The mezzo-soprano advanced to the finals by being the winner of the national semifinals as the central region winner for the Indiana district March 15.
For the Grand Finals, Uzun, along with the other eight finalists, performed arias — long songs accompanying a solo voice — on the Met stage as the final phase of competition, according to the Metropolitan Opera’s website.
The finals were also accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and were broadcast nationwide on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Network, according to the ?music school.
The jury awarded five grand prizes of $15,000 each, and the remaining finalists received $5,000 each.
Carol Vaness, a Jacobs School of Music professor of voice and Uzun’s current teacher, said in the release that she is very proud of Uzun and loves being her teacher.
“She is a stunning talent and an amazingly fast learner who is very advanced technically, besides being such a gorgeous performer,” Vaness said in the release. “Teaching Deniz is a wonderfully ?intense joy.”
Uzun is in her last semester at the music school.
Vaness said they have spent a lot of time working on Uzun’s repertoire. In addition to working on this semester’s Handel opera, “Alcina,” they have also worked extensively on pieces composed by Austrian composer Franz Schubert, she said.
“She has such a deep love and understanding of the poetry he used and is truly able to communicate with the ?audience,” Vaness said.
Uzun was raised in Mannheim, Germany, and earned her Bachelor of Voice degree from the University of Music Karlsruhe and Mannheim.
In addition to earning several awards and prizes, she performed at the Young Artists Program of the Baden-Baden Easter Festival in two productions: Pauline Viardot’s “Cendrillon” and W. A. Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
She has performed with IU Opera Theater as the mother in Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” and as Isabella in Gioachino Rossini’s “The Italian Girl in Algiers.”
Since the beginning of her studies, Uzun has been supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the Richard Wagner Foundation.
Her future engagements include performing the role of Annina in “La Traviata” in Baden-Baden in May with Olga Peretyatko and Rolando Villazon.
Lanie Maresh
