Blake Denson takes top prize at Metropolitan Opera Auditions

Blake Denson and the Met Auditions winners

Barihunk Blake Denson was named one of the five winners of the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions held today in New York City. He joins mezzo-soprano Gabrielle Beteag, sopranos Denis Vélez and Alexandria Shiner, and tenor Jonah Hoskins as winners of the top cash prize of $15,000 and career-changing exposure.

Denson advanced to the semifinals out of the Midwest Region held in St. Louis, Missouri. A 2018 vocal performance graduate of the University of Kentucky he was a participant in the Houston Grand Opera Young Artist Vocal Academy and is finishing his master's degree at Rice University. This summer he will rejoin the Wolf Trap Opera Studio Artist Program.

Blake Denson sings "Questo amor vergogna mia" from Puccini's Edgar:

This year’s semifinalists were chosen from more than 1,000 singers who participated in auditions held in 40 districts throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, and who then competed in the 12 regional finals. Each finalist sang two arias on the Metropolitan Opera stage in front of a panel of judges from the top opera companies in the world.

Bass-Barihunk Cody Quattlebaum advances to Met Regional Finals

Barihunks Cody Quattlebaum and Derrell Acon

Bass-Barihunk Cody Quattlebaum was one of 12 singers who advanced at this week's Metropolitan Opera National Council Eastern Region District competition. In June, he took home $5,000 for winning the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition in Oakland, California. He finished his summer as a participant in the prestigious Merola Opera Program across the Bay in San Francisco.

Cody Quattlebaum sings Wolfram's Aria:

He'll be joined by two other baritones, as both Lawson Anderson and Michael Gracco advanced. Others who made the cut includes sopranos Heather Bobeck, Mary Claire Curran, Betsy Diaz, Anna Dugan, Emily Misch and Julia Wolcott, mezzo soprano Samantha Hankey, tenor Jonathan Tetelman and countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen. (BTW, don't miss any chance to hear Cohen, who possesses one of the most beautiful and thrilling countertenor voices to emerge in a decade).

Encouragement awards went to bass-baritone Derrell Acon, soprano Alaysha Fox, mezzo-soprano Kirsten Scott and soprano Yesul Yeon. We'll be keeping our eye on Acon!

The dozen winners will move on to the Region Finals on January 18th at Merkin Hall in New York City.

The 2017 Barihunks in Bed Calendar is on sale and is available HERE.

Introducing Barihunk Evan Bravo; Joining Santa Barbara Young Artist Program

Evan Bravos

Barihunk Evan Bravos was recommended to us by one of our Southern California readers, who pointed out that the Greek-American singer will be performing in two upcoming free concerts.

Bravos recently joined the Mosher Studio Artists at Opera Santa Barbara along with soprano Elizabeth Kelsay, mezzo-soprano Molly Clementz, baritone Evan Bravos, and pianists/coaches Christopher Turbessi and Catherine Miller. The artists will be featured in two concerts, the first on October 10 at Shepard Hall at the Santa Maria Public Library and the second on October 12 at the Solvang Public Library. Both performances will begin at noon and are free to the public.

Bravos is a St. Charles, Illinois native, who was a 2015-2016 Emerging Artist at Virginia Opera, where he performed in A Trickster Trilogy, the company’s fall Education Tour. In the previous season, he was an Apprentice Artist at the Central City Opera, where he recieved an Apprentice Artist Award. He was also the recipient of an Encouragement Award in the 2014 Metropolitan National Council auditions.

During his time as a Mosher Studio Artist, Bravos will sing Dancairo and cover Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, sing Harashta in Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen and Rabonier in Puccini's La Rondine).You can listen to him at his website.

Other recent performances include Count Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with Central City Opera, Figaro in Rossini's The Barber of Seville with Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Martin in Bernstein's Candide at the Aspen Music Festival.