"Life Is Short, Opera Is Long" - The New York Times

Watch a behind-the-scenes video of young singers from this year's Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/05/19/magazine/100000000823450/life-is-short-opera-is-long.html.

Five Winners Chosen in MET National Council Auditions

Finalists pre-concert (left to right): Joseph Lim, Joseph Barron, Deanna Breiwick, Ryan Speedo
Green, Philippe Sly, Sasha Djihanian, Michelle Johnson and Nicholas Masters (Photo: Gothamist)

Of the eight singers selected from 1,500 that participated in the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions, five were each named winners of a $15,000 prize yesterday. Curiously no mezzo-soprano or tenor voices were represented, except the emcee Joyce DiDonato and the entertainment for the day Lawrence Brownlee. The winners included Michelle Johnson, Joseph Barron, Ryan Speedo Green, Joseph Lim, Philippe Sly. The Sunday concert was conducted by Patrick Summers and the audience nearly filled the cavernous Metropolitan Opera.

How ever you want to describe it, not politically correct, tasteless or even uncouth, the writer Mike Silverman of the Associate Press ends his review thusly: "Brownlee is probably the closest thing there is to a black American superstar in opera these days, so it was especially heartening that two of the winners, Johnson and Green, also are black." [Source, Source]

Finalist For MET National Council Auditions Announced

"The Metropolitan Opera announced the names of eight finalists who will sing in the 2011 National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert on March 13 at 3:00 p.m. with the Met Orchestra conducted by Patrick Summers. The finalists, between the ages of 20 and 30 years old, will be competing for individual cash prizes of $15,000 each at the Grand Finals Concert. They were chosen from nearly 1500 singers who participated in the auditions held in 41 districts and 14 regions throughout the United States and Canada, sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera National Council. Some winners are invited to join the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. The Grand Finals Concert will be hosted by renowned mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Tenor Lawrence Brownlee, a Met star and 2001 Auditions winner, will perform during the judges' deliberations once the auditions part of the program is over." Names and photos of the eight finalists are after the jump. [Source]

Joseph Barron, bass-baritone
Pittsburgh, PA

Deanna Breiwick, soprano
Seattle, WA

Sasha Djihanian, soprano
Montreal, Canada

Ryan Speedo Green, bass-baritone
Suffolk, VA

Michelle Johnson, soprano
Pearland, TX

Joseph Lim, baritone
Seoul, South Korea

Nicholas Masters, bass
New Canaan, CT

Philippe Sly, bass-baritone
Ottawa, Canada.

Past winners of the MET Auditions include Renée Fleming, Hei-Kyung Hong, Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Stephanie Blythe, Dolora Zajick, Nathan Gunn, Ben Heppner, and Thomas Hampson.