A festival run by a small charity in a rural Yorkshire village is throwing a lifeline to Britain’s young classical talent as the sector faces unprecedented cuts.

The Northern Aldborough Festival has begun a nationwide hunt for the best UK classical vocal talent with its New Voices Singing Competition, offering £7k cash prizes and performing opportunities for the winners.

The competition boasts a distinguished judging panel, featuring one of Britain’s best-loved sopranos, Dame Felicity Lott.

The launch of the competition comes as the classical music sector is facing unprecedented funding cuts, including the recent threat to the BBC Singers in-house chamber choir and the Arts Council cuts to many of the country’s largest opera institutions.

Robert Ogden, artistic director at the Northern Aldborough Festival, said: “British classical music has had a series of hammer blows recently with devastating funding cuts. We hope that the New Voices Singing Competition will provide a welcome platform to support young classical singers to launch their careers, a piece of perhaps more positive news at the current time.”

The Northern Aldborough Festival has built an enviable reputation for hosting performances, normally seen in leading metropolitan concert halls, in a rural village setting.

As part of the prize, winners have an opportunity to perform at festivals including Leeds Lieder, Newbury Spring Festival, Ryedale Festival, Music@Malling, as well as the Northern Aldborough Festival itself.

The competition is open to solo singers and ensembles of up to eight performers and celebrates classical vocalism in all its forms. It is open to vocalists aged 21-32 years-old. Deadline for entries is Friday 14 April, 2023.

The winner will receive The Seastock Trust Prize of £5,000, with a second prize of £1,500 from The Yorkshire Music Future Fund, and a third, Audience Prize of £500.

Also on the judging panel is the artistic director of The Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn, director of Leeds Lieder, Joseph Middleton, and artistic director of the Northern Aldborough Festival, Robert Ogden. The panel is chaired by Sir Andrew Lawson-Tancred, chairman of the Northern Aldborough Festival.

Aldborough is a picturesque Roman village, just half an hour from York or Harrogate.

Tickets for the 2023 Northern Aldborough Festival, which is hosted from Thursday 15 to Saturday 24 June 2023, are now on sale.

Lucy Worsley, BBC Young Musician Matilda Lloyd, Pianist Sunwook Kim, and The Armonico Consort are just some of the high-end acts performing this summer.

There will also be a rare double bill of Haydn’s comedies, The Diva and The Apothecary, presented by the nationally-renowned, Bampton Classical Opera company.

The New Voices Competition will also feature heavily at this year’s festival. Finalists will be invited to perform live at the festival in the semi-final and grand-final.

Now in its 29th year, the Northern Aldborough Festival has become a leading fixture on the classical music calendar. A charity, its founding mission is to bring world-class talent to rural locations.