Four US winners and one Chinese are named at Met auditions
mainThe 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.
Congrats to all the winners! And how cool is it that Carlos Santelli and Ashley Dixon are husband and wife?!
if they’re husband and wife, how come they live in different cities? Just curious.
I believe those are their hometowns.
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.
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.