Melissa Wegner

Melissa Wegner is the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and the Laffont Competition. She is responsible for identifying, awarding, and developing the world’s most promising operatic talent. A member of the Met’s Artistic staff since 2011, she hears artists in stage and screening auditions at the Met and is additionally responsible for casting the Met’s New Opera Commissions workshops.

Recognized for her leadership in the industry, Ms. Wegner was an official ambassador for Opera America’s 50th Anniversary in 2020, was one of the 2019 Musical America Top 30 Professionals of the Year, and was a 2019 recipient of the Maria Callas Prize of New York from Melos International. In addition to the District, Regional and National rounds of the Laffont Competition, Ms. Wegner has adjudicated international competitions including the Belvedere Competition (South Africa, Russia, Latvia, Germany, Switzerland), Opera’s Golden Voice (Georgia), the Nicola Martinucci Competition (Italy). US Competitions include the Ades Vocal Competition, The Butler Competition, the SAI Vocal Competition, the McCammon Voice Competition, and NATSAA Competition.

A faculty member of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Ms. Wegner has also been visiting faculty for Bard College’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program and is a frequent guest speaker and clinician at top conservatories, universities, and summer festivals in the US and abroad. She is an active member of Opera America and has presented at the NATS Winter Workshop and the Sphinx Conference.

Ms. Wegner is a member of Families of FANA WNY, which supports the orphanage in Colombia from which she was adopted. She has served her three alma maters as a past Trustee of the Foundation Board of SUNY Potsdam, a past Advisory Board Member of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and the Artistic Advisory Council at The Manhattan School of Music. She is on the team of advisors for Turn The Spotlight, a mentoring organization for women, BIPOC, and other equity-seeking groups, and has served as a mentor through Opera America’s Women’s Opera Network. Her greatest achievement is raising a joyful daughter alongside her wife in New York City.