Metropolitan Opera 2013 News Update: Top 10 National Council Auditions Finalists Announced

After the semi finals, the Metropolitan Opera announced the final ten National Council Audition competitors who will sing on the Met stage on March 10^th at 3pm.

The top ten are: Matthew Anchel, 25, bass (Eastern Region; New York, NY); Michael Brandenburg, 26, tenor (Central Region; Austin, IN); Brandon Cedel, 25, bass-baritone (Middle Atlantic Region; Hershey, PA); Tracy Cox, 27, soprano (Western Region; Dallas, TX);  Sydney Mancasola, 25, soprano (New England Region; Redding, CA); Musa Ngqungwana, 28, bass-baritone (Middle Atlantic Region; Port Elizabeth, South Africa);Richard Ollarsaba, 25, bass-baritone (Upper Midwest Region; Tempe, AZ); Rebecca Pedersen, 21, soprano (Rocky Mountain Region; Bountiful, UT); Thomas Richards, 24, bass-baritone (Central Region; Burnsville, MN); Efrain Solis, 23, baritone (Western Region; Santa Ana, CA).

The competition will celebrate its 60^th anniversary and has long been a stepping stone for the careers of many major opera singers. At this year's finals Marco Armiliato will conduct each singer in two arias of their choice and soprano Sondra Radvanovsky will host and perform. The finalists, all between the ages of 20 and 30 years old, will compete for individual cash prizes of $15,000 each. They will have the opportunity to perform on the historic opera house stage before an audience that will include opera company executives, artist managers, music critics, and other opinion-makers of the music world.

Past winners of the Met auditions include Renée Fleming, Hei-Kyung Hong, Angela Meade, Susanna Phillips, Sondra Radvanovsky, Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Stephanie Blythe, Dolora Zajick, Nathan Gunn, Lawrence Brownlee, Thomas Hampson and Samuel Ramey. The winners and finalist are usually part of the Met's season roster.

In 2007 the Auditions were captured in an acclaimed documentary by Susan Fromeke entitled "The Audition" and was shown on PBS and released on DVD.

On March 11^th the day after the competition WXQR will host a show where the new winners will perform at the Jerome Greene Performance space and will be hosted by Eric Owens.