Amanda Woodbury News

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation is thrilled to announce that soprano Tamara Wilson – whose “voice of steely beauty and great power” (Houston Chronicle) has already won international accolades – has been named as winner of the 2016 Richard Tucker Award. Dubbed the “Heisman Trophy of Opera,” the Tucker Award carries the foundation's most substantial cash prize of $50,000, and is conferred each year by a panel of opera industry professionals on an American singer at the threshold of a major international career. Featuring such luminaries as Renée Fleming, Stephanie Blythe,Lawrence Brownlee, David Daniels, Christine Goerke and Joyce DiDonato, the list of past winners reads like a who's who of American opera.

Four up-and-coming opera singers will showcase their talents as The Metropolitan Opera Rising Stars Concert Series comes to  Mayo Performing Arts Center on Saturday, April 2, 2016 at 8 PM. Tickets are $29 - $59.

A new production of Bizet's LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES (The Pearl Fishers), a rarity by the composer of Carmen that has not been seen at the Met in nearly a century, opens in a new production this New Year's Eve.

A new production of Bizet's LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES (The Pearl Fishers), a rarity by the composer of Carmen that has not been seen at the Met in nearly a century, opens in a new production this New Year's Eve.

DALLAS, TX, SEPTEMBER 14, 2015 - The Dallas Opera is pleased to announce that applications for the expanded and revised Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, scheduled to take place on Friday, April 29, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. (Semi-Final Round) and Saturday, April 30, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. (Finals Round) will be accepted beginning tomorrow – Tuesday, September 15, 2015 – through Saturday, November 21, 2015.

Plácido Domingo, LA Opera's Eli and Edythe Broad General Director, has announced the company's 2015/16 season. This will be the 30th season presented by the company, created by Mr. Domingo in collaboration with Richard Seaver Music Director James Conlon and President and CEOChristopher Koelsch. The company's 30th anniversary season will include six mainstage productions and two concerts at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with a total of 40 performances taking place in that venue, as well as 13 performances presented elsewhere through the company's Off Grand initiative. The season will open onSeptember 12, 2015, and will run through June 19, 2016.

Last night, after a week of competition that brought 40 young singers from 17 nations to Los Angeles, Placido Domingo announced that Rachel Willis-Sorensen, an American soprano, and Mario Chang, a Guatemalan tenor, took the top prizes tonight in the 22nd edition of Operalia, the World Opera Competition. Hosted by LA Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the weeklong contest culminated tonight in a Gala Finals Concert-featuring the LA Opera Orchestra conducted by Mr. Domingo at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion-which was streamed live on Medici TV.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation has announced that Michael Fabiano - 'the tenor that we have all been waiting for' (San Francisco Classical Voice) - is the winner of the 2014 Richard Tucker Award.

In our age of 20-somethings suffering from arrested development, they say “25 is the new 15.” This certainly was not true at the Met auditions concert (formally, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert, a real mouthful!). At the opera house, Sunday afternoon, the concert showcased nine competitors, all between 24 and 29 but mature artists with poise, acting ability and, yes, voices definitely worth hearing again.

After a months-long series of competitions at the district, regional, and national levels, a panel of judges has named five young singers the winners of the 2014 National Council Auditions, the nation's most prestigious vocal competition. Each winner, who performed two arias onstage at the Metropolitan Opera this afternoon with conductor Marco Armiliatoand the Met's orchestra, will receive a $15,000 cash prize and the prestige and exposure that come with winning a competition that has launched the careers of many of opera's biggest stars.

Following this afternoon's highly competitive semi-final competition, nine young singers will advance to the final phase of the Metropolitan Opera's 2014 National Council Auditions, America's most prestigious vocal competition. The selected finalists, chosen by a panel of experts from the classical music industry, will compete on the Met stage on Sunday, March 30at the Grand Finals Concert, with winners receiving individual cash prizes of $15,000 and the prestigious-and potentially career-launching-title of National Council Auditions Winner. The Grand Finals Concert begins at 3 p.m. and will feature Marco Armiliatoconducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as each finalist performs two arias in contrasting styles. The concert will be hosted by tenorLawrence Brownlee, a former National Council winner currently at the Met rehearsing for Bellini's I Puritani. While the judges deliberate, another former winner, Susanna Phillips, who stars in three operas at the Met this season, will perform an aria from Mozart'sLe Nozze di Figaro. Tickets for the Grand Finals Concert may be purchased at the Met Box Office, by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at www.metopera.org.

Twenty-three singers, five apprentice coaches and one apprentice stage director, representing ten countries, will participate in the 57th season of the Merola Opera Program from June 2 to August 17. More than 900 artists vied for the 29 coveted spots in the 2014 summer program. Offered free of charge for all participants, the prestigious Merola Opera program is unique in the industry in many ways. Merola is the only young artist program to provide financial support to developing artists for five years following participation. In the past year alone, more than $150,000 was distributed to more than 100 artists supporting varied needs from coaching to language classes to audition travel. In addition, only Merola graduates are considered for participation in the San Francisco Opera's Adler Fellowship program. Selected through an extensive world-wide audition and application process, nearly one third of this season's artists come from countries outside the United States, including: Canada, China, Taiwan, Italy, South Korea, Russia, Iran, Poland and Israel. This year, the program will have three returning Merola artists, Casey Candebat (Merola 2012), Sahar Nouri and Rhys Lloyd Talbot (both Merola 2013).

Twenty young opera singers who have won regional competitions around the United States will arrive in New York next week to prepare for the next phase of the country's leading vocal competition: the semi-final round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The closed semi-final competition, held on the Met stage before a panel of judges, will determine the select group of finalists who will advance to the final round of the competition. Those finalists will return to the Met to perform in the Grand Finals Concert on Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m., where each will perform two arias with conductor Marco Armiliato and the Met Orchestra. At the end of the concert, winners will be announced, each of whom will receive an individual cash prize of $15,000 and, more importantly, career-making exposure. The Met Auditions, currently in their 61st year, are a major stepping stone to a career as an opera singer and were crucial in introducing many of today's best-known stars, such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Deborah Voigt, and Dolora Zajick. In 2007, the National Council Audition process was captured in an acclaimed documentary, The Audition, which was released on DVD and aired on PBS, including a rebroadcast on WNET in December 2013.

The Dallas Opera Guild will present the 26th Annual 'Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition,' an on-stage showcase for talented young opera singers with Texas connections on Saturday, March 15, 2014 in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, 2403 Flora Street, Dallas, TX 75201.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has announced the winners for the 26th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers that took place the evening of January 30 at the Wortham Theater Center's Cullen Theater in front of a capacity crowd.

Eli and Edythe Broad General Director Plácido Domingo announced that LA Opera's season-opening production of Carmen tonight, September 21, 2013, will be broadcast live on a special presentation of 'LA Opera on Air' on Classical KUSC 91.5fm.

Eli and Edythe Broad General DirectorPlácido Domingo announced that LA Opera's season-opening production ofCarmen on September 21, 2013, will be broadcast live on a special presentation of 'LA Opera on Air' on Classical KUSC 91.5fm. The performance, which Mr. Domingo will conduct, will feature Irish mezzo-soprano Patricia Bardon as Carmen, tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Don José, Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Escamillo and South African soprano Pretty Yende in her Company debut as Micaëla. The production, originally created by Spanish director Emilio Sagi and previously seen in Los Angeles in 2004 and 2008, will be directed by Trevore Ross.

The Dallas Opera Guild's 24th Annual Vocal Competition for young opera singers ended on a high-note last evening when ten outstanding finalists (with Texas connections) were awarded a total of $20,000 in prize monies. It is only the second time this spring musical event has graced the stage of the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in the Arts District.

Two students and one alumna from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music took home top honors from their respective Metropolitan Opera National Council (MONC) Regional Audition competitions held recently across the country.