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This weekend, inside UNCG’s School of Music recital hall, you’ll find Charles Lynam — right side, half way up.

Today, he’ll be in a sport coat. On Sunday, for the winner’s recital, he’ll be in his dark blue suit seated beside Faye, his high school sweetheart from Wake Forest whom he married 55 years ago.

But don’t make a big deal out of it. He really doesn’t like it. He doesn’t even like to stand when he gets introduced from the stage.

He’d rather just sit there and take it all in. That, he says, is fun.

And why not? In four years, the Charles A. Lynam Vocal Competition has become the Triple A for the major leagues of classical singing.

Singers come from all across the country. They come to build their resume, pocket as much as $6,000 in prize money, win a chance to sing in China — and in Greensboro — and make invaluable connections in their small professional world.

And they meet David Holley. At 6-foot-3, they can’t miss him. They’ll see him at the airport, holding some sign with their name on it along with a gift bag of tea, honey sticks and high-end chocolate.

He’s the competition’s organizer and the director of the UNCG Opera Theatre. He’s also Lynam’s former colleague, golfing partner and friend.

Holley and Lynam met in 1978. Back then, Holley was a freshman at Furman; Lynam a judge in a collegiate singing competition. He gave Holley high marks.

Ask Holley about those marks, and he’ll pull from an office drawer the original judge’s sheet — seven sentences, written in pencil, with three exclamation marks. Thirty years later, Holley still has it.

So, Holley has always thought a lot of Lynam. He taught at UNCG for 43 years. And even before Lynam retired in spring 2006, Holley felt organizing a competition was the least he could do.

“I remember the first year we held it, Charlie said, 'Oh David, you’re not going to get anyone to apply. I bet you don’t even get 100,’” Holley says. “Well, that first year, we got 101 applicants, and that was pretty darn good.”

This year, the Lynam Competition drew 192 applicants from 32 states as well as Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Judges whittled down the applicants to 24 contestants, all of whom will compete this weekend in one of two categories for cash and connections.

While they’re here, the contestants will stay with folks such as music enthusiasts Alice and Woody Pearce. The contestants discover Southern hospitality; the Pearces discover another part of the world.

“Every year, the singers improve,” said Alice Pearce, 87, a 1942 graduate of Woman’s College, now UNCG. “It’s exciting that David has developed this for Greensboro. It could mean a lot down the pike.”

It could. NOTION Music, a Greensboro company that makes music creation and performance software, has ponied up $50,000 this year to sponsor the competition.

That money more than doubles the total cash-prize amount — from $8,000 to $17,000. Meanwhile, retired UNCG professor Doryl Jensen has put together a tour of China next spring for NOTION and four of the 24 competing singers.

Meanwhile, the competition heightens UNCG’s profile in the classical-singing world and makes it a must-stop for anyone who wants to sing in the major leagues, like The Met. Past Lynam winners have done so.

That’s all pretty neat. To sing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

All with the help of a guy named Charlie.

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com