What exactly is formal wear?

Dress for solo recitals does not need to be black, but should be dressy (no t-shirts or flipflops, please) and reflect professional attitudes toward yourself and your music and craft. A dress shirt and slacks is fine, or a dress (just above knee length or longer). If you have questions, feel free to contact NGPAC through email or Facebook. Don’t forget to consider the constraints of your instrument, or the type of character you are portraying. For example, regardless of what you play/sing, you will be bowing toward the audience — loose or low-cut tops sometimes cause an unwanted ‘wardrobe malfunction.’ Cellists will probably want to avoid pencil skirts, pianists will want to check and make sure they can comfortably pedal in their shoes, etc. Musical theater students may want to reflect their character somewhat in their style of dress, although this is not a costumed performance.

Keep in mind that students will need to have formal wear for wearing during their own performances as well as when they are in the audience for their artistic peers’ performances. Please be prepared to have nice clothes for multiple performances.