Last modified: Wednesday, January 6, 2010
IU Jacobs School of Music and Indianapolis Clowes Hall host Met auditions this month
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 6, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and Clowes Memorial Hall of Butler University will host two competitions for the annual Metropolitan Opera National Council (MONC) this month.
The Indiana District Auditions will be Saturday, Jan. 9, at 1 p.m., in Bloomington's Musical Arts Center. A week later, Saturday, Jan.16, at noon, the Tri-State Regional Auditions -- including winners from the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana District rounds -- will be held in Clowes Memorial Hall on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis. Both events are free and open to the public; no tickets are required.
Metropolitan Opera National Council Indiana District Auditions will be held Jan. 9 at IU's Musical Arts Center, followed by the Regional Auditions in Butler's Clowes Memorial Hall Jan. 16. Finalists will advance to New York's Lincoln Center (above).
Some previous winners of this elite competition, which identifies the best up-and-coming opera singers throughout the nation, are IU alumni Sylvia McNair (1982), Elizabeth Futral (1991), Angela Brown (1997) and Larry Brownlee (2001). Other well-known singers who were selected as past winners include Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Ben Heppner, Jessye Norman, Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade, Deborah Voigt and Dolora Zajick.
Judges for this year's district competition are Stephen Brown, Metropolitan Opera Company manager; Cynthia Lawrence, soprano; and Dean Williamson, Cleveland Opera artistic director.
Judges for the Regional auditions are John Churchwell, Metropolitan Opera coach; Gayletha Nichols, MONC executive director; and Jim Ireland, general director of Orlando Opera.
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is a program designed to discover promising young opera singers and assist in the development of their careers. The auditions take place annually in 15 regions of the United States and Canada.
Winners of the regional auditions win a trip to New York City to participate in the National Semi-Finals, March 7, on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. Approximately 10 of the semi-finalists will be selected as national finalists and will compete in a public concert -- the Grand Finals Concert -- March 14, accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The jury awards approximately five Grand Winner awards of $15,000 each. The concert is broadcast nationwide on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Network.
The remaining National Finalists receive $5,000 each, and those singers who were National Semi-Finalists but did not advance to the National Finals will be given $1,500 to further their studies.
The following Jacobs School alumni have won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition Competition since 1965:
- 2007 Jamie Barton
- 2005 Jordan Bisch
- 2003 Christina Pier
- 2002 Twyla Robinson
- 2001 Larry Brownlee and Kristine Winkler
- 1998 Kyle Ketelsen
- 1997 Angela Brown
- 1996 Leah Creek
- 1993 Kathryn Krasovec
- 1992 Christopher Schaldenbrand
- 1991 Elizabeth Futral
- 1990 Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet and Clare Mueller
- 1988 Heidi Grant Murphy
- 1986 Mark Baker, Mark S. Doss, Marilyn Mims and Michael Sylvester
- 1985 Stephen Biggers, Richard Cowan and Julia Faulkner
- 1984 Gerald Dolter and Nova Thomas
- 1982 Sylvia McNair
- 1981 Rebecca Cook and Laura Brooks Rice
- 1980 Kevin Langan
- 1979 Jane Bunnell, Robert McFarland and Jan Opalach
- 1978 Wendy White
- 1974 Alma Jean Smith
- 1965 Richard Stilwell
For more information about the Jacobs School of Music, see https://music.indiana.edu/.
