One-fifth of the singers advancing from the Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions to the Met Semi-Finals will be baritones or basses. They include Patrick Guetti, Scott Russell, Alex DeSocio and Ao Li. A panel of judges will hold closed auditions on March 20 to determine who will advance to the final round of the competition at the Met Grand Finals Concert under the baton of conductor Marco Armiliato on Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m. At the end of the concert, winners will be announced, each of whom will receive an individual cash prize of $15,000.
Alex DeSocio and Ao Li
On Tuesday, April 1 at 7 p.m., the winners will perform a concert of varied operatic repertory at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR 105.9, New York City’s all-classical station. They will be joined by a Met star and former National Council winner, soprano Deborah Voigt. The event will be broadcast live on WQXR and there will be a live video webcast on both www.wqxr.org and www.thegreenespace.org.
The regional winners were chosen from nearly 1500 singers who participated in the auditions held in 40 districts and 13 regions throughout the United States and Canada, sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera National Council and administered by National Council members and hundreds of volunteers from across the country.
You can check out our January post to read about the baritones and basses who entered the competition this year.
The field is set for the Midwest Regional Auditions in Tulsa, Oklahoma for Saturday, February 11th. There will be eleven singers competing, including three mezzos, five tenors and three baritones, who we think might have some barihunk potential.
Adam Hendrickson
Adam Lance Hendrickson began his vocal studies under the
direction of Japanese-American soprano, Yoko Shimazaki-Kilburn at Ball
State University in Muncie, Indiana. After performing in many operas
including Die Zauberflöte, Madama Butterfly, and Giulio Cesare in
Egitto, he starred in the title role of Don Giovanni in Ball State Opera
Theatre’s 2009 production. He graduated with a B.M. in Vocal
Performance in May of 2009. In the fall of 2009, Adam began his
graduate studies at Northwestern University. He was the recipient of
the Bienen School of Music’s Eckstein Scholarship which granted him a
full-tuition scholarship. Adam began studying voice with Bruce Hall,
who remains his voice teacher to this very day.
Hendrickson performing Mozart in 2009:
Operatic credits at
Northwestern include: Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Papageno
in The Magic Flute, and Frank Maurrant in Street Scene. Adam was also
the featured baritone soloist in the 2011, Northwestern Symphony
Orchestra’s performance of the Brahms Requiem under the baton of Robert
Harris.
Hendrickson is currently under contract
with the Chicago Symphony Chorus and Chicago Opera Theatre.
Chris Carr
Chris Carr is a 2011-2012 apprentice artist with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. He graduated from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa where he performed in the Marriage of Figaro. Simpson is currently a graduate student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where he has performed in Don Giovanni.
Carr performing Korngold's Tanzlied:
He has also performed in Tosca and Cosi fan tutte with the Cedar Rapids Opera, as well as in La boheme, Les Mamelles de Tirésias with the Des Moines Metro Opera.
Alex DeSocio, Baritone
Wichita native Alex DeSocio received his BM in Vocal Performance from Northwestern University in 2010. DeSocio was a former division 1 college football prospect until a severe injury ruined his chances of a college career.
During his undergraduate program, he performed the roles of Assan/The Consul, Antonio/The Marriage of Figaro and Figaro/The Ghosts of Versailles. DeSocio attended the Aspen Music Festival in summer 2009. Last January, he performed the role of Silvio in the In Series Theater’s production of I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo. Over the summer, DeSocio performed the role of L’horloge comtoise/L’enfant et les sortilèges (Castleton Festival) under the baton of Maestro Lorin Maazel. DeSocio is a student of Dominic Cossa. This spring, DeSocio will sing Pip/Miss Havisham’s Fire and Man with a Shoe Sample Kit/Postcard from Morocco.
