(RED BANK, NJ) -- Monmouth Civic Chorus is delighted to announce its annual scholarship auditions for vocally talented New Jersey high school seniors planning to pursue higher education.  The application deadline is May 12, 2025 at 5:00pm. Winners will be announced on May 18. There is a $10 application fee.

The auditions will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2025, beginning at 6:00pm at the United Methodist Church of Red Bank, 247 Broad Street, Red Bank, New Jersey.

For details and to access the application form, visit: monmouthcivicchorus.org/scholarship

$3,000 in scholarship funds will be available to award to students of outstanding vocal promise. Contestants must perform two contrasting selections from the standard vocal repertoire (opera, operetta, art songs, oratorio, or Gilbert and Sullivan). It is preferred, though not required, that candidates present one selection in a language other than English. Musical theater selections are acceptable, but pop is not. Contestants will be judged on technique, choice of material, poise, and musicianship.

In 2024, four vocally talented students were awarded scholarships: Maria Guerrero of Little Silver won First Place, Olivia Crowe of Point Pleasant Beach and Jacob Phelps of Helmetta tied for Second Place; and Bryan Reimertz of Red Bank won Honorable Mention.

Anyone interested in donating to the MCC Scholarship Fund can make an online donation here.

Monmouth Civic Chorus has been called “near-flawless” (Asbury Park Press), “alive and evocative” (The Star-Ledger) and “superior” (Red Bank Green). The Chorus is the proud recipient of the 2008 ASCAP/Chorus America Alice Parker Award, the 2010 Spinnaker Award for Arts and Culture from the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce, and a third-place winner of the 2018-19 American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music.

About Ryan James Brandau: Among audiences, MCC Artistic Director Ryan James Brandau is best known for dynamic and uplifting choral and orchestral performances, whether he himself is at the podium or his arrangements on the program. The New York Times hailed his recent debut appearance at Trinity Church Wall Street, conducting its iconic annual Messiah, “the gold standard” against which others “paled in comparison.” For both expert and new listeners, his interpretations are at once resplendent with the past and resonant with the present, earning the Times’ praise as “urgent and eloquent,” “burning and gladdening,” “intimate, alternately sober and joyous,” and, most essential to Ryan’s pervasive artistic intent, “modest yet monumental.”

In addition to his work with Monmouth Civic Chorus, Ryan serves as Artistic Director of Princeton Pro Musica and Amor Artis, a chamber choir and orchestra in New York City. He has prepared choruses for the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and New Jersey Symphony and has taught and conducted at Westminster Choir College, Santa Clara University, and Smith College. He holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Yale School of Music, a Master of Philosophy in Historical Musicology from Cambridge University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Princeton University.