SCHOLARSHIPS
Winston Classical Voice
Photo above c/o Manhattan School of Music by Carol Rosegg during the production of Figaro “I due Figaro”. Evan Lazdowski, 2020 Winston Classical Voice Scholarship Recipient.
Winston Classical Voice Scholarship
In honor of Shirley Rabb Winston, NSAL established an annual scholarship for young classical singers between the ages of 16 and 22. Applicants must demonstrate exceptional talent and promise of future success. The scholarship funds are only for private study, special training or personal advancement in the applicant’s vocal career. They can be used for workshops, voice teachers, summer programs, college tuition, housing or travel. In most years, as many as eight to ten scholarships are awarded in varying amounts.
The 2025 Winston Classical Voice Scholarship Application
The National Society of Arts and Letters invite performers to apply for the 2025 Shirley Rabb Winston Scholarship in Classical Voice. $16,000 in scholarships will be awarded. Applications are due to chapters by February 1, 2025 and winners will be announced upon selection.
. Please see the materials below for more information on this opportunity and check back for 2025 information.
2025 Shirley Rabb Winston Classical Voice Scholarship Brochure and Application
Pictured above: From left, Naomi Rabb Winston and Shirley Rabb Winston.
Shirley Rabb Winston (1920 – 2000) was the daughter of Naomi Rabb Winston. She was a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C. and studied voice at the Washington College of Music. She received a voice scholarship from the Washington Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters. During her career as a professional opera singer, she performed at Washington D.C.’s Constitution Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall and had major roles with the Metropolitan Opera Touring Company. For most of her career, the mezzo soprano sang with the New York City Opera. After retiring from her professional career, she taught opera at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She later moved to Virginia Beach, wrote “Music as the Bridge” and taught voice to select students.
2025 Winner
in the 19-22 Age Category
Catherine Creed
Catherine Creed is a first-year graduate student at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in the studio of Nova Thomas. In May 2024, she graduated from the Eastman School of Music and studied with Nicole Cabell. Recently, she was the First Prize winner of the Eastman Opera Voice Competition, judged by Christine Goerke, a Grand Finalist at the Opera Grand Rapids Competition and a previous recipient of the Shirley Rabb Winston Scholarship. This spring she will portray Florestine in Rice University’s production of The Ghost of Versailles directed by Patricia Racette. This summer she will be making her professional debut singing Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro and is covering the role of Soer Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites at Wolf Trap Opera. She has been in Eastman Opera Theater’s productions as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Pemphredo in We’ve Got Our Eye on You, Destino in La Calisto and made her European debut singing Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro at the National Theatre in Prague. She was the soloist with the Eastman Philharmonia singing Poulenc’s Gloria. In 2023, she attended SongFest as a Brown-Loranger Fellow singing Strauss’ Brentano Liederin collaboration with Javier Arrebola.