April 30, 2018

Congratulations to Hongni Wu!!

It’s been a whirlwind month for Manhattan School of Music Voice Student Hongni Wu. First, she was named runner up of MSM’s prestigious Ades Vocal Competition. A few weeks later, she sang the title role of MSM Opera Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola. And, this past Sunday, Hongni was named as one of five winners of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, an annual, nationwide competition to discover “the next generation of operatic talent.”

The Grand Finals Concert, which featured guest performers Joyce DiDonato and Bryan Hymel, with Bertrand de Billy conducting the Met Orchestra, was the culmination of many months of competitions in 42 districts and 12 regions throughout the US and Canada. The nation’s most prestigious competition, now it its 64^th year, is designed to find promising young opera singers and assist in the development of their careers with cash prizes of up to $15,000. Many of the opera world’s biggest stars made their career debuts during the competition, including Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Deborah Voigt, and Lawrence Brownlee.

Each of the nine finalists performed two arias on The Metropolitan Opera stage at the Grand Finals Concert. Hongni, a rich mezzo-soprano, sang “Cruda sorte!” from Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri and “Wie du warst! Wie du bist!” from Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier.

During her undergraduate studies at MSM, Hongni performed in numerous Opera Theatre productions, taking on roles such as Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito and the Dragonfly in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Other previous credits include Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus with Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance; the title role of Carmen at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music; and Mrs. Umeya in Song Qingling at the Guangzhou Opera House.

This summer, after graduating with a Professional Studies Certificate from MSM, she will appear as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro at Opera Maine before joining the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at Covent Garden in September.

Toi, toi, toi to Hongni from all of us at Manhattan School of Music!