Two barihunks advance in Met Midwest Auditions

Austin Sanders

Barihunks Austin Sanders and Reuben Lillie were two of the four singers to advance in today's Metropolitan Opera Upper Midwest Region National Auditions. The other two singers to advance were soprano Emily Pogorelc and soprano Ariana Douglas. Baritones Nathaniel Hill and Joshua Cook both received Encouragement Awards. 

Austin Sanders, a native from Onalaska, Wisconsin, is a Baritone in his final semester at Viterbo University as a student of Daniel Johnson-Wilmot. Austin just finished performing Acis and Galatea this October and he starred as the role of Polypheme. He’s also been Ko-Ko in The Mikado, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, and Don Annibale in Il campenello di note throughout his time at Viterbo. He placed second at the NATS competition last year, a finalist and an honorable mention at the Schubert Club Audition, and received an encouragement award at the MONC Auditions as well.

Reuben Lillie

Reuben Lillie is a singer, composer, and scholar of music and theology. His stage credits include performances with The Santa Fe Opera, Sugar Creek Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera in addition to concerts throughout Chicago. He is a graduate of Olivet Nazarene University's School of Music and the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Reuben recently completed his Master of Divinity studies at McCormick Theological Seminary with The University of Chicago Divinity School.