Six Young Singers Win The Metropolitan Opera's 60th Annual National Council Auditions

NEW YORK -- From a starting field of nearly 1,500 aspiring opera singers across the country, it came down to 10 ? three sopranos, one tenor and six deep male voices ? on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House.

The contestants, all in their 20s, got to perform two arias with full orchestra Sunday afternoon, and when it was over, a panel of judges named six of them winners of the 60th annual National Council Auditions.

The heavy concentration of bass-baritones was a random occurrence, but it made for some unusual duplication in the program. Brandon Cedel, from Hershey, Pa., and Richard Ollarsaba, from Tempe, Ariz., both chose the same aria from Rachmaninov's "Aleko." Cedel sang his version with a beautifully burnished tone that put him in the winner's circle; Ollarsaba, almost as good, had to settle for being a runner-up. Earlier, Cedel brought elegant phrasing to the long lines of an aria from Bellini's "La Sonnambula"; that piece was also performed by another winner, bass Musa Ngqungwana, originally from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and representing the Middle Atlantic region.

The day's only tenor, Michael Brandenburg, from Austin, Ind., won a top prize by displaying an intriguingly distinctive sound, ardent and tinged with a slightly acidic vibrato, in arias from Cilea's "L'Arlesiana" and Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin."

The youngest contestant at 21, soprano Rebecca Pedersen, from Bountiful, Utah, used arias from Massenet's "Le Cid" and Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci" to highlight a polished technique and potent sound that suggested she might grow beyond lyric roles. The lighter-voiced Sydney Mancasola, from Redding, Calif., sang with sparkling high notes and expressive nuance in "Caro Nome," from Verdi's "Rigoletto," improving on an uneven first outing in an aria from Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment." Both were among the winners.

Dramatically, the standout was bass-baritone Thomas Richards, from Burnsville, Minn., who gave a chilling interpretation of Claggart's soliloquy from Britten's "Billy Budd," and then closed the competition with a rollicking account of "La calunnia" from Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia."

Besides Ollarsaba, the runners-up were baritone Matthew Anchel, from New York City; soprano Tracy Cox, from Dallas; and baritone Efrain Solis, from Santa Ana, Calif.

The winners receive a $15,000 grant for further study, while the others get $5,000 each.

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and bass-baritone Eric Owens ? both competition winners back in the 1990s ? acted as co-hosts, and Radvanovsky helped fill the time during the judges' deliberations by unleashing an imposing but at times earsplitting version of "Pace, pace, mio Dio," from Verdi's "La Forza del Destino." Marco Armiliato conducted the Met orchestra.

• Jonas Kaufmann

  Jonas Kaufmann, a German tenor, will perform in the Metropolitan Opera's performance of Wagners' Parsifal this February. In this photo provided by the Metropolitan Opera Jonas Kaufmann performs during his solo recital at the Metropolitan Opera in New York Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Ken Howard)

• Kristine Opolais

  This January the Latvian soprano Kristing Opolais made her Met debut in Puccini?s ?La Rondine.? This January 8, 2013 photo provided by the Metropolitan Opera shows Kristine Opolais as Magda and Giuseppe Filianoti as Ruggero in a dress rehearsal of Puccini's "La Rondine" at he Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Ken Howard)

• Anna Netrebko

  Anna Netrebko, a Russian soprano, takes on the role of Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore at the Metropolitan Opera through February.

• Charles Castronovo

  American tenor Charles Castronovo has six operatic performance lined up for 2013 including 'La Rondine' at the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London and 'La Traviata' at Staatsoper Berlin. FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2011 file photo US tenor Charles Castronovo in the role of Alfredo Germont performs during a dress rehearsal for Giuseppe Verdi's opera "La Traviata" at the state opera in Vienna, Austria. Premiere of the opera was on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, directed by Jean-Francois Sivadier and conducted by French Maestro Bertrand de Billy. (AP Photo/dapd, Lilli Strauss, File)

• Piotr Beczala

  The polish tenor Piotr Beczala will play the womanizing Duke in the Metropolitan Opera's performance of 'Rigoletto' this year. In this version of Verdi's opera Director Michael Mayer has set 'Rigoletto' in 1960s Las Vegas. In this Friday, March 23, 2012 photo, Anna Netrebko performs the title role alongside Piotr Beczala as Chevalier des Grieux during the final dress rehearsal of Jules Massenet's "Manon," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

• Daniel Okulitch

  Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch will play Figaro in the Arizona Opera's performance of 'Le nozze di Figaro' in April. Singer Daniel Okulitch performs during a press rehearsal of the opera based on Canadian director David Cronenberg 1986 movie 'The Fly' on June 30, 2008 in Paris' Chatelet Theatre. ''The Fly' is directed by Cronenberg and conducted by Placido Domingo. The production was composed by Canadian Howard Shore after 'The Fly and will play five times in Paris from July 2 to 13 before opening in Los Angeles on September 7. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK KOVARIK (Photo credit should read PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images)

• Pretty Yende

  Pretty Yende, the South African soprano, made her Met debut this January as Countess Adele in 'Le Comte Ory.' In this Jan. 11, 2013 photo provided by the Metropolitan Opera, Karine Deshayes, left, performs as Isolier with Pretty Yende as Countess Adele during a dress rehearsal of Rossini's "Le Comte Ory," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Marty Sohl)

• Vittorio Grigolo

  Vittorio Gringolo, a tenor from Italy, performed his first recital at La Scala in January. BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 02: Singer Vittorio Grigolo attends the Echo Klassik 2011 award ceremony at Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt on October 2, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Daniel Modjesch/Getty Images)

• Katherine Jenkins

  Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins will begin her European tour with the classical crossover quartet Il Divo in March. LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 10: Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins performs live on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, during her 'This Is Christmas' tour on December 10, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

• Jacques Imbrailo

  The South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo will play the title role in the Glyndebourne Festival's first performance of Billy Budd this year.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/metropolitan-opera-national-council-auditions-winners-2013_n_2853185.html

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