Four US winners and one Chinese are named at Met auditions

Four US winners and one Chinese are named at Met auditions

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norman lebrecht

April 30, 2018

The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions last night picked out five of the nine contenders for the main awards. They are:

Jessica Faselt, 25, soprano (Iowa City);

Madison Leonard, 26, soprano (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho);

Ashley Dixon, 26, mezzo-soprano (Peachtree, Georgia);

Hongni Wu, 23, mezzo-soprano (Jingdezhen, China);

and Carlos Enrique Santelli, 26, tenor (Orlando, Florida).

Each receives $15,000 and a career boost.

The other four go home with a $5k consolation check.

Comments

  • d76 says:

    Congrats to all the winners! And how cool is it that Carlos Santelli and Ashley Dixon are husband and wife?!

    • Larry says:

      if they’re husband and wife, how come they live in different cities? Just curious.

      • D76 says:

        I believe those are their hometowns.

      • Bill says:

        You’ve never heard of a long-distance relationship? I’ve had several coworkers who worked and lived in an entirely different place than the rest of the family for a variety of reasons. Typically someone got a job opportunity that couldn’t be passed up, but the rest of the family needed to stay put for a while, Or both are working in fields where the action isn’t readily available in the same place. So one lives in LA and the other in NY, and they take turns visiting.

  • John Kelly says:

    Very good finalists this year. Jessica (pictured) was just wonderful – my neighbor (coming to the Met for 30+ years) commented “she’s better than half the people we hear most nights at the Met.” Fair comment I must agree. Outstanding.

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