International Voice Competition Comes to Ithaca

Opera Ithaca presents the Edward M. Murray Competition of Voice Finals Sunday March 19, 2017 from 2pm thru 7pm at the Community School of Music and Arts. The first annual competition attracted seventy-five highly accomplished professional singers from all over the world, as far reaching as Russia, South Korea and Europe as well as all over the United States. Twenty finalists have been selected from a preliminary video entry round. These twenty impressive opera singers will be welcomed to town to compete before a panel of judges including Opera Ithaca's Zachary James and Lynn Craver, Tri-Cities Opera's Susan Ashbaker, Rochester Lyric Opera's Susan Delly Cotroneo and D.C. Public Opera's Jennifer Williams. Awards include contracts for future productions with Opera Ithaca totaling over $20,000 for operas including Carmen, La bohème, Hamlet, The Pirates of Penzance, I Pagliacci, Tosca, Song from the Uproar, A Little Night Music and more.

The twenty finalists include Derrell Acon, SeungHyeon Baek, Nayoung Ban, James Chamberlain, Kara Cornell, Juliana Curcio, Leah de Gruyl, Julia Ebner, Courtney Elvira, Holly Flack, Virginia Hesse, Mark Hosseini, Oswaldo Iraheta, Manna KnJoi, Christine Lyons, Héctor Manuel Mir, Albert Niedel, Jordan Schreiner, Jake Stamatis and Amanda Zory. Opera Ithaca Music Director Richard Montgomery will accompany the singers.

Opera Ithaca's Edward M. Murray Competition of Voice is free and open to the public. Audience members are invited to come and go as they please any time during the event, between 2pm and 7pm.

For more information, please visit www.OperaIthaca.org

Opera Ithaca was founded in 2014 by Zachary James, Lynn Craver and Richard Montgomery. Opera Ithaca has presented Bluebeard's Castle, the professional premiere of Il Sogno, the world premiere of Billy Blythe, Don Giovanni, Die Fledermaus, Masquerade, Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio and dozens of concerts, community outreach and educational events. Opera Ithaca will present Rossini's CinderellaMay 12 thru 14 at the Hangar Theatre.