NATIONAL COUNCIL AUDITIONS grand finals conductor Metropolitan Opera Fabio Luisi National Council host and Grand Finals Concert guest performer Angela Meade Sunday, March 22, 2015 3:00 PM Metropolitan Opera Orchestra The Metropolitan Opera National Council is grateful to the Charles H. Dyson Endowment Fund for underwriting the Council’s Auditions Program. general manager Peter Gelb music director James Levine principal conductor Fabio Luisi NATIONAL COUNCIL AUDITIONS grand finals conductor Fabio Luisi host Angela Meade “Cruda sorte” from L’Italiana in Algeri (Rossini) Deniz Uzun “Hai già vinta la causa” from Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Jared Bybee “Ah! Je ris de me voir” from Faust (Gounod) Kathryn Henry “Salut! Demeure chaste et pure” from Faust (Gounod) Joseph Dennis “Tu preparati a morire” from Ariodante (Handel) Allegra De Vita Today’s concert is being recorded for “Madamina, il catalogo è questo” from Don Giovanni (Mozart) future broadcast Nicholas Brownlee over many public radio stations. “Uzh polnoch blizitsa” from The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky) Please check local listings. Marina Costa-Jackson Sunday, March 22, 2015, 3:00PM “Deh per questo istante solo” from La Clemenza di Tito (Mozart) Virginie Verrez “È sogno? O realtà?” from Falstaff (Verdi) Reginald Smith, Jr. INTERMISSION “Près des ramparts de Séville” from Carmen (Bizet) Deniz Uzun “Sois immobile” from Guillaume Tell (Rossini) Jared Bybee “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi (Puccini) Kathryn Henry “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” from Das Land des Lächelns (Lehár) Joseph Dennis “All’afflitto è dolce il pianto” fromRoberto Devereux (Donizetti) Allegra De Vita “Vjes’ tabor spit” from Aleko (Rachmaninov) Nicholas Brownlee “Si, mi chiamano Mimì” from La Bohème (Puccini) Marina Costa-Jackson “Must the winter come so soon?” from Vanessa (Barber) Virginie Verrez “Oh, Lawd Jesus, heah my prayer” from The Emperor Jones (Gruenberg) Reginald Smith, Jr. Before the performance “Casta diva” from Norma (Bellini) begins, please switch off “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana” from La Wally (Catalani) any cell phones and any Angela Meade other electronic devices. guest artist Yamaha is the Official Piano of the Metropolitan Opera. announcement of grand finals winners visit metopera.org Meet the Artists Nicholas Brownlee bass-baritone (mobile, alabama) age 25 In the 2015–16 season, Nicholas Brownlee will be returning for his second year as a Domingo Colburn Stein Young Artist at Los Angeles Opera, where he will be heard as Colline in La Bohème, the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly, and the Gardener in Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick. Next season also includes his Atlanta Opera debut as Colline. He will also be returning for his second season at Santa Fe Opera this summer as the First Soldier in Salome. This season he made debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the bass soloist in the Beethoven Choral Fantasy, as well as London’s Barbican Centre in performances of Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland, co-produced with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is a First Place winner of the Palm Springs Opera Guild Competition as well as a national semi-finalist in the 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Western Region. Jared Bybee baritone (modesto, california) age 28 Jared Bybee is currently in his second year at Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, where he is a resident artist and has sung Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades, and Germont in La Traviata. In 2013 he was an apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera, where he sang Baron Grog in Offenbach’s La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein. In 2011 he was young artist at La Musica Lirica International Music Festival in Novafeltria, Italy, where he appeared as Marullo in Rigoletto. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Utah where he also completed a minor in music. During his undergraduate years he made his professional debut with Utah Opera as the Second Prisoner in Fidelio. He is a 2014 grant winner of the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competition and received the encouragement award at the 2014 Giulio Gari Foundation International Vocal Competition. Middle Atlantic Region. 34 Marina Costa-Jackson soprano (salt lake city, utah) age 27 Marina Costa-Jackson is a third-year resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, where she is heard this season as Mimì in La Bohème and as Marguerite in Faust. In Philadelphia, she has also sung Lisa in The Queen of Spades and Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera. She appeared at Madison Square Garden last year with Andrea Bocelli and has recently returned from a concert tour in Russia with Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s “Dmitri and Friends”. She received first prize in the Giulio Gari Foundation, was a second place winner with the Marcello Giordani Foundation, a finalist in the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition, and an award winner with the Opera Index, Licia Albanese- Puccini Foundation, Mario Lanza Institute, Sergio Franchi Music Foundation, and George London Foundation. She will make her professional debut next season with Michigan Opera Theater as Musetta in La Bohème. Middle Atlantic Region. Joseph Dennis tenor (mckinney, texas) age 30 In 2013 Joseph Dennis appeared with the Santa Fe Opera as Giuseppe in La Traviata and last summer returned to that company for the title role in the American premiere of Huang Ruo’s Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. This season he sings Števa in Jen ˚ufa with Des Moines Metro Opera. He has also appeared with the Palm Beach Opera as Malcolm in Macbeth and in productions of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Les Contes d’Hoffmann. He pursued theater studies at Collin College and vocal performance at Stephen F. Austin State University, where his roles include Elder Gleaton in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Kaspar in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, and Gastone in La Traviata. At the University of Oklahoma he sang Pylades in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride and Fenton in Falstaff. This fall he joins the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera. Eastern Region. Visit metopera.org 35 Meet the Artists CONTINUED Allegra De Vita mezzo-soprano (trumbull, connecticut) age 25 Allegra De Vita completed her masters in vocal performance at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where she sang the title role of Handel’s Ariodante, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Erminella in John Musto’s Volpone, and Florence Pike in Britten’s Albert Herring. This summer she will make her debut at the Glimmerglass Festival as Fulvio in Vivaldi’s Catone in Utica. She has been an apprentice artist with the Santa Fe Opera and was on fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival where her roles include Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Jordan Baker in John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby. She was a member of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio Artist Program and has appeared with the Opera Theater of Connecticut as Flora in La Traviata, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana, and the Monitor in Suor Angelica. She also was a member of the Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. In addition to her master’s degree in voice from Rice, she holds a bachelor’s degree in biology, with a neuroscience concentration and minor in music performance, from Sacred Heart University. New England Region. Kathryn Henry soprano (sheboygan, wisconsin) age 22 Kathryn Henry is a senior pursuing her bachelor of fine arts degree in vocal performance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and has recently won the UW-Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Concerto and Aria Competition, and first place in the Upper College Women category at the National level of the NATS Student Auditions. Her operatic credits include Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Clarina in Rossini’s La Cambiale di Matrimonio, the Squirrel in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, and the title role of Puccini’s Suor Angelica. This summer she will continue her vocal studies at the Chautauqua Music Festival. Upper Midwest Region. 36 Reginald Smith, Jr. baritone (atlanta, georgia) age 26 Reginald Smith, Jr. is a studio artist with the Houston Grand Opera and his operatic repertoire includes the title role of Falstaff, Germont in La Traviata, Marullo in Rigoletto, the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro. On the concert stage he has appeared with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Owensboro Symphony Orchestra, Johnson City Symphony, the Evansville Symphony Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Pops. He has been a reward recipient in the George London Foundation Competition, Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, and received first place in the Orpheus Vocal Competition and National Opera Society Competition. This summer he joins the Wolf Trap Opera as a Filene Young Artist where he will sing Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro. Southeast Region. Deniz Uzun mezzo-soprano (mannheim, germany) age 26 Deniz Uzun received her bachelor of voice degree from the University of Music in Mannheim as a scholarship holder of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the Richard Wagner Verband. In 2014 she won the Charlotte Hamel Prize at Berlin’s National Singers Contest and in 2013 appeared at the National Theater Mannheim and in two productions of the Young Artists Program of the Baden-Baden Easter Festival. She is currently studying at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and has recently sung Isabella in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri and Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina at Indiana University Opera. Upcoming plans include Annina in La Traviata at the 2015 Baden-Baden Easter Festival, followed by a full scholarship this summer with the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie.