Indiana University

News Release

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Last modified: Wednesday, January 6, 2010

IU Jacobs School of Music and Indianapolis Clowes Hall host Met auditions this month

  1. Print this page

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.

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:

For more information about the Jacobs School of Music, see https://music.indiana.edu/.


Web Version

https://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/13010.html

IU News Room
530 E. Kirkwood Ave., Suite 201
Bloomington, IN 47408-4003
Email: iuinfo@indiana.edu
Web: https://newsinfo.iu.edu