A public meeting was held and a new committee was formed to organise a stream-lined programme more appropriate to the times. Gone were many of the old adjudicated disciplines of the past: choral singing, elocution, mime and impromptu debate, ballroom dancing, Indian club swinging, painting, photography and woodcarving. Instead, the committee concentrated on supporting the performance skills of tap, ballet, instrumental and singing. Instrumental and Vocal Festivals were separated into Junior and Senior. However, the Instrumental Festival is now combined into one, but the strength of the singing teaching in this city has allowed the Junior and Senior Vocal Festivals to run independently of each other.
In this celebratory year, each Festival has celebrated the 120th birthday in their own unique way. The Aria Final has always been the flagship event of the Society and so Senior Vocal decided that to invite Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to co-adjudicate the ODT Southern Aria Final would make the occasion very special indeed. Dame Kiri was delighted to be asked and is very much looking forward to making a return visit to Dunedin. Her involvement has led to an increase in the number of contestants throughout the entire Festival, with singers coming from Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch. There are 25 singers entered in the ODT Southern Aria Competition. The adjudicator will choose up to 8 singers from the two preliminary sessions on the Friday to contest the Final which will be held in the Glenroy Auditorium on Saturday August 27th at 7pm. The Aria Preliminaries will be held in two sessions in Burns Hall on Friday August 26th, with one session beginning at 3.45pm and the second at 6pm. Previous winners in the past 20 years include Dunedin-trained singers Anna Leese, Robert Tucker, Stephen Chambers,, James Adams, Claire Barton and Emma Fraser. Adjudicating alongside Dame Kiri is Patrick Power, himself a previous winner of the AriaContest.
