MSM alumnus Gordon Gerrard (MM ‘03) became the new artistic director of Manitoba Opera based in Winnipeg on September 1, after leading City Opera Vancouver for three years. A Manitoba-born conductor, pianist, and educator, Gordon is bringing a wealth of artistic and administrative experience to his new role. He is also well known as a proponent of innovative and inclusionary programming that explores social change and community engagement.
In this online interview with Opera Canada, Gordon speaks about his professional journey to his new position, what he wants to protect with Manitoba Opera, what he wants to change, and what he’s excited to try next.
Listen to the interview here.
MSM alumni mezzo-soprano Hannah Jones (MM ’24) and countertenor Haolun Zhang (MM ’24) have been selected as finalists in the Operalia competition taking place October 26 to November 1, hosted by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Shangyin Opera House.
Operalia —defined as “The World Opera Competition” by the organization— was founded in 1993 by Plácido Domingo who presides over the competion’s jury, to “discover and help launch the careers of the most promising young opera singers of today…” writes Operalia on their website. “Since the jury is comprised, for the most part, of international opera managers and casting directors, these distinguished jurors often invite and engage some of the singers to perform in productions that are being scheduled in their respective theatres.”
Click here to view the Operalia finalists roster.
Manhattan School of Music’s Graduate Opera Theatre is featured on WQXR’s “Young Artists Showcase”, a weekly radio show that since 1978 has sought out and displayed the talents of young emerging artists.
The host of the program is MSM alumna Alexa Smith who shares performances from MSM’s Graduate Opera Program. Audiences can hear scenes from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Dvořák’s Rusalka, and Robert Ward’s The Crucible.
In photo above, Sofia Gotch (MM ’23, PD ’25) as Juliette from MSM Opera Theatre’s Roméo et Juliette (2024), photograph by Brian Hatton.
Full details and to listen to the program here.
In the upcoming North American tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, MSM Vocal Arts alumna Jordan Lee Gilbert (BM ’23) will perform the lead female role of Christine Daaé.
Jordan studied at MSM with Edith Bers and recently sang the role of Turnspit in MSM Graduate Opera Theatre’s production of Dvořák’s Rusalka. The North American tour of The Phantom of the Opera will premiere at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, MD, from November 7 to 11, and will continue to major markets throughout its first touring year, including Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and more.
Learn more here.
Soprano Jasmine Ismail (MM ’21, PS ’22), a student of Ruth Golden at MSM, has been admitted to the 2025–26 class of the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) Resident Artists in Philadelphia.
Since 1980, more than 50 AVA alumni have joined the Metropolitan Opera’s roster and are heard in the world’s great opera houses every season.
See Jasmine’s Instagram post about the appointment here.
Earlier this year, mezzo-soprano Katherine Saik DeLugan (MM ’14) was promoted to the position of Senior Lecturer in Music and Vocal Music at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, one of the largest women’s liberal arts colleges in the United States. She has taught at the college since 2016 and as a lecturer since 2018.
Kate remains an active performer of opera and art song throughout New England; however, her community engagement expands well beyond these realms, including her work as a stage director, administrator, and producer for schools and local arts organizations. She also directs musicals, serves on the boards of local theatre companies, and produces concerts and events that offer opportunities for professional singers in the region.
Click here to learn more about Kate.
Last month, soprano Jacquelyn Wagner (MM ’05) performed the role of Leonora in France at the Opéra National de Bordeaux staging of Beethoven’s Fidelio. She appeared as Field Marshal in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier for her return to Bayerische Staatsoper, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, immediately following her performance in Fidelio.
Earlier engagements this season included with such performing arts organizations as Nationale Opera & Ballet (Amsterdam), National Center for the Performing Arts (China), and Staatsoper Hannover, the State Opera of Hannover, as well as performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Madrid and Hamburg.
Jacquelin was a student of Mignon Dunn at MSM.
Click here to learn more about Jacquelyn.
MSM alumni soprano Shelén Hughes (BM ’18, MM ’20) and bass-baritone Evan Lazdowski (BM ’20) have been named winners in the 2025 George and Nora London Foundation Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers, one of the opera world’s oldest and most prestigious competitions. They are pictured above along with the other three principal award winners–Evan is left, Shelén is second from right.
The winners were announced after the competition’s final round on February 21, which took place at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, with both an in-person and online audience.
Shelén Hughes from Cochabamba, Bolivia sang the “Snow Maiden’s Aria” from Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden, winning the George London Award of $12,000 in memory of Leonie Rysanek sponsored by an anonymous donor.
Evan Lazdowski from Moultonborough, New Hampshire sang “When my cue comes, call me” from Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, winning the George London Award of $12,000 sponsored by the New York Community Trust and the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers.
Learn more about the competition here.
On September 21, tenor Jonathan Tetelman (BM ’11) will make his Los Angeles Opera debut as “B.F. Pinkerton” in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly; He was interviewed by San Francisco Classical Voice in anticipation of this performance.
Tetelman is a finalist nominee for the 2024 International Opera Awards in the Male Singer category, and will return to San Francisco Opera in November performing the role of Don José in Bizet’s Carmen.
Learn more about Jonathan here. Read the interview here.
Mezzo-soprano Gina Perregrino (BM ’14, MM ’16) will make her Metropolitan Opera debut as “una niña” in Golijov’s Ainadamar about the life and work of poet-playwright Federico García Lorca. The production runs October 15 through November 9, 2024. Perregrino took Flamenco classes to prepare for the audition after her agent informed her that the production was seeking singers who could also dance.
From Wilmington, Delaware, Perregrino studied with Mignon Dunn at Manhattan School of Music. She has gone onto casted and/or leading roles with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Seattle Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Minnesota Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, among others.
To learn more about Gina, click here.
To read the WDEL article about Gina’s upcoming MET debut, click here.
MSM alumni mezzo-soprano Erin Wagner (BM ’19), tenor Samuel White (PS ’18), and baritone Benjamin Dickerson (BM ’17) have been named winners in the 2024 George and Nora London Foundation Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers, one of the opera world’s oldest and most prestigious competitions. They are pictured above along with the other four principal award winners.
The winners were announced after the competition’s final round on February 16 which took place at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, with both an in-person and online audience.
Erin Wagner, from El Paso, Texas sang “Sein wir wieder gut” from Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, and won the George London Award of $12,000 in memory of Mary Palumbo, sponsored by Donald Palumbo.
Samuel White, from Columbia, South Carolina sang “Amfortas! Die Wunde” from Wagner’s Parsifal won the George London Award of $12,000 in memory of Lloyd E. Rigler, sponsored by The Lloyd E. Rigler and Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation, James D. Rigler, President.
Benjamin Dickerson, from Burlington, Vermont, sang “Nemico della patria” from Giordano’s Andrea Chénier won the George London Award of $12,000 in memory of Lois Kirschenbaum, sponsored by the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers.
OPERA America Salutes brings together artists, producers, and champions to celebrate some of the field’s most accomplished figures. The event this year took place on January 26 in NYC and showcased performances by artists in Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, including Daniel Rich (MM ’19), in photo above.
Baltimore-born baritone Daniel Rich is in his second year in the Met program. During the 2023–24 season at the Met, he is appearing as Pâris in Roméo et Juliette and as Chester in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones.
OPERA America leads and serves the entire opera community, supporting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera. Founded in 1970, the organization has a membership that includes over 600 opera companies, educational institutions, affiliated businesses, and other entities.
More about Daniel Rich at the Met here.
More about OPERA America and the gala event here.
Photo by MSM President James Gandre
Shortly before his MET Opera debut in Nabucco on Sept 26, SeokJong Baek (BM ’16, MM ’18) is interviewed by The New York Times in his native South Korea about his career transition from baritone to tenor.
SeokJong Baek will also be performing at the MET later this year in Turandot.
Read article here.
Soprano Laquita Mitchell (MM ’01, PS ’02) is featured as Opera Wire‘s Artist of the Week on January 3. She will be singing the title role in Tom Cipullo’s Josephine part of the New Orleans Opera’s January 6 event “An Homage to Josephine Baker.”
This season, Ms. Mitchell performs with the On Site Opera, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Art Song Society, and Albany Pro Musica. In summer 2022, she will headline in the highly anticipated world premiere of Omar at the Spoleto Festival in the role of Julie.
Learn more about Laquita Mitchell here.
Alumna Alaysha Fox (BM ’13, MM ’15) has been selected as a member of LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program for the 2019-20 season.
After a series of nationwide auditions, the 25 top candidates were invited to Los Angeles and New York City to perform for opera legend Plácido Domingo (HonDMA ’18); President and CEO Christopher Koelsch; the program’s Artistic Advisor, the distinguished mezzo-soprano Susan Graham (MM ’87, HonDMA ’08); and the company’s Senior Director of Artistic programs, Joshua Winograde, along with Nino Sanikidze, the head coach for the program.
Read the full press release here.
Alumnus Brett Sprague (MM ’12) will perform at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in the role of Lord Barrat in a new production of Henze’s opera, Der junge Lord. Performances are May 23, 26, 30, June 5, 8, 14. Later in the summer, he will perform the role of Pedrillo in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Theater Nordhausen. During his time at Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Sprague performed the roles of Almaviva in Ghosts of Versailles (Corigliano), Ferrando in Così fan tutte (Mozart), and La voz en la fragua in La Vida Breve (de Falla).
For more information on Brett Sprague, visit his website.
MSM Opera Theater alumni Alaysha Fox, Soprano (BM ’13, MM ’15) and William Guanbo Su, Bass (BM ’17) have been selected to compete in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert this Sunday, March 31 at 3PM.
The special event, which has launched the careers of some of opera’s biggest stars like Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson, will be hosted by another all-star MSM alumnus, Anthony Roth Costanzo.
Purchase tickets to the concert here.
Alumna Niru Liu (MM ’15, PS ’16) joins the Summer 2019 Wolf Trap Opera as a Filene Artist, and will play the roles of Diamantine in Merlin’s Island and Berta in The Barber of Seville. Liu, a mezzo-soprano, is also a 2018-19 Season Young Artist with LA Opera. During her time at MSM, she performed as Troisième Sorcière in Bloch’s Macbeth and 3rd Lady in The Magic Flute.
Purchase tickets to WTO’s productions here.
Baritone Justin Austin (BM ’14, MM ’17) will perform in Munich beginning Saturday, March 16th as Bello in their new production of Puccini’s La Fanciulla Del West. For the 2018/19 season, Mr. Austin returns to Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, New York Festival of Song, and will make solo debuts with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Copland House, Mise-En-Scène Studios, Opera Saratoga, and the Munich Opera Festival. Justin shares, “I’m incredibly excited and I owe MSM for making it possible for me to live my dreams.”
Purchase tickets to the Bayerische Staatsoper’s production here.
Star countertenor and member of MSM’s Artistic Advisory Council, Anthony Roth Costanzo (MM ’08), sings the lead role of the pharaoh, the revolutionary ruler who transformed ancient Egypt. Mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges (BM ’09) makes her MET debut as his wife, Nefertiti. Directed by Phelim McDermott, the production kicks off the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019-2020 season.
For tickets and more information, visit the MET website
William Guanbo Su (BM ’17, Voice) placed 2nd at the 31st annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias which took place in the Cullen Theater of the Wortham Theater Center in Houston. It is considered one of the most highly esteemed singing competitions in the United States, with judges including HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers, HGO Managing Director Perryn Leech, and guest judge Lawrence Brownlee, the renowned tenor now appearing in HGO’s The Pearl Fishers.
Learn more about the competition here Learn more about William Guanbo Su here
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo talks to F. Paul Driscoll about his double-sided career as singer and producer.
Read more
The World Opera Competition was founded in 1993 by Plácido Domingo to discover the best young opera singers of today. Finals take place in Lisbon, Portugal, on September 2.
The couple, who met as students at Manhattan School of Music, are featured in the Santa Fe New Mexican “This Couple is on Fire.”
Read the article
“Educator Dawn Upshaw brings a unique perspective on performing and a passion for sharing her experiences to her mission of shaping aspiring singers.”
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