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Met Opera District Auditions Return to Memorial Hall
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 13, 2012) — The curtains will rise on the district's most talented young opera singers at Metropolitan (Met) Opera National Council Auditions Kentucky District Auditions to be held at University of Kentucky's Memorial Hall. The auditions, being evaluated by a distinguished judging panel, will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 17.
The Met auditions, which are free and open to the public, are sponsored by the Lexington Opera Society. As part of the auditions, approximately 30 participating opera vocalists will be judged by Douglas Ahlstedt, voice professor at Carnegie Mellon School of Music; Joan Dornemann, of the Metropolitan Opera and co-founder of the International Vocal Arts Institute; and Gayletha Nichols, director of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions director.
John Greer, vocal coach and associate professor of voice at UK Opera Theatre, will serve as the official accompanist for the auditions.
A master class taught by Dornemann will be conducted at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, at Memorial Hall. Vocalists auditioning will be given preferential opportunity to participate.
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions strive to discover new, exceptional talent while providing a venue for young opera singers from all levels of experience to be heard by a representative of the Met. The program, designed to assist talented young opera singers in the development of their careers, holds annual auditions in 14 regions of the U.S. and Canada.
In addition, the auditions serve to discover new participants in the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, a program designed to nurture the most talented young artists through training and performance opportunities. The program also provides financial aid and supervised artistic direction for young artists.
The first step in the competition process is auditioning at the district level. Contestants can choose to compete in any district, regardless of their place of residence. Winners of the Kentucky District auditions will advance to the Mid-South Regional finals to be held Jan. 26, 2013, in Memphis, Tenn., where they compete for a trip to New York to participate in the National Semi-Finals in early March. Approximately 10 national finalists are selected to compete in the Grand Finals Concert accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The Grand Finals Concert is a public concert held at the Met, and will be broadcast nationwide on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Network.
The highly acclaimed UK Opera Theatre program is part of the UK School of Music at the UK College of Fine Arts. For more information on the program, visit online at http://finearts.uky.edu/music.
For more information on the Kentucky District Met auditions, contact UK Opera Theatre at (859) 257-9331, or visit online at www.kydistrictauditions.org/currentseason.html.
MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, (859) 257-8716
or whitney.hale@uky.edu
