{"id":108668,"date":"2026-05-05T13:15:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=108668"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:15:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:15:33","slug":"eyes-on-the-prize-uri-voice-teacher-singing-her-way-toward-national-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/eyes-on-the-prize-uri-voice-teacher-singing-her-way-toward-national-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Eyes on the \u2018Prize\u2019: 溏心vlog免费B站 voice teacher singing her way toward national award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 5, 2026 \u2013 Caroline O\u2019Dwyer<\/a> didn\u2019t have to look far for inspiration in seeking to make a name for herself musically on the national level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Dwyer, a mezzo-soprano and artist\/teacher in voice in the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Department of Music<\/a>, has seen two of her University colleagues\u2014Director of Orchestral Studies Luis Viquez<\/a> and fellow artist\/teacher in voice Devon Russo<\/a>\u2014win the prestigious The American Prize in recent memory. The national organization recognizes top musical performers, composers, directors, and administrators for their outstanding work in the arts through a series of annual competitions across a broad range of categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that, O\u2019Dwyer raised her own voice in her quest to be among the United States\u2019 best singers, and is now on the verge of earning her own gold status. O\u2019Dwyer has been named one of eight national finalists for The American Prize\u2019s Friedrich and Virginia Schorr Memorial Award in the Vocal Performance category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a huge recognition to get to this stage,\u201d said O\u2019Dwyer, who began teaching at 溏心vlog免费B站 in 2018 when she was a doctoral student at the University of Connecticut. \u201cTo be recognized for my performance, which required a massive amount of work, is really humbling and I\u2019m just really grateful. This prize has been on my radar for a while, but I waited until now to apply\u2014and I\u2019m glad I did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American Prize requires contestants in all categories to submit 20 minutes\u2019 worth of professionally recorded musical selections of their choosing to be award eligible. Through a grant from 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s University Artist Series initiative, and assistance from assistant collaborative piano professor David Gilliland<\/a> and classical percussion teacher Kyle Forsthoff<\/a>, O\u2019Dwyer submitted selections from several of her live 溏心vlog免费B站 performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside an aria from an Italian cantata by Franz Joseph Haydn, O’Dwyer submitted two songs originally composed by Baroque Italian composers Giulio Caccini and Francesco Durante, set to new original piano arrangements by Gilliland. O\u2019Dwyer also submitted a performance of the song \u201cSympathy\u201d by Florence Price, a celebrated Black American female composer, as well as an excerpt from an English cantata by Benjamin Britten and an art song in Spanish by Argentinian composer Carlos Guastavino. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Dwyer\u2019s recordings are posted on her YouTube page<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have really good quality video recording for our performances, and that really does make a difference when you’re submitting for a recording-only competition,\u201d O\u2019Dwyer said. \u201cThe quality absolutely affects people’s perception of you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Dwyer submitted her recordings back in September and originally assumed she didn\u2019t make the cut due to not hearing back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was pleasantly surprised when she saw the April 7 post announcing her as a finalist on the organization\u2019s blog. It was a proud moment to finally see her long hours rehearsing and performing in between her teaching work pay off, she said. The organization will announce its 2026 national winners in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While The American Prize distributes monetary awards for winners, it\u2019s the national recognition that O\u2019Dwyer is striving for. Such recognition could lead to high-level opportunities for collaboration that would otherwise be challenging to obtain. O\u2019Dwyer noted that a colleague was immediately asked by a dance organization to collaborate on a new project that paired voice and dance after he received the recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe probably would have not met that person had they not learned of his American Prize award,\u201d O\u2019Dwyer said. \u201cWith this announcement, it could be something where I might reach out to conductors that I’ve worked with in the past and use this announcement to open doors for myself. Making fast connections and getting a performing job is beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A first-place award from The American Prize may also help O\u2019Dwyer gain wider recognition among students at 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI definitely think it gives you a certain level of clout and recognition to be in this position. And that’s certainly attractive when you’re trying to recruit students to study with you,\u201d she said. \u201cThey want to see that their professors are active in the performing world, that they’re choosing to pursue their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 5, 2026 \u2013 Caroline O\u2019Dwyer didn\u2019t have to look far for inspiration in seeking to make a name for herself musically on the national level. O\u2019Dwyer, a mezzo-soprano and artist\/teacher in voice in the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Department of Music, has seen two of her University colleagues\u2014Director of Orchestral Studies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":108669,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12,1908],"class_list":["post-108668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-faculty-excellence"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108668"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108670,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108668\/revisions\/108670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}