Watch: CCM Alumnus Edward Nelson Wins Glyndebourne Opera Cup

CCM alumnus Edward Nelson (BM Voice, 2011; MM Voice, 2013) took home the first prize award at the 2020 Glyndebourne Opera Cup, an international competition designed to discover and spotlight the best young opera singers from around the world. Dame Janet Baker, the competition’s honorary president, gave Nelson his trophy, which was inspired by the golden lyre that Baker used in Glyndebourne’s 1982 production of Orfeo ed Euridice.

This prize includes £15,000 (about $18,400 in U.S. currency) and the guarantee of a professional role at a top international opera house. The members of the deciding jury included opera legends Sumi Jo, Sir Thomas Allen and Dame Felicity Lott, as well as other industry professionals.

Following preliminary rounds in Cape Town, Berlin, London, Milan, Paris, Vienna and New York, six singers advanced to compete in the Glyndebourne Opera Cup final, accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Nelson performed two dramatic arias from Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet before sealing his win with a spectacular performance of “Largo al factotum” from The Barber of Seville. His winning performance is available to watch online at YouTube.

Nelson recently made his European debut with the Norwegian premiere of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at the Norwegian National Opera. His performances were well-reviewed, despite his having learned the role in just four weeks. Bachtrack.com said that “Nelson impressed with a ringing baritone, excellent French diction and a surprisingly easy top [register].”

This season, Nelson appears with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Vancouver Opera as Figaro in The Barber of Seville, with San Francisco Opera as Bosun in Billy Budd and with the Saint Louis Symphony in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem. Read more about Nelson’s professional accomplishments.

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Story by CCM Graduate Student Alexandra Doyle

CCM Student Elena Villalón Named Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019 National Council Auditions

CCM student Elena Villalón (center) with the other winners of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. From left to right: Miles Mykkanen, William Guanbo Su, Elena Villalón, Thomas Glass and Michaela Wolz. Photography courtesy of Ken Howard.

We are thrilled to report that current CCM student Elena Villalón has been named a Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019 National Council Auditions! After a months-long series of auditions involving more than 1,000 singers at the district, regional and national levels, a panel of expert judges named Villalón and four other singers as the winners of the 65th annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Each winner receives a $15,000 cash prize. You can learn more about all of the 2019 National Council Winners by visiting www.metopera.org/about/auditions/national-council-auditions/winners.

Senior Voice Performance major Elena Villalón has been named a Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019 National Council Auditions.

A soprano from Austin, Texas, who studies with CCM Professor William McGraw, Villalón joins Houston Grand Opera’s studio artist program in the 2019-20 season, after being a finalist and winning the audience prize in the 31st annual Eleanor McCollum Competition. She has been a vocal fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and at Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy. Her CCM performances include the roles of Adele in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Lucy in Menotti’s The Telephone and Miss Wordsworth in Britten’s Albert Herring.

As previously reported, fellow CCM-trained singers  Joshua Wheeker, tenor (CCM Voice 2007-2012); Murrella Parton (MM Voice, 2017) also advanced to the Met’s National Council Semi-Finals this year.

This marks the second consecutive year that CCM singers have “won the Met,” as CCM alumna Jessica Faselt (MM Voice, 2016) was one of five singers who won the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. You can learn more about Faselt’s win courtesy of the Cincinnati Business Courier.

CCM alumni and students frequently advance to the final rounds of the Met’s National Council Auditions, which is widely considered to be the nation’s most prestigious vocal competition. In 2017, four CCM alumni competed in the semi-finals, including Faselt; Summer Hassan, soprano (MM Voice, 2014); Andrew Manea, baritone (MM Voice, 2016); and Cody Quattlebaum, bass-baritone (BM Voice, 2015) — who was chosen as a finalist during that year’s national competition.

About the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions

Following the creation of the Met’s National Council in the 1952-53 season, the first Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions took place in 1954 in the Twin Cities. For over 60 years, the annual competition has helped launch the careers of countless young singers, including some of opera’s greatest stars. Every season, over 100 former participants in the National Council Auditions appear on the Met roster.

The district-level and regional auditions, held across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, are sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera National Council and administered by National Council members and hundreds of volunteers from across the country. Currently in its 65th year, the program has launched the careers of such well-known stars as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Deborah Voigt, Lawrence Brownlee, Thomas Hampson, Eric Owens, Angela Meade, Nadine Sierra, Jamie Barton and Ryan Speedo Green. The competition garnered international attention with the release of the 2008 feature-length documentary The Audition, directed by award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke, which chronicled the 2007 National Council Auditions season and Grand Finals Concert.

 

Alumni and Students Named Finalists in 2017 Lotte Lenya Competition

Three current and former CCM students are among 14 young artists selected as finalists in the 20th Lotte Lenya Competition. Those include Jasmine Habersham (AD Opera, 2015; MM Voice, 2013), DMA Voice candidate Paulina Villarreal (MM Voice, 2015) and first-year voice masters student Lisa Marie Rogali.

This isn’t the first time Habersham has advanced in the Lotte Lenya Competition. In 2015, Habersham competed in the competition’s semifinal round. At CCM she appeared as Norina in Don Pasquale, Mrs. Julian in Owen Wingrave and Pearl in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star.

Villarreal, who began her DMA studies at CCM in 2015, was a Young Artist at Cincinnati Opera. CCM patrons may have seen her perform in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Bright-Eyed Joy in November. She has also appeared in Some Light Emerges, Il signor Bruschino, Hansel and Gretel and William Bolcom’s Cabaret Songs.

Rogali began her studies at CCM in the fall of 2016. She appeared in the ensemble and as an assistant costume “spirit” in the CCM Mainstage production of Cendrillon in November.

All 14 contestants range in age from 19 to 32 and hail from across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, France and Israel. They were chosen from a pool of 266 preliminary audition videos — the most applications ever received in competition history. Thirty-two of those applicants moved on to the semifinal round, where they auditioned live in New York for judges Judy Blazer and Ted Sperling.

“Working with these singers is an enlightening and thrilling experience and whether they win the brass ring or not they all win in a sense for having done it,” Blazer said of her experience coaching the semifinalists.

Kurt Weill Foundation President Kim H. Kowalke stated, “This year’s semifinals were more competitive than some of our finals in previous years; the judges in Rochester are going to have their work cut out for them, especially with the stakes increased this year to a top prize of $20,000.”

In celebration of the 20th competition, top prizes have increased to $20,000, $15,000 and $10,000. Judges may also bestow additional discretionary awards of $3,500 each for outstanding performances of individual numbers. The new Kurt Weill Award for $5,000, established this year, will recognize an outstanding performance of two contrasting Weill selections. All finalists receive a minimum cash award of $1,000.

The finals take place Saturday, April 22 at Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Each finalist will present his or her entire program in the daytime round, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. An evening concert, in which contestants sing only a portion of their programs, follows at 8 p.m. The concert concludes with the announcement of awards and prizes. Both the daytime round and evening concert are free and open to the public.

The evening concert will be live streamed online at www.esm.rochester.edu/live/kilbourn. Visit the website before or during the concert to stream it (no password required).

This year’s judges’ panel brings together three internationally recognized artists. Renowned stage director Anne Bogart brings diverse theatrical and operatic credits to the jury. In January 2017, she directed the highly acclaimed production of Lost in the Stars with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Tony Award-winning actor Shuler Hensley has demonstrated his versatility as an actor on Broadway in roles as wide-ranging as Pozzo in Waiting for Godot, The Monster in Young Frankenstein and a Tony and Olivier Award-winning performance as Jud Fry in Oklahoma!. Bogart and Hensley, both first-time judges, join veteran judge Rob Berman, who returns to the competition for a seventh time. Berman has been seen on Broadway most recently as music director for Bright Star and Dames at Sea; he is music director for the popular Encores! series at New York City Center.

The finalists will sing a program of four selections from the operatic, Golden Age, contemporary musical theatre repertoires and the music of Kurt Weill to compete for prizes totaling more than $75,000.

Over the last 20 years, the Lotte Lenya Competition has grown from a small contest exclusively for students of the Eastman School of Music, to one of the widest-reaching international vocal competitions. Past prize winners have gone on to appear on major theater, opera and concert stages around the world. This season, LLC laureates can be seen in seven Broadway shows, at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Komische Oper, in concert with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, on national and international theatrical tours and heard on two Grammy Award-winning recordings. See why Opera News said of the competition, “[N]o vocal contest better targets today’s total-package talents, unearthing up-and-coming singers who are ready for their close-ups.”

About the Kurt Weill Foundation
The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc. is dedicated to promoting understanding of the life and works of composer Kurt Weill (1900-50) and preserving the legacies of Weill and his wife, actress-singer Lotte Lenya (1898-1981). The Foundation administers the Weill-Lenya Research Center, a Grant Program, the Kurt Weill Book Prize and the Lotte Lenya Competition, and publishes the Kurt Weill Edition and the Kurt Weill Newsletter. Learn more by visiting www.kwf.org.

CCM Piano Students Perform in Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition

Four piano students who study with Awadagin Pratt at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music advanced in the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, which concluded on March 4 in England. Narae Lee, Jiwon Han, Julan Wang and Youkyoung Kim made it through the preliminary rounds of the competition to perform in multiple stages.

The preliminary rounds were held in the United Kingdom, Germany, U.S. and Japan. CCM was one of few U.S. schools to have multiple students advance in the various rounds of the competition.

Youkyoung Kim was one of six contestants to compete in the final stage of the competition. As a finalist, Kim performed in a public concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Her performance earned her third place and £2,500 ($3,053.50). Narae Lee advanced to compete in the second stage of the competition. Jiwon Han and Julan Wang advanced to compete in the competition’s semi-final stage.

About the Artists

Youkyoung Kim, born in Busan, South Korea, earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Seoul National University, where she studied with Junghye Ra and Nayoung Kim. Since 2012, she has studied with Professor Awadagin Pratt at CCM, where she received her Master of Music degree in 2014. Kim is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at CCM.

Previously this month, Kim was among 12 musicians selected to participate in the Iowa Piano Competition. She was awarded third prize after she performed with the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra in the final round of the competition. Kim has numerous top prizes and participated in international competitions including the Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Piano Concerto Competition, U.S. International Duo Piano Competition, World Piano Competition, Dallas International Piano Competition, Debut International Piano Competition and Delia Steinberg International Piano Competition, among others.

Julan Wang, born in Chongqing, China, earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2010. He received the George Sarlo Scholarship at the San Francisco Conservatory and earned his Master of Music degree there in 2012. In 2014, he received his Artist Diploma at CCM, where he studied with Professor Awadagin Pratt. He is now pursuing a Doctoral degree at CCM.

Julan has received many prizes in competitions, such as the China Youth Competition, Wiesbaden International Piano Competition, Asian Chopin Competition and the CCM Concerto Competition. He gave his debut recital at Carnegie Hall in June of 2014, and has also performed in California, Ohio, Michigan and Louisiana. He has also given solo/lecture recitals in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Sichuan, Chongqing and many other places in China. Since 2012, he has been a recipient of the Enlight Foundation’s Outstanding Scientists and Artists Scholarship.

Korean-born pianist Narae Lee studied at Yonsei University with Misha Kim in South Korea. She is a recipient of the William D. Black Memorial Prize in Piano and holds an Honors Scholarship at CCM, where she studies with Awadagin Pratt.

Lee has won numerous top prizes and has participated in national and international competitions, including Delta Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Concerto Competition, Coeur d’Alene Symphony Young Artists Competition, World Piano Competition, Art of the Piano, New Paltz Piano Summer, Eastern Music Festival as an assistant of Piano and Collaborative Piano faculties, Jacob Flier Piano Competition, the Samick-Seiler Piano Competition, the Seoul Philharmonic Competition, the Mayor of Seoul City Prize at the University of Seoul Music Competition and the Grand Prix Round Prize, 21Century Artist Special Prize at the Osaka International Piano Competition in Japan.

A native of Incheon, South Korea, pianist Jiwon Han earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Korea National University of Arts, where he studied with Choong-Mo Kang. He earned his Artist Diploma from Korea National University, where he studied with Professor Daejin Kim. Han earned a full-tuition scholarship to pursue an Artist Diploma at CCM, where he studies with Awadagin Pratt. He is also the recipient of the Art of the Piano Foundation Award.

Han has appeared in top concert venues in Korea including the Seoul Art Center, Sejong Art Center, Hoam Art Hall and Kumho Art Hall. He is sponsored by YAGI Studio, one of the largest studios in Korea. Han has served for three years as a director for the classic concert program on KBS, one of Korea’s prominent public broadcasting stations. In 2013, he won second prize in ISANG YUN International Competition. In 2014, he released his debut album, featuring the works of Chopin and Isang Yun. In 2015, he released his second album, Romanticism, featuring music of Brahms, Schumann and Liszt.

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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

All-Steinway School Sponsor: The Corbett Endowment at CCM

CCM is proud to be an All-Steinway School

CCM Holds Inaugural Andrew Howell Memorial Scholarship Competition

UC’s College-Conservatory of Music will hold the inaugural Andrew Howell Memorial Scholarship Competition 2 p.m., Sunday, March 26, 2017
 in the Robert J. Werner Recital Hall. The performance is a free event and open to the public.

CCM honors the memory of student Andrew Howell with a Memorial Scholarship Competition on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

This competition is held in loving memory of Andrew Howell, an extraordinary musician and an exceptional person who passed away during his undergraduate studies at CCM. A junior from Charlotte, N.C., Howell was a member of the CCM horn studio and a student of Randy Gardner.

Open to current undergraduate horn majors as well as applicants who have committed to attend CCM in 2017-18, the winner of the Andrew Howell Memorial Horn Scholarship Competition will receive a one-year $3,000 scholarship and a solo performance opportunity.

The scholarship will be offered annually to support the studies of an exceptional undergraduate horn student and perpetuate Andrew’s memory.

Application Details
The application deadline is March 10, 2017.

For further details and an application, contact Professor Randy Gardner at randy.gardner@uc.edu.

About Andrew Austin Howell

Andrew Howell (1990-2010) was beginning his third year as a horn performance major at CCM when he died in an outdoor accident on October 23, 2010 while admiring the bright night sky above the lights of the city below.

Andrew was a student of Randy Gardner, and a well loved member of the CCM community. He is remembered by his family, friends and classmates for his genuine encouragement of others, his love of animals, his charming and unassuming manner, and for his rare sense of humor. He had a musical soul, possessing a broad appreciation for the world and the people around him.

Born into a family of professional church musicians, Andrew was immersed in music from his earliest days, demonstrating a keen observation and attention to musical performances and shows. In addition to his skilled horn playing, he loved to sing and improvise on the piano. Whether he was painting, photographing, singing or playing, Andrew pursued an artful expression of what he saw as a beautiful world.

A participant in the Pensacola Children’s Chorus, the Charlotte Children’s Choir, the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra and the music programs of his churches and schools, Andrew was happiest making music. He studied horn with Bob Blalock of the Charlotte Symphony and spent summers studying at the Brevard Music Center Summer Institute and Festival, the Tanglewood Horn Workshop, and the Chautauqua Music Festival with Richard Deane, Kristy Morrell, Jean Martin-Williams, Eric Ruske and Roger Kaza.

Event Information

Performance Time
2 p.m., Sunday, March 26

Location
Robert J. Werner Recital Hall, CCM Village,
University of Cincinnati

Admission
Admission is free and open to the public.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.

CCM Student Piano Duo Wins Third Prize at International Competition in Tokyo

Graduate students Yaoyue Huang and Scott Sherman have performed and competed as a piano duo since they arrived at CCM in 2015. Recently their teamwork led them to take third place at the prestigious International Piano Duo Association’s 20th Piano Duo Competition in Tokyo — they were the only duo from the U.S. to advance that far in the competition.

Yaoyue Huang and Scott Sherman. Photo provided.

Compromise is the ultimate challenge when working with another musician, Huang says, and the duo’s ability to work well together has contributed greatly to their success. Huang and Sherman met in 2011 during their time as undergraduates at Michigan State University, and their musical connection quickly grew into a closer relationship. The piano-playing couple hadn’t given much thought to forming their own piano duo before coming to CCM, but professors Soyeon Kate Lee and Sandra Rivers encouraged them to channel their abilities and connection into their new specialty.

“Forming a duo with a loved one is a double-edged sword,” Sherman says. “Our rehearsals are always so raw, and at times we can be so brutally honest. It really tests your mental strength. But, if a duo can come out through the intensity and find a natural ebb and flow, it will be a successful partnership in the end.”

The duo traveled to the competition in Tokyo with financial support from the Office of the Dean. The International Piano Duo Association’s performance competition occurs every three years, with a composition competition and a gap year in between. It’s open to pianists of all ages and consists of three rounds. This year, 13 duos were accepted into the finals, and Huang and Sherman were the only duo from the U.S. who advanced that far in the competition. As third prize winners, the duo won 100,000 yen, which is the equivalent of $900.

One requirement of the competition is that the players perform the winning piece from the previous composition competition. This year, that piece was Oliver Kolb’s Three Epigrams for four hands. A video of their performance is on the competition’s YouTube page:

“Pianists are so fortunate to have an almost limitless library of music, and yet so many of us find difficulty incorporating lesser-known works or pieces that require a new way of thought,” Sherman says. “I believe it is a dangerous road to only understand and play one dialect of music.”

Not only did they receive a top prize at the competition in Tokyo, but Huang and Sherman also took second place in the Ohio International Duo Piano Competition with an award of $500. With all of their recent success, it should come as no surprise that Huang and Sherman will compete again in January at the finals of the United States International Duo Piano Competition.

The duo thanks professors Lee and Rivers, “who have been so supportive of our efforts to step out into the music world.” They both study piano with Lee and receive duo coaching from Rivers.

“The piano department here always has great interest in supporting all of its students and creating so many diverse opportunities that truly make a difference down the road,” Huang and Sherman said.
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Story by CCM graduate student Alexandra Doyle

CCM Students Talya Lieberman and Reilly Nelson Win Top Prizes in 2016 Lotte Lenya Competition

We are delighted to report that current CCM students Talya Lieberman and Reilly Nelson took home top prizes during the final round of the 2016 Lotte Lenya Competition. Sponsored by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, the prestigious competition was held on April 16 in Kilbourn Hall of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

Lieberman won a Third Prize, which includes a cash award of $7,500. Nelson received a Carolyn Weber Award in recognition of outstanding creativity in the design of a diverse program and exceptional sensitivity to text/music relationships, which includes a $3,500 prize.

Nine awards and a total prize purse of $79,000 were given in the competition’s most competitive year yet. Foundation President and founder of the competition Kim Kowalke said of this year’s competition:

“The total amount and number of prizes awarded reflects the high level displayed at this year’s contest. It is a testament to the competition’s growth over nearly two decades.”

You can learn more about all of this year’s winners by visiting www.kwf.org.

Winners of the 2016 Lotte Lenya Competition, including CCM student Talya Lieberman (second from right).

Both Lieberman and Nelson also made strong showings in last year’s Lotte Lenya Competition. Nelson advanced to the semifinal round of the competition (along with three other CCM-trained singers), while Lieberman won the Lys Symonette Award for Outstanding Performance of an Individual Number during 2015’s final round.

Lieberman and Nelson are the latest in a long line of CCM students and alumni who have reached the final rounds of the Lotte Lenya Competition. CCM alumna Lauren Roesner (BFA Musical Theatre, 2013) took Third Prize in the 2013 installment of this prestigious international theatre singing contest. CCM alumna Caitlin Mathes (MM Voice, 2009; Artist Diploma in Opera, 2010) earned First Prize in 2011 and fellow alumna Alisa Suzanne Jordheim (BM Voice, 2008; MM Voice, 2010; DMA candidate) progressed to the final round of the competition that same year.

For this year’s competition, each finalist presented a 15 minute program of four selections in the daytime round. An evening concert followed, in which contestants sang only a segment of their programs.

All finalists received a minimum cash award of $1,000, with additional discretionary awards of $3,500 each, and top prizes ranging from $7,500 to $15,000.

The panel of judges included international opera star Teresa Stratas, Rodgers & Hammerstein President Theodore S. Chapin and Broadway music director and conductor Andy Einhorn. Finalists were selected from an initial pool of 224 contestants later narrowed to 31 semi-finalists, who were adjudicated and coached in the semi-final round by Tony Award-winners Jeanine Tesori and Victoria Clark. Clark, who last judged the competition in 2012, noted:

“I can feel the leap in overall talent from the last time I judged.”

Now in its 19th year, the Lotte Lenya Competition recognizes exceptionally talented singers/actors, ages 19-32, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of repertoire, with a focus on the works of Kurt Weill. Since 1998, the Kurt Weill Foundation has awarded more than $750,000 in prize money and continues to support previous winners with professional development grants.

Previous Lenya Competition winners enjoy successful careers performing in major theaters and opera houses around the globe.

About the Kurt Weill Foundation
The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc. is dedicated to promoting understanding of the life and works of composer Kurt Weill (1900-50) and preserving the legacies of Weill and his wife, actress-singer Lotte Lenya (1898-1981). The Foundation administers the Weill-Lenya Research Center, a Grant Program, the Kurt Weill Book Prize and the Lotte Lenya Competition, and publishes the Kurt Weill Edition and the Kurt Weill Newsletter. Learn more by visiting www.kwf.org.

CCM student Talya Lieberman.

About Talya Lieberman
Originally from Forest Hills, New York, soprano Talya Ilana Lieberman is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at CCM as a student of Professor William McGraw.

Recently described by Opera News as “poetically compelling,” “delectably stylish” and “technically refined,” Lieberman is equally at home with operatic, art song and musical theatre repertoire. Starting in September 2016 she will be seen frequently on stage at Komische Oper Berlin, where she will be assuming the soprano position in the Opernstudio. Her upcoming performances include debuts with Cincinnati Opera and Opera Columbus, as well as the title role in CCM’s Mainstage Series production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen.

Lieberman returned to Cincinnati this fall after completing a summer as a Filene Young Artist with Wolf Trap Opera, where her ability to “make a point with the merest flick of a finger” (Washington Post) shined in a highly lauded run as Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. She also appeared in concert with Steven Blier at Wolf Trap in a program celebrating the Broadway legacy of the Rodgers family (The Rodgers Family – A Century of Musicals).

Lieberman is a convert from the orchestra pit and started singing after receiving her master’s degree in trumpet performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts under the tutelage of Judith Saxton. She completed her BA at Duke University with highest distinction in linguistics (Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude). She is a two-time winner of full tuition and stipend—winning the Russell-Seybold and Italo Tajo Awards, respectively—at CCM’s Opera Scholarship Competition.

CCM student Reilly Nelson. Photography by Kate Lemmon (http://www.katelphotography.com).

About Reilly Nelson
Born in the coastal town of Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario, Canada, Reilly Nelson attended the Eastman School of Music where she received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and CCM where she completed a Master of Music in Vocal Performance.

Nelson is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at CCM.

At CCM she performed Hansel in Hansel and Gretel and Mary in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star. She also performed Hansel, as well as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, at Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center.

The mezzo-soprano was a vocal fellow at the renowned Tanglewood Music Festival for the summers of 2014 and 2015, performing Les nuits d’été, Op. 7 and Folk Songs by Bernard Rands.

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Story by Curt Whitacre

CCM Singer Awarded in Kentucky Bach Choir’s Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition

We are thrilled to share that CCM Master of Music student Rebecca Castillo won the Encouragement Award after participating in Kentucky Bach Coir’s Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition on Saturday, April 9.

Singers Zackery Morris, Emily Yocum Black, Julius Cruse Miller III, Rebecca Castillo with vocal competition sponsor Audrey Rooney and Kentucky Bach Choir Artistic Director Marlon Hurst. Provided Photo.

Nine student singers from six different states and nine universities competed in the live vocal competition, held at the First Presbyterian Church in Lexington. The singers competed for a Grand Prize of $1,500, an Audience Choice Award of $750, and two Encouragement Awards. As a recipient of the Encouragement Award, Castillo was given $500 and the opportunity to return as a paid guest soloist in future Kentucky Bach choir concerts.

The Grand Prize winner was Emily Yocum Black, who is pursuing a Master’s in Vocal Performance at the University of Louisville. The Audience Choice Award went to Zackery Morris, who is in pursuit of a Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance at the University of Kentucky. Julius Cruse Miller III, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance at Indiana University, won the other Encouragement Award.

Castillo is a soprano studying under the tutelage of Amy Johnson, assistant professor of voice, as part of the Master of Music program at CCM. She recently performed in the ensemble of CCM’s production of Leos Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen. Last fall, Castillo performed J. S. Bach’s B Minor Mass with Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson.

She graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelor of Music Education and previously taught choir at South Houston High School. While there, she performed with Houston’s Bach Society Choir including works B Minor Mass, St. Matthew’s Passion and Magnificat.

About the Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition
In its sixth year, the vocal competition was created to encourage exceptional student singers in the study of the solo repertoire of J. S. Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn, and W. A. Mozart. Singers are selected for the live competition in Lexington by submitting recordings to Kentucky Bach Choir Artistic Director, Marlon Hurst. The competition was adjudicated by Hurst, Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Opera at the University of Alamaba Dr. Krintine Hurst-Wajszczuk, and Zach Klobnak, director of music at The Presbyterian Church in Danville, Centre College organist and instructor of organ, harpsichord, and piano. Klobnak also serves as the accompanist for the Kentucky Bach Choir. All singers in the competition were accompanied by Nan McSwain, vocal coach and lecturer in opera with the University of Kentucky Opera Theater.

Ms. Audrey Heyman Rooney became the sponsor of the competition in 2013. A member of the Kentucky Bach Choir Board of Directors, Ms. Rooney has been a longtime advocate for the arts and for the encouragement of young artists, making significant contributions towards these ends in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Kentucky.

CCM Students Advance to the Final Round of the 2016 Lotte Lenya Competition

We are elated to report that CCM students Talya Lieberman and Reilly Nelson have been named as finalists for the 2016 Lotte Lenya Competition. They have been selected alongside 13 other young singer/actors and will take part in the final round of the competition on Saturday, April 16.

Both Lieberman and Nelson also made strong showings in last year’s Lotte Lenya Competition. Nelson advanced to the semifinal round of the competition (along with three other CCM-trained singers), while Lieberman won the Lys Symonette Award for Outstanding Performance of an Individual Number during the final round.

Lieberman and Nelson are the latest in a long line of CCM students and alumni who have reached the final rounds of the Lotte Lenya Competition. CCM alumna Lauren Roesner (BFA Musical Theatre, 2013) took Third Prize in the 2013 installment of this prestigious international theatre singing contest. CCM alumna Caitlin Mathes (MM Voice, 2009; Artist Diploma in Opera, 2010) earned First Prize in 2011 and fellow alumna Alisa Suzanne Jordheim (BM Voice, 2008; MM Voice, 2010; DMA candidate) progressed to the final round of the competition that same year.

Selected from 31 semifinalists, this year’s finalists represent a diverse range of performers, ages 21 to 31, from across the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel. All will sing repertoire from the operatic, golden age and contemporary musical stages, and of course, the music of Kurt Weill, for a chance win the top prize of $15,000.

Semifinalist judges, Tony Award-winners Jeanine Tesori and Victoria Clark, adjudicated and coached the performers. Clark, who first judged the competition in 2008, noted that “I can feel the leap in overall talent from when I last judged the semifinals.”

Kurt Weill Foundation President Kim Kowalke stated that “this year’s finalists are the largest and most diverse group in the Competition’s 19-year history, with contestants currently working on- and off-Broadway, in national touring companies, and in major regional theaters and opera companies. Many are well on their way to distinguished careers.”

The final round takes place April 16 at Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. Each finalist will present a 15 minute program of four selections in the daytime round, 11:00-4:00. An evening concert, in which contestants sing only a segment of their programs, follows at 8:00. The concert concludes with the announcement of awards and prizes. Both the daytime round and evening concert are free and open to the public.

All finalists receive a minimum cash award of $1,000, with additional discretionary awards of $3,500 each, and top prizes ranging from $7,500 to $15,000. Total prizes will exceed $60,000.

Returning to judge for the tenth time, international opera legend Teresa Stratas leads the judges’ panel. The Lenya Competition remains the only vocal competition she has ever consented to adjudicate. Joining her on the jury are Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization President and former American Theater Wing Chairman Theodore S. Chapin (also returning for his tenth time), and Broadway (and Audra McDonald’s) music director, conductor and accompanist Andy Einhorn.

Past prize winners have gone on to appear on major theater, opera and concert stages around the world. Don’t miss the competition described by Opera News as “target[ing] today’s total-package talents, unearthing up-and-coming singers who are ready for their close-ups.”

About the Kurt Weill Foundation
The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc. is dedicated to promoting understanding of the life and works of composer Kurt Weill (1900-50) and preserving the legacies of Weill and his wife, actress-singer Lotte Lenya (1898-1981). The Foundation administers the Weill-Lenya Research Center, a Grant Program, the Kurt Weill Book Prize and the Lotte Lenya Competition, and publishes the Kurt Weill Edition and the Kurt Weill Newsletter. Learn more by visiting www.kwf.org.

CCM student Talya Lieberman.

About Talya Lieberman
Originally from Forest Hills, New York, soprano Talya Ilana Lieberman is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at CCM as a student of Professor William McGraw.

Recently described by Opera News as “poetically compelling,” “delectably stylish” and “technically refined,” Lieberman is equally at home with operatic, art song and musical theatre repertoire. Starting in September 2016 she will be seen frequently on stage at Komische Oper Berlin, where she will be assuming the soprano position in the Opernstudio. Her upcoming performances include debuts with Cincinnati Opera and Opera Columbus, as well as the title role in CCM’s Mainstage Series production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen.

Lieberman returned to Cincinnati this fall after completing a summer as a Filene Young Artist with Wolf Trap Opera, where her ability to “make a point with the merest flick of a finger” (Washington Post) shined in a highly lauded run as Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. She also appeared in concert with Steven Blier at Wolf Trap in a program celebrating the Broadway legacy of the Rodgers family (The Rodgers Family – A Century of Musicals).

Lieberman is a convert from the orchestra pit and started singing after receiving her master’s degree in trumpet performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts under the tutelage of Judith Saxton. She completed her BA at Duke University with highest distinction in linguistics (Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude). She is a two-time winner of full tuition and stipend—winning the Russell-Seybold and Italo Tajo Awards, respectively—at CCM’s Opera Scholarship Competition.

CCM student Reilly Nelson. Photography by Kate Lemmon (http://www.katelphotography.com).

About Reilly Nelson
Born in the coastal town of Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario, Canada, Reilly Nelson attended the Eastman School of Music where she received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and CCM where she completed a Master of Music in Vocal Performance.

Nelson is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at CCM.

At CCM she performed Hansel in Hansel and Gretel and Mary in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star. She also performed Hansel, as well as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, at Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center.

The mezzo-soprano was a vocal fellow at the renowned Tanglewood Music Festival for the summers of 2014 and 2015, performing Les nuits d’été, Op. 7 and Folk Songs by Bernard Rands.

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Story by Curt Whitacre

CCM Student and Alumnus Find Success at University of Oklahoma Conducting Competition

Both a current doctoral student and a recent CCM alumnus made the finals of the University of Oklahoma’s second-ever 4×4 Competition for Conductors and Composers. The competition took place last month and was open to both conductors and composers currently enrolled in a degree program or studying with a recognized professional composer or conductor.

Current CCM student Jiannan Cheng won second place in the conducting competition. A native of China, Cheng is currently pursuing her DMA in conducting under Director of Orchestral Studies Mark Gibson. For her finish, Cheng received a $1,000 cash prize and was able to collaborate with the second-prize winning composer to perform one of their works during a concert with the OU Symphony in February.

Also making the finals was CCM alumnus Boon Hua Lien (MM Wind Conducting, 2013), who studied at CCM and was a teaching assistant under Director of Wind Studies Glenn D. Price. A native of Singapore, Lien currently lives in Rochester, New York, where he is pursuing his DMA in Orchestral Conducting (and serves as a teaching assistant) at the prestigious Eastman School of Music. He is also a conducting fellow with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

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