Utah District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions

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This annual competition enables the finest young operatic talent to audition for The Metropolitan Opera. Donations to our organization provide the prize monies for award winners and support the costs incurred in hosting the auditions.

Welcome

2012 Auditions

Saturday, January 7, 2012

11AM to 1PM and 2 to 5PM - Auditions

5 to 6:30PM - enjoy a screening of portions of the documentary The Audition while judges deliberate

6:30PM - Announcement of the Winner(s)

7PM - Celebrating Opera’s Future Stars Gala Dinner*

NOTE: There will only be the one round of auditions this season, open to the public free of admission charge, and held in Libby Gardner Concert Hall on the University of Utah campus.

*Donors who give at the Sponsor Membership or higher level will be invited to join the judges and winners of this year’s auditions at a special celebration catered by Utah Food Services. Seating is limited, so reserve soon!

We welcome your inquiries, feedback and suggestions. Feel free to contact any of us through the inforamtion posted on our 'Contact Us' page. We'll respond to you as quickly as our "day jobs" allow.

Contacts: Gunter Radinger (801) 661-2704

Julie McBeth (801) 910-2457

Two Winners Named in 2012 Metropolitan Opera National Council Utah District Auditions

Jubal Joslyn and Cecilia Violetta Lopez were named winners of the 2012 Utah District Auditions of the

Metropolitan Opera National Council (MONC) held in Salt Lake City on January 7, 2012. The competition

included 27 singers and was held in Libby Gardner Concert Hall on the University of Utah Campus. Each of the two Utah District winners received a cash prize of $1,000 and will compete with the winners of the Colorado-Wyoming District auditions at the Rocky Mountain Regional auditions on Sunday, January 29 at 2:00 p.m. in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver, Colorado.

Region winners will receive a cash prize and be sponsored to go to New York in March for the National Council Auditions Semi-Finals. There, they will sing in a closed competition, accompanied by piano on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, for a place as a National Council Auditions Finalist. The Finalists will then perform at the Grand Finals Concert on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, and up to five singers will be selected as National Council Auditions Winners. The Winners will each receive a $15,000 prize and will join the National Council Auditions’ impressive roster of alumni. Many of the world’s foremost singers have received awards from the National Council and over one hundred alumni of the National Council Auditions sing in Met performances during a typical opera season.

Jubal Joslyn, a 22 year-old tenor and native of Imprerial, Nebraska, is a student at Brigham Young University who earned a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance in December 2011. He was featured in numerous performances with BYU Opera during the past several years as well as some special performances of Utah Lyric Opera. Cecilia Violetta Lopez, a 29 year-old soprano and native of Rupert, Idaho, achieved a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2011. She performed many leading roles with UNLV Opera between 2009 and 2011, was a semi-finalist in the 2011 Loren Zachary Competition and sang the title role in L’Incoronazione di Poppea with the 2011 Hawaii Performing Arts Festival.

The judges also awarded two $500 Encouragement awards to Dominick Chenes and Michelle Alexander making a special point to describe the encouragement award not as a ‘consolation prize’ but as encouragement for performers who, they believe, hold special promise and they expect to hear again in the future. Dominick Chenes, a 27 year-old tenor from Las Vegas, Nevada, is a student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he is working on a Master of Music degree; he was also a 2008-09 member of Utah Opera’s Resident Artist Program. Michelle Alexander, a 25 year-old native of Salt Lake City, Utah is a student at the University of Utah pursuing a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance. Michelle was also selected by the audience as their favorite for which she received a special $200 Audience Choice Award.