Yes readers it’s that time of the year for the Met to begin their competition. Of course anyone in the know calls it the Met Competition, but its real name is the Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition. The finals will be sometime in April, but it’s a long road with many stops for the singers before getting to the top ten.
In brief the competition starts out with District auditions in local cities, like Philadelphia. From there those winners are sent to the Region auditions, which for our area is Washington, DC where a few districts will all compete and go to the next to the level, the semi-finals. From there it is on to the Metropolitan Opera House for a week of coachings which culminates in a final concert with orchestra to choose the winners of the 2008 competition.
Now AVA has had their share of winners, including soprano Angela Meade and tenor Michael Fabiano last year, but we want more!
The district auditions which were held at Curtis Institute of Music on January 5th and three AVA singers were moved to the next level in DC. Resident artist, baritone Christopher Bolduc (in photo), and alums tenor Jeffrey Halili and baritone Eric Dubin will all compete at the next level. AVA master vocal coach Richard Raub played the auditions in Philadelphia and will probably play the regional ones in DC as well.
Now to throw a wrench into the mix, there just might be more AVA singers picked up along the way since they can sign up and compete in any district competition (but only one a year.) Angela Meade, for example, won the district and region competitons in the great Northwest.
So sit tight and enjoy the ride to the winners circle.
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