Metropolitan Opera Auditions: Five Winners Were Selected After Months of Auditions

The Metropolitan Opera held its 2014 National Council Auditions where five young singers won the competition.

The competition, which took months of rounds at the district, regional, and national levels, had a panel of judges decide the five winners. The competition which was held on Sunday Mark 30 had nine finalists perform two arias onstage at the Metropolitan Opera with conductor Marco Armiliato at the podium and the Metropolitan Orchestra accompanying.

This year's winners included soprano Julie Adams from California. The 26-year-old who represented the Western Region, earned her master's degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and has performed a number of roles including  Mimi in Puccini's "La Boheme." The soprano is slated to participate in the San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program where she will be heard as Blanche in André Previn's "A Streetcar Names Desire."

Bass Patrick Guetti represented the Middle Atlantic Region. The 26-year-old his bachelor's and master's degrees at The Catholic University of America and recently appeared in Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts. The bass recently served as an Apprentice Artist with the Santa Fe Opera. 

Another winner was Ao Li from China. The 26-year-old Rocky Mountain Region representive studied at Shandong University and was a member of the San Francisco Opera's Adler Fellowship program. He has performed a number of roles including Papageno in Mozart's "Die Zauberflote" and Massetto in Mozart's "Don Giovanni." The bass-baritone was also a member of San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program and was a recent winner of the 2013 winner of Plácido Domingo's Operalia World Opera Competition.

Tenor Yi Li from China was also among the winners. The 29-year-old from the Middle Atlantic Region graduated from Sichuan Conservatory of Music. He is also a first year of Washington National Opera's Domingo-CafritzYoung Artist Program. The tenor also graduated from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and was a member of San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program and Canada's International Vocal Arts Institute. He also represented China in the 2013 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He is also the recipient of the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation and Gerda Lissner Foundation, and was a finalist in Spain's 2009 Montserrat Caballé International Singing Competition. 

The last winner was Amanda Woodbury from Kentucky. The 25-year-old who represented the Western Region is a member of Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at the Los Angeles Opera. The singer made her debut in a lead role the Los Angeles Opera where she performed Micaëla in Bizet's "Carmen." Woodbury is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Indiana University.

The five singers will receive a $15,000 cash prize and the prestige and exposure that come with winning a competition. The competition has launched the careers if a number of stars including Stephanie Blythe, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, and Deborah Voigt.

The Grand Finals Concert was hosted by tenor Lawrence Brownlee, a former National Council Auditions winner who is currently rehearsing the Met's revival of Bellini's "I Puritani." Soprano Susanna Phillips, another former winner performed the aria "Dove sono" from Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" while the judges debated.

On April 1 the winners will perform a concert of varied operatic repertory at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Spacewhich will be hosted by Voigt.

The remaining four finalists Nicole Haslett, a 25-year-old soprano from New Jersey, Christopher Lowrey, a 29-year-old countertenor from Rhode Island, Rafael Moras, a 26-year-old tenor from Texas, and Rexford Tester, a 24-year-old tenor from Virginia all won $5,000 cash prizes. The singer also received exposure.

The Grand Finals Concert was recorded for broadcast at a later date on public radio stations across the United States.