Oratorio Society Of NY Announces Winners For Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition 2019

The baritone Steven Eddy, a native of Laurel, MD, is the First Place winner of the Oratorio Society of New York's 2019 Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition. The awards to the eight finalists were announced by Competition Chairwoman Janet Plucknett following their performances in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, April 6. The Oratorio-Solo Competition, the only competition to focus exclusively on oratorio singing, is now in its 43rd year. The full list of finalists and prizes is:

Steven Eddy, baritone: The Andrew R. Preis Award for First Place, $7,000

Heather Petrie, contralto: The Stanley C. Meyerson Award for Second Place, $5,000

Nathaniel Sullivan, baritone: The Janet Plucknett Award for Third Place, $3,000

Matthew Hill, tenor: The Alfred H. Hubay Award, $2,500

Clare McCahan, mezzo-soprano: The Frances MacEachron Award, $1,500

Veronica Pollicino, mezzo-soprano: The Lyndon Woodside Encouragement Award, $1,000

Joel Balzun, baritone: The Robert & Winifred Connelly Green Award, $1,000

Suzanne Karpov, soprano: The Leopold Damrosch Award, $1,000

Steven Eddy, who received a Master's degree in music from Indiana University, sang "Doch weichet, ihr tollen," from Bach's cantata Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben, BWV 8, and "Love bade me welcome" from Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, to win the top prize.

This year the Competition had 130 applicants from around the world - including singers from South Korea, the Netherlands, and Japan - and the eight finalists came from across the U.S. and Canada.

The panel of judges for the finals consisted of soprano Leslie Fagan, a frequent OSNY soloist and co-founder of the Canadian Art Song Project; Dennis Keene, Artistic Director and conductor of the Voices of Ascension Chorus & Orchestra; Mark Shapiro, Music Director of The Cecilia Chorus of New York and Cantori New York; Kent Tritle, Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York, Director of Cathedral Music and Organist of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and Music Director of Musica Sacra; and Pamela Walsh, Artistic Administrator of the New York Philharmonic. The pianist for the finals was Amir Farid, who has collaborated with Ian Bostridge and Wolfgang Holzmair, among others, and is currently a staff pianist in the Juilliard School Vocal Arts department.

The Oratorio-Solo Competition was created in 1977 to encourage the art of oratorio singing and to give young singers an opportunity to advance their careers. In 2006, it was renamed the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo-Competition in honor of the Society's long-time music director and the Competition's most devoted champion, who had died the year before. In the 2018-19 season, four prize winners of the competition are soloists with the Oratorio Society in its Carnegie Hall series: countertenor Daniel Moody, tenors Isaiah Bell and Joshua Blue, and bass Joseph Beutel.

Steven Eddy, baritone, of Laurel, MD, is an accomplished concert performer and Baroque music specialist, having appeared both as a soloist and as a professional choral singer with Seraphic Fire, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Classical Orchestra, and Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, among others, and with such opera companies and festivals as Fort Worth Opera, Opera Saratoga, Opera Birmingham, LoftOpera, Chelsea Opera, Aspen Opera Theater Center, Tanglewood Music Center, American Lyric Theater, Center for Contemporary Opera, Arbor Opera Theater, and the Seagle Music Colony. Winner of the 2015 Joy in Singing Debut Artist Award, Mr. Eddy was also named a Regional Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. www.steveneddybaritone.com

Heather Petrie, contralto, a native of Freeport, ME, has appeared as soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra, CT Lyric Opera, Voices of Ascension, and Sacred Music in a Sacred Space. Her season highlights include Bach's B minor Mass with Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, Elijah with the Huntington Choral Society, Vivaldi Gloria and Bach Magnificat with Cappella Cantorum, and debuting in the role of Annina in Der Rosenkavalier with the Connecticut Lyric Opera. She is a founding member of the eight-voice treble group Etherea Vocal Ensemble. www.heatherpetriecontralto.com

Nathaniel Sullivan, baritone, a native of Bettendorf, IA, is a 2018-19 fellow at Tanglewood Music Center. He took first place at the NATS National Musical Theatre Competition in 2018, and the same year made his Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Choral Society in Finzi's Requiem da Camera and was a soloist with the Blanche Moyse Chorale in Vermont. Currently the director of operations for the Resonant Bodies Festival in NYC, he holds an MA degree in music from Bard College Conservatory. www.nathanielsullivanbaritone.com

Since its founding in 1873, the Oratorio Society of New York, the 200-voice avocational chorus, has become the city's standard for grand, joyous choral performance. www.oratoriosocietyofny.org

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