Metropolitan Opera announces live, streaming plans for its National Council Auditions final rounds
Twenty-three semifinalists compete in public auditions on Sunday, May 9, for the chance to advance to the Grand Finals
Finalists to compete at the public Grand Finals Concert, on Sunday, May 16, at 3pm ET
Winners will receive individual cash prizes of $20,000 and invaluable exposure in the opera world
New York, NY (April 23, 2021)— The 23 opera singers who have won regional auditions around the United States will compete in the semifinal round of the country’s leading vocal competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, on Sunday, May 9, beginning at 11am ET. Because of the pandemic, this year’s competition has been virtual, so the Met has decided to open the semifinals and finals via livestream. The competition will determine the select group of finalists who will advance to the final round of the competition—the Grand Finals Concert, which will be streamed, also open to the public, on Sunday, May 16, at 3pm ET.
Registration is required to view both the semifinal competition and the Grand Finals Concert; to register, visit concerts.kiswe.com/metopera.
This season, the National Council Auditions received nearly 1,200 applicants, with just over 600 singers qualifying for the 31 District Auditions. Of the 141 singers in the 10 Regional rounds, 23 were named semifinalists. To ensure safety and access for all involved, the auditions this season have taken place in a remote, live-streamed format from locations around the world.
These auditions are sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera National Council, including National Council members and hundreds of volunteers from across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. More than $250,000 in prize money has already been awarded at the District and Regional rounds.
About the semifinalists
The 2021 semifinalists include 11 sopranos, five mezzo-sopranos, one countertenor, three tenors, two baritones, and one bass-baritone.
The 11 soprano semifinalists, along with the regions they represent in the competition and their hometowns, are: Cheyanne Coss (Rocky Mountain Region: Eaton Rapids, MI), Courtney Johnson (Eastern Region: Chesapeake, VA), Hyoyoung Kim (Southeast Region: Seoul, South Korea), Brittany Olivia Logan (New England Region: Garden Grove, CA), Greer Lyle (Southeast Region: Carrollton, GA), Jennifer Mariel (Gulf Coast Region: Cancún, Mexico), Shaina Martinez (Upper Midwest Region: Germantown, MD), Raven McMillon (New England Region: Baltimore, MD), Murrella Parton (Southeast Region: Seymour, TN), Erica Petrocelli (Central Region: East Greenwich, RI) and Jacqueline Piccolino (Central Region: Palatine, IL).
The five mezzo-sopranos competing in the semifinals are Jazmine Olwalia (Upper Midwest Region: Fort Worth, TX), Emily Sierra (Eastern Region: Chicago, IL), Anne Marie Stanley (New England Region: Princeton, NJ), Hilary Grace Taylor (Midwest Region: Dallas, TX), and Emily Treigle (Gulf Coast Region: New Orleans, LA).
The countertenor semifinalist is Chuanyuan Liu (Eastern Region: Changchun, China).
The three tenor semifinalists are Duke Kim (Western Region: Seoul, South Korea), John Marzano (Northwest Region: Tacoma, WA), and Angel Romero (Midwest Region).
The two baritone semifinalists are Timothy Murray (Western Region: Milwaukee, WI) and Ethan Vincent (Central Region: Kansas City, MO).
A bass-baritone rounds out the list of semifinalists: Jongwon Han (Rocky Mountain Region: Seoul, South Korea).
About the competition
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, now in their 67th season, are a potentially career-making opportunity for aspiring opera singers, given the reach of the auditions, the number of applicants, and the program’s long tradition. The Auditions have been crucial in introducing many of today’s best-known stars, including Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Eric Owens, Stephanie Blythe, Hei-Kyung Hong, Sondra Radvanovsky, Lawrence Brownlee, Michael Fabiano, Latonia Moore, Lisette Oropesa, Jamie Barton, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ryan Speedo Green, and Nadine Sierra.
The competition gained international notoriety with the release of the 2008 feature-length documentary The Audition, directed by award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke, which chronicled the 2007 National Council Auditions season and Grand Finals Concert.