included the following voice professors, agents, and opera directors. From left, above, are Rolf Doring, Austria; Mr. Schneider-Trnavsky, the nephew and only living relative of Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky; Tatiana Smetonova, Russia; Mariano Horak, Switzerland; Vlatka Orsanic, Croatia; Eva Blahova, president of the competition; Stefan Bosnak, mayor of Trnava, Slovakia; Helena Lazarska, Austria; Alain Nonat, Canada; Dagmar Livorova, Slovakia; and Prof. Sarah Meredith Livingston of UW-Green Bay and the United States of America.