Update on a previous blog post: 21-Year-old Bountiful native Rebecca Pedersen has been named one of six National Grand Finals Winners by Metropolitan Opera.
On March 11 at 5 p.m. MDT, the newly selected winners began performing a concert at the Jerome I. Greene Performance Space at New York's classical radio station WQXR.
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is a program designed to discover promising young opera singers and assist in the development of their careers. The auditions are held annually in 13 regions of the United States and Canada. There are 40 districts within these regions, each providing an opportunity for talented singers to enter the Auditions Program at the local level. The Auditions are administered by National Council members and volunteers in each region.
The Utah District is led by a committee of volunteers and local arts leaders.
Winners of the District auditions advance to their Region Finals where they compete to win a trip to New York to participate in the National Semi-Finals, a competition held on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. Approximately 10 of the Semi-Finalists are selected as National Finalists and compete the following Sunday in a public concert, the Grand Finals Concert, accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. It was held this past Sunday.
The jury awards approximately five Grand Winner awards of $15,000 each, though this time they selected six. The concert is broadcast nationwide on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Network.
Many of the world's foremost singers, among them Renée Fleming, Jessye Norman and Dolora Zajick have received awards from the National Council.
Annually, approximately 100 former auditioners appear in Metropolitan Opera productions.
