Four of the nine singers moving on to the Metropolitan Opera Grand Finals Concert on March 13th. They are Theo Hoffman, Sol Jin, Sean Michael Plumb and Brian Vu. They will be joined by Emily D’Angelo, Yelena Dyachek, Lauren Feider, Jonas Hacker and Jakub Józef Orliński.
The nine finalists will go on to sing in the Grand Finals Concert
on Sunday, March 13 at 3 p.m. hosted by past National Council Auditions
winner Deborah Voigt. Each finalist will perform two arias with
conductor Antony Walker and the Met Orchestra. Bass-baritone Eric Owens,
a past National Council Auditions winner and National Advisor for the
Metropolitan Opera National Council, will be the guest artist and
perform during the judges’ deliberations once the auditions part of the
program is over.
At the end of the concert, winners will be announced, each of whom will
receive an individual cash prize of $15,000 and career-making exposure.
The Met Auditions were crucial in introducing many of today’s best-known
stars, such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Patricia Racette, Deborah
Voigt, Nathan Gunn, and Lawrence Brownlee.
The nine finalists will have a
week of preparation with Met musical and dramatic coaches to prepare for
the Grand Finals Concert on March 13th. Tickets for the Grand Finals
Concert may be purchased at the Met Box Office, by phone at
212-362-6000, or online at www.metopera.org.
Alaysha Fox, Anna Dugan, Joshua Arky, Katrina Galka, Sol Jin, Daniel Miroslaw and Theo Hoffman (L-R)
Two baritones and a bass walked away with the top prizes at the
Metropolitan Opera Eastern Regional Finals this week. First place
winners who are moving on to the semi-finals are bass Daniel Miroslaw,
baritone Sol Jin and baritone Theo Hoffman (a regular feature on this site!).
Second place went to soprano Katrina Galka, while bass Joshua Arky
walked away with the Rohatyn Great Promise Award. Encouragement Awards
were presented to sopranos Alaysha Fox and Anna Dugan.
The regional semi-finals will be held on March 6 from noon-5 PM followed
by the Grand Finals on March 13 from 3-6 PM. The Grand Finals will be
open to the public and tickets will be available online once they are made available.
Theo Hoffman sings "Dormo ancora" from Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria:
Joshua Arky will perform in Beethoven's 9th Symphony on April 16th with the Binghampton Symphony and the Sargeant in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance with Opera Louisiane on May 14 & 15.
This season, Theo Hoffman made his debut with Atlanta Opera as Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème and is returning to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in 2017 where he previously covered Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. This season he will sing Papagano at Juilliard from April 19-23.
Daniel Mirosław is joining the Oper Frankfurt’s ensemble for their upcoming season.
The Region Finals for the MetOpera National Council Eastern Region will be held on Thursday, January 14th and half of the finalists are baritones or basses. Three baritones include Sol Jin, Theo Hoffman and Michael Gracco, and the three basses are Daniel Miroslaw, Joshua Arky and Onay Kose.
Onay Kose, Sol Jin and Michael Gracco
Joshua Arky was a 2014 Regional Finalist at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Eastern Region and won an Encouragement Award at the 2013 Auditions. He is a Master of Music candidate at the Manhattan School of Music, where he is a recipient of the President’s Award. He recently performed the roles of Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Colline in Puccini's La bohéme, and un vieillard in Bloch’s Macbeth all with the Manhattan School of Music. At the Central City Opera he performed Doctor Grenvil and Il Commissario in Verdi's La traviata, Merlin in Boismortier’s Don Quixote and the Duchess, and the Captain of the Inquisition in Man of La Mancha. In the Spring of 2016, he'll perform in Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Binghampton Symphony and the Sargeant in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance with Opera Louisiane.
Theo Hoffman
Theo Hoffman has become a popular singer on this site, having first featured him during his early years at Juilliard in 2013. We also featured a wonderful and candid Q&A with him in 2014. This season he made his debut with Atlanta Opera as Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème and is returning to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in 2017 where he previously covered Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. This season he will sing Papagano at Juilliard, where he previously performed Le Directeur in Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias.
He is his statement for the Met Audiions: “I was born and raised in the heart of Downtown Manhattan. My parents are chefs, and they taught me to create and experiment. I sing because I believe there is nothing more visceral and truthful than music produced by the naked human voice. What this broken world needs right now is truth.”
Daniel Miroslaw in Il Turco in Italia(Photo: Ken Howard)
Daniel Mirosław is an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies student at The Juilliard School. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the Lodz Academy of Music in Poland and a Master’s degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He also studied at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim. His Juilliard performances have included Don Geronio in Rossini's Il Turco in Italia and Collatinus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in May 2015 singing Don Fernando in Beethoven's Fidelio and the bass solo in the composer’s Mass in C major. In 2016 Mr. Mirosław will join the Oper Frankfurt’s ensemble.
Daniel Miroslaw sings Leporello's Catalog Aria:
The auditions on January 14th from noon to 5 PM and are open to the public, and are followed by a reception which all the singers are attending. More information and tickets can be found online.
