Review Roundup: Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert

Some of today's greatest singers got their start in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions including Jamie Barton, Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Angela Meade, Eric Owens, and Frederica von Stade.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

ZACHARY WOOLFE, NY Times: But there was only one complete artist. At just 23, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, a baby-faced countertenor from Brooklyn, already possesses a remarkable gift for intimate communication in a vast hall, combined with a voice of velvety gentleness - surprisingly penetrating given the tenderness of its texture - and a taste for adventure.

JAMES MONROE ŠTEVKO, OperaWire: Soprano Natalie Image of Tsawwassen, Canada, sang the first aria of the competition and sparkled her way through "O luce di quest' anima" of Donizetti's "Linda di Chamounix." Her crystalline tone swirled through the house, sprinkled with immaculate coloratura, a really impressive start to the concert. She was just endearing as she held her hand to her mouth, calling off into the distance in Rimsky-Korsakov's Snow Maiden's Aria.

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