Mannes Students Do It Again Students and Alumni Make Metropolitan Opera’s Top Voice Competition
Current Mannes students Hyo Na Kim and Seung Hwan Oh and alumni Maya Lahyani and Jennifer Feinstein will perform this month on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in the Semi-Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, considered the world’s most prestigious competition for young opera singers. All four semi-finalists studied with legendary Mannes voice faculty member Ruth Falcon.
Last year, Mannes student Nadine Sierra won the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council auditions, at age 20, the youngest winner in a generation. Sierra will be a cast member of this year’s Mannes Opera production of CosâÏš fan tutte on May 6 and 7 at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College.
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 fifteen regions of the United States and Canada. 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 ten 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.