Rocky Mountain Region
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
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Recent
Winners
Rocky Mountain RegionMetropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
| 2000 Lindsay
Killian 2001 Charles Edwin Taylor 2002 Mara Bonde 2003 Gioacchino Lauro Li Vigni 2004 Shauna Keene |
2005 Jason
Switzer 2006 Nina Yoshida Nelsen 2007 Alek Shrader 2008 Rachel Willis-Sørensen 2009 Mark Van Arsdale |
2000 Lindsay Killian, soprano (UT District)  Ms. Killian has appeared with the Utah Opera, Utah Lyric Opera, Nashville Opera, Long Island Opera and the Washington East Opera. A National Grand Finals Winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2000, she has been the recipient of the Metropolitan Opera Education Fund in both 2001 and 2002. An accomplished concert soloist, Ms. Killian has appeared with the Utah Symphony, Cheyenne Symphony, Salt Lake Symphony and the Tabernacle Choir as well as appearing in recitals in New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Russia. Ms. Killian's operatic roles include Violetta in La Traviata, Musetta in La Bohéme, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Juliette in Romeo et Juliette, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus and Alice Ford in Merry Wives of Windsor. The 2003-2004 performances for Ms. Killian include Violetta for Washington East Opera and Opera del Sol, Handel's Messiah with the Desert Chorale and Orchestra, and Verdi's Requiem with the Utah Valley Chorale and Symphony. |
2001 Charles Edwin Taylor, dramatic baritone (CO-WY District)  A native of
Arizona, Mr. Taylor joined The Metropolitan Opera Lindemann
Young Artist Development Program at the beginning of the 2002-2003
season after being selected as a winner of The Metropolitan Opera
National Council Auditions in 2001. Mr. Taylor made his Met debut
last
season in the role of Herald in Otello. During the
2003-2004
Metropolitan Opera Season, he sang the role of Marullo in Rigoletto,
2nd Nazarene in Salome, and Huntsman in Rusalka.
During
the summer of 2004, Mr. Taylor performed the role of Sharpless in Madama
Butterfly
for The Met in the Parks Concert Series. In November of 2003, Mr.
Taylor made his debut with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
performing the role of Francesco in a concert version of I
Masnadieri. During the summer of 2002, Mr. Taylor performed
the
role of Leporello in Don Giovanni
at the Operafestival di Roma. During the 2000-2001 season, Mr.
Taylor
was a member of Opera Colorado's Joseph and Loretta Law Artist
Development Program. He has performed the roles of Marcello in
Amedeo
Vives' Bohemios, Don Giovanni in John Davies' The Three
Little Pigs, Mandarin in Turandot, Lakai in Ariadne auf
Naxos, and Angelotti in Tosca at Opera Colorado. He
has
also performed Scarpia in Tosca with Opera Fort Collins, Jud
Fry in Oklahoma with
Augusta Opera, and Elder McLean in Susannah, Stewpot in South
Pacific and the
Cowardly
Lion in The Wizard of Oz at Utah Festival Opera. Mr.
Taylor has
sung Handel's Messiah with the Larimer Chorale, Carmina
Burana with the Fort Collins Symphony, and Bach's Cantata No. 65
with the Fort Collins Bach Festival. He has presented
recitals in Pueblo, Fort Collins, Loveland, and Prescott, AZ. Mr.
Taylor was
Featured Soloist with the Fort Collins Symphony Christmas Pops Concert
in 1999-2002. Among his numerous awards and honors, Mr. Taylor
was a
prizewinner at the 2002 Liederkranz Foundation Competition and First
Place winner in the 1999 High Plains Singing Competition Senior
Division. Website |
2002 Mara Bonde, soprano (UT District)  Critically
acclaimed
for an electric stage presence and sweet purity of tone, soprano Mara
Bonde has performed throughout the United States and Europe.
Equally at home in both classical and popular styles, Ms. Bonde made
her Boston Pops debut under the direction of Keith Lockhart in "Brush
up your Shakespeare," which was nationally televised on PBS's Evening
at Pops. Also on the concert stage, she has sung with the
Utah, San Diego, Charlotte, New Haven, Stamford, Syracuse, Nashua and
Cape Symphony Orchestras, the Handel & Haydn Society, Boston
Baroque and the Naples Philharmonic. Next December Ms. Bonde
returns to the Naples Philharmonic for their series of Holiday Pops.
She also performs regularly with Boston Musical Theater, both here and
abroad, and has toured with them in Russia and Belgium. She
appears as soloist in Ravel's Trois Beaux Oiseaux du Paradis on
Robert Shaw's Telarc recording Appear and Inspire and is also
the featured soloist on Music for Voices by Allen
Brings, recently released on Capstone Records. A National
Semi-Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and
the First Prize winner in the 2003 Annamaria Saritelli-DiPanni Bel
Canto Vocal Scholarship Awards, Ms. Bonde has sung with Opera Omaha,
Glimmerglass Opera, Utah Opera, Opera Company of North Carolina,
National Opera Company (Raleigh), and the Lake George Opera Festival,
in works ranging from Mozart to Mollicone and Sullivan to
Sondheim. In 2007, Ms. Bonde returned to Opera Omaha to create
the role of Laura in the world premiere of Anthony Davis' Wakonda's
Dream. Ms. Bonde holds a bachelor's degree in French from
Mount
Holyoke College and a master's degree from Boston University, where she
was also invited to join the Opera Institute. She has studied at
the Sorbonne in Paris and has sung in music festivals at Tanglewood,
Aspen and at the Britten-Pears School with Joan Sutherland and Richard
Bonynge in Aldeburgh, England. |
2003 Gioacchino Lauro Li Vigni, tenor (UT District)  Tenor
Gioacchino Lauro Li Vigni, a native of Brooklyn, was raised in Palermo,
Italy. Mr. Li Vigni's father, the late Salvatore Lauro Li Vigni,
was
Gioacchino's first mentor and himself a celebrated tenor. Mr. Li
Vigni
made his Metropolitan Opera debut January 23, 2004 as Krushschev in the
opera Boris Godunov, this following his previous appearance on
the Met stage a few months earlier during the Grand Finals Concert for
the National Council's 2003 Met Auditions representing the Rocky
Mountain Region. Under the direction of Maestro Julius Rudel,
Gioacchino sang excerpts from Lucia di Lammermoor and Werther.
The New York Times characterized Gioacchino as "a professional… not far
from the big time… furiously checked by the audience as favorite."
Bernard Holland auspiciously stated in the review: "Mr. Lauro Li Vigni
manfully wrings every possible virtue from the voice given him, and his
career will continue. " Gioacchino returned to The Met during the
2004-05 season covering in Nabucco, Der Rosenkavalier, Samson
et Dalila, and Ariadne auf Naxos. Since his Rocky
Mountain
Region launch he has been on the Met's roster of tenors, and returns in
April 2006 performing the role of Nobleman in the production of Lohengrin.
His New York City engagements also included his covering the title role
in Opera Orchestra of New York's Il Corsaro in March 2004 under
the direction of Eve Queler. Gioacchino's 2003 performance of Edgardo
in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor was considered by many one
of the year's major operatic events in Philadelphia. Critics
characterized his performance as vibrant, full of rage and despair, and
suave. Gioacchino expanded his Donizettian repertoire by taking on
Leicester in Maria Stuarda for Marseilles Opera in June
2005.
Critics characterized his performance as "remarkably refined."
Gioacchino's debut in the French repertoire was with Gounod's Faust
in Sao Paolo, Brazil in May 2005 alongside the Marguerite of Leontina
Vaduva. Gioacchino, a heavier lyric voice, has been flexible enough to
perform in operas such as Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Oper
Frankurt where his rendition of Almaviva was characterized by critics
as "charming, vocally agile, and playfully capable of change." He
took
on Almaviva for Frankfurt Opera's Beijing tour as well. He also
appeared in Frankfurt as Ramiro in Cenerentola of which critics
said he "gives a radiating clear Don Ramiro... very much worth seeing."
His lirico spinto qualities were demonstrated in his taking on Turiddu
in Cavalleria Rusticana in Portland of Port Opera of which a
critic wrote: "As Turridu, tenor Gioacchino Lauro Li Vigni was an
equally thrilling discovery. A good looking, little guy with a
voice as
big and warm as Italy... made the most of his farewell to Mama Lucia...
he milked the scene for everything and brought down the house.
The
duets between Pantaleo and Li Vigni were passionate, the sparks almost
tangible, incendiary." Website |
2004 Shauna Keene, coloratura soprano (CO-WY District)  A native of Santa Barbara, Shauna Keene is a Regional Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a first Place Winner of the West Palm Beach Opera Competition, as well as a recipient of awards from Dante Alighieri Society, NATS and Denver Lyric Opera Guild. She has appeared as guest artist with Colorado Springs Philharmonic and Boulder Chorale and has performed with Opera Fort Collins, Central City Opera and Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Some of her operatic roles include Constance in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Queen of the Night in Magic Flute, Despina in Così fan tutte and Zerlina in Don Giovanni. Shauna was a fellowship artist at Music Academy of the West for two consecutive seasons and earned a Bachelor of Music from The University of Colorado. |
2005 Jason Switzer, baritone (CO-WY District)  Jason Switzer, an Alaskan Native, is currently in his fourth year as a resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts, where he studies with William Schuman. While at AVA, he has performed many roles including Il Conte in Le Nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, Orest in Elektra, and Dulcamara in L'Elisir d'Amore. Mr. Switzer has participated in numerous young artist programs. This last summer he performed the Four Villains in Les Contes d'Hoffmann and covered Boniface in Massenet's Le Jongleur de Notre Dame at Central City Opera. At the Tanglewood Music Festival, he performed L'Arbre and Le Fauteuil in L'Enfant et les sortileges. He also performed Don Alfonso with Opera North. In 2004, Jason received a study grant from the Licia Albanese/Puccini Foundation and was also awarded the 1st Prize in the Bel Canto Vocal Scholarship Competition. Upcoming engagements include Robert in Iolanthe by Tchaikovsky and Schaunard in La Bohème at AVA. He will be returning to Central City this summer as the Bonze in Madama Butterfly and Hel Helson in Paul Bunyan. |
2006 Nina Yoshida Nelsen (UT District)  Hailed as a "rich voiced, expressive mezzo
soprano" by San Francisco Classical Voice and "appealingly direct and
honest in tone and bearing," by Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe, Nina
Yoshida Nelsen was awarded first place in the
Regional Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, held in Denver,
Colorado. She sang in the National Semi-Finals in New
York City. Engagements for the 2005-2006 season include Rebecca
Nurse
in The Crucible with Utah Festival Opera, Tisbe in Cenerentola
with Pacific Repertory Opera, Mezzo soloist in Encore! Encore!--
a gala concert for Livermore Valley Opera, and Mezzo soloist with the
Magic Valley Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Nelsen was a national grand
finalist in the prestigious 2005 Loren L. Zachary Society
Competition.
Nina Yoshida Nelsen spent the 2004-2005 season as an
Artist-In-Residence with Orange County Opera where she performed the
role of Marquise de Berkenfeld in Daughter of the Regiment in
their educational outreach program. Ms. Nelsen made her
professional
debut with Opera Providence in 2002 as Tisbe in Cenerentola.
She subsequently appeared with the company as Dorabella in their
English version of Così fan tutte. In 2003 Ms.
Nelsen
made her European debut singing the title role in Carmen and
the role of Antonia's Mother in Tales of Hoffmann with Komische
Kammer Opera of Munich. Also in recent seasons, Nina was heard as
Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with Livermore Valley Opera and Kate
Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Opera Santa Barbara, with
whom she also covered the role of Suzuki. Other notable roles
include
Idamante in Idomeneo, Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream,
and Lulu in Lukas Foss' The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,
all of which she performed with the Opera Institute at Boston
University. In 2004, Ms. Nelsen won first prize in the Performing
Arts
Foundation Vocal Competition, the Profant Foundation Vocal Competition
and the Santa Barbara Foundation Vocal Competition. She was a
national
finalist in the West Bay Opera Superstar Competition and the Palm
Springs Opera Competition. Ms. Nelsen, a native of Santa Barbara,
CA,
earned her M.M. in Vocal Performance from Boston University in 2003,
where she was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda. Nina earned her B.M.
from
Boston University in Violin Performance and Psychology, where she
graduated Magna Cum Laude. Ms. Nelsen
currently is at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. Website |
2007 Alek Shrader (CO-WY District)  Alek
Shrader is a graduate student at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in
Oberlin, Ohio, where he studies with Professor of Singing Salvatore
Champagne. He made his professional debut as Almaviva in
Rossini’s Barber
of Seville last summer with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Last
January, he made his New York debut with Gotham Chamber Opera as
Florville in Rossini’s Il signor Bruschino. Other recent
roles
include Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Fenton in Die
lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Le chevalier in Dialogues des
Carmélites, and Tony in West Side Story at Oberlin
Conservatory. He was a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of
Saint
Louis for two seasons. He has attended the Music Academy of the
West
under the tutelage of Marilyn Horne, and has participated in
masterclasses with such esteemed personalities as Frank Corsaro,
Sherrill Milnes, and Thomas Quasthoff. In March, he travels to
Rome to
work with Renata Scotto in the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Opera Studio. In June, he will attend the Merola Opera Program in
San
Francisco and sing the role of Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola.
Next fall he will attend the Juilliard Opera Center in New York. |
2008 Rachel Willis-Sørensen (Utah District)  Ms.
Willis-Sørensen is a graduate student at the Brigham Young
University School of Music from where she received her bachelor's
degree in vocal performance in April, 2008. In 2009, Rachel won
first place in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCullum competition and
was invited to join the HGO Studio this fall where she will be playing
the role of Masha in Pique Dame. She made her
professional debut at Utah Festival Opera in 2008 where she sang the
High Priestess in Verdi's Aida. She also appeared as Kate
Pinkerton in Utah Opera's 2008 production of Madama Butterfly.
In 2008 she participated in the National Semi-finals of the
Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions on stage at the Met after
having won both the Utah District and Rocky-Mountain Regional finals of
the same competition. In her stay at BYU she has performed the
roles of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, La Contessa Almaviva in Le
Nozze di Figaro, and Musetta in La Bohème. Her
stage credits also include The Evil Queen in Semour Barab's Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs (Washington East Opera's Bravo Troupe),
Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, and Meg Boyd in Damn Yankees.
In 2007 she won the Nancy Peery Marriot BYU Singer of the Year award,
recorded a CD for BYU's Sofie's Daughters Organization, and
participated in the AIMS program in Graz, Austria. Rachel was
awarded first place at Musicfest Northwest in 2005 where she appeared
in concert with the Spokane Symphony. She was the 2007-2008
recipient of the Shirley Oscarson Scholarship. Rachel is a
student of Darrell Babidge. |
2009 Mark Van Arsdale (CO-WY District)  Mark Van Arsdale is a native of Denver,
Colorado and a product of musical outreach programs in the Denver area,
including Opera Colorado and the Colorado Children’s Chorale. He
will graduate with his Master’s degree in spring 2009 from the Indiana
University Jacobs School of Music as a student of Dr. Robert
Harrison. He will return to the Tanglewood Music Festival in
Massachusetts in the summer of 2009 as a vocal fellow, where he will
sing the role of Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, conducted
by
James Levine. As a 2008 Tanglewood Fellow, he participated in
masterclasses with James Levine and Dawn Upshaw, covered the lead role
of Jimmy in Weill’s Mahagonny, performed in Sondheim’s A
Little Night
Music with the Boston Pops as well as Brahms’s Liebeslieder-Walzer
with
the Mark Morris Dance Group, and sang recitals of Rachmaninoff and
Brahms. He received the Indiana University Performer’s
Certificate for Excellence in Voice for his all-French recital of
Poulenc, Duparc, and Satie, and has won awards from Opera Birmingham,
the National Society of Arts and Letters, and the Singers’ Club of
Cleveland. Indiana University Opera Theater credits include
Truffaldino in The Love for Three Oranges, Sam in Susannah,
Donato in
the collegiate premiere of A Wedding (Bolcom), and Herman in The
Most
Happy Fella. Other operatic roles include Ferrando in Così
fan
tutte at Northwestern University, where he graduated Magna Cum
Laude in
2006. He was a young artist with Central City Opera in 2006,
performing the Second Dandy in The Ballad of Baby Doe.
Oratorio
credits include Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s Messiah
with the
Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s St. John Passion with the
Lafayette
Bach Chorale, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Handel’s Solomon
at
Northwestern University. As part of his extensive worldwide
travels, he lived in Milan, Italy, where he studied with master teacher
Giovanna Canetti, and speaks fluent Italian. |