Ottawa winner at Met Opera contest
Typically, 100 or more past participants of the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions perform in the company's productions each year.
An opera singer from Ottawa is one of a handful of promising young stars to win the 2011 edition of the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions.
Bass-baritone Philippe Sly, 22, was one of five winners chosen by a panel of experts in New York on Sunday, after performing on the stage of the famed Manhattan opera house accompanied by the Met Orchestra and conductor Patrick Summers.
Sly, a student at McGill University's Schulich School of Music in Montreal, performed an aria from Handel's Rinaldo as well as Wolfram's Song to the Evening Star from Wagner's Tannhaeuser for Sunday's Grand Finals concert — the climax of the prestigious annual competition.
Each year, hundreds of young opera singers between the ages of 20-30 compete for cash prizes and the chance to take the Met stage to sing before an audience of opera executives, talent agents, critics and industry reps.
Sly and the other four winners each receive $15,000 US toward further study. The other winners were:
• Soprano Michelle Johnson, from Pearland, Texas, who sang an aria from Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur and in Dove sono from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.
• Bass-baritone Joseph Barron, from Pittsburgh, who performed an aria from Bellini's La Sonnambula and Mephistopheles' mocking serenade from Gounod's Faust.
• Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, from Suffolk, Va., who sang Banquo's aria from Verdi's Macbeth and Don Basilio's aria La calunnia from Rossini's The Barber of Seville.
• Baritone Joseph Lim, from Seoul, who sang Count Almaviva's aria from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and the title character's aria from Borodin's opera Prince Igor.
The remaining three finalists — including Montreal soprano Sasha Djihanian — receive $5,000 each.
Sunday's event was hosted by mezzo-soprano and opera star Joyce DiDonato, who noted to the audience that in a typical season, 100 or more past audition participants are featured in Met productions. Past National Council award-winners have included such stars as Renée Fleming, Deborah Voigt, Ben Heppner, Susan Graham and Jessye Norman.
Didonato also added that singers who didn't win — including herself — have also gone on to strong careers.
The annual competition gained a wider following after the release of the documentary film The Audition, about the 2007 finals.
Typically, 100 or more past participants of the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions perform in the company's productions each year.
An opera singer from Ottawa is one of a handful of promising young stars to win the 2011 edition of the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions.
Bass-baritone Philippe Sly, 22, was one of five winners chosen by a panel of experts in New York on Sunday, after performing on the stage of the famed Manhattan opera house accompanied by the Met Orchestra and conductor Patrick Summers.
Sly, a student at McGill University's Schulich School of Music in Montreal, performed an aria from Handel's Rinaldo as well as Wolfram's Song to the Evening Star from Wagner's Tannhaeuser for Sunday's Grand Finals concert — the climax of the prestigious annual competition.
Each year, hundreds of young opera singers between the ages of 20-30 compete for cash prizes and the chance to take the Met stage to sing before an audience of opera executives, talent agents, critics and industry reps.
Sly and the other four winners each receive $15,000 US toward further study. The other winners were:
• Soprano Michelle Johnson, from Pearland, Texas, who sang an aria from Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur and in Dove sono from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.
• Bass-baritone Joseph Barron, from Pittsburgh, who performed an aria from Bellini's La Sonnambula and Mephistopheles' mocking serenade from Gounod's Faust.
• Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, from Suffolk, Va., who sang Banquo's aria from Verdi's Macbeth and Don Basilio's aria La calunnia from Rossini's The Barber of Seville.
• Baritone Joseph Lim, from Seoul, who sang Count Almaviva's aria from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and the title character's aria from Borodin's opera Prince Igor.
The remaining three finalists — including Montreal soprano Sasha Djihanian — receive $5,000 each.
Sunday's event was hosted by mezzo-soprano and opera star Joyce DiDonato, who noted to the audience that in a typical season, 100 or more past audition participants are featured in Met productions. Past National Council award-winners have included such stars as Renée Fleming, Deborah Voigt, Ben Heppner, Susan Graham and Jessye Norman.
Didonato also added that singers who didn't win — including herself — have also gone on to strong careers.
The annual competition gained a wider following after the release of the documentary film The Audition, about the 2007 finals.
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