Metropolitan Opera meets small town for auditions

What might be the most well-known and prestigious opera houses in the country may soon be home to singers from one of the best music schools in the country.

Saturday marks the beginning of the annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Jacobs School of Music will play host to the Indiana District Auditions at 1 p.m. at the Musical Arts Center. On Jan. 16, the Tri-State Regional Auditions, including Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, will be at Butler University’s Clowes Memorial Hall. Both events are free and open to the public.

Maria Levy, Indiana district director for the auditions, said there are currently 23 applicants registered for the district auditions and all of them have backgrounds in opera performance.

“The purpose is to discover exceptional young talent,” she said. 

Levy said the auditions serve as a way to identify young singers who can either join The Metropolitan Opera or participate in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

“Everyone hopes to eventually sing at the Met and this is sort of giving them a boost,” Levy said.

Applicants usually prepare five arias (a type of song) at the audition, Levy said. Depending on the length of the first aria, the singers might only be required to sing two or three.

“If a singer is only asked to sing one, it doesn’t mean they are disqualified,” she said.  
Winners will be selected from the district auditions by three judges; Cynthia Lawrence, a professional opera soprano, Dean Williamson, the artistic director of the Cleveland Opera; and Stephen Brown, company manager for The Metropolitan Opera. 

Selected winners will advance to the regional-level auditions at Butler, and winners will travel to New York City for the National Semi-Finals.

Levy said once all singers have finished auditioning, the three judges will deliberate and announce the finalists they feel are qualified for regionals, who will also receive a cash award. The judges will also go to the lobby or the MAC to give feedback to singers who request input about their audition performance.

Brown said there are two angles the judges take when selecting winners for the district auditions.

“It’s either somebody who could step onto the Met stage next year and the other thing is somebody who shows great promise with the right sort of work and guidance,” he said. “Are you looking for a finished artist or for talent? Everybody is different.”

Brown, who has experience judging other competitions, said for the district auditions specifically, he is not necessarily looking for the final winner, but for somebody who can improve and should be watched in the future.

“We have to put people forward,” he said.

Talented singers, Brown said, will be selected even if he knows they have a small chance of making it through to the semi-finals.

He also said he may push people through to the Regional competition so the judges in that audition will hear that person “because it is a talent worth nurturing.”

Brown said he is particularly excited to judge students from IU because the music school has a great reputation.

“Coming to IU, in some ways, it is the most remarkable vocal school in America,” he said.

“It has some of the best teachers and the quality is very high. I am extremely curious to hear what IU has to offer.”