WPaul Appleby is an American operatic tenor. In 2009 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In November 2015 he made his debut at the San Francisco Opera as Tamino in Mozart's The Magic Flute. In December 2015 he was the tenor soloist in Mozart's Coronation Mass with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and in January 2016 he performed Belmonte in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. He sang Belmonte again at the Metropolitan Opera in May 2016.
WIsabel Bayrakdarian is a Lebanese-born Canadian operatic soprano of Armenian descent who now resides and works in the United States.
WStephanie Blythe is an American mezzo-soprano who has had an active international career in operas and concerts since the early 1990s. She is particularly associated with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, with whom she has performed annually since her debut with the company in 1995. In 2014 she starred as Gertrude Stein in the world premiere of 27, an opera composed by Ricky Ian Gordon with libretto by Royce Vavrek, and commissioned for her by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
WAngela M. Brown is an American dramatic soprano particularly admired for her portrayal of Verdi heroines.
WGrace Melzia Bumbry, an American opera singer, is considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, as well as a major soprano earlier in her career. She is a member of a pioneering generation of African-American opera and classical singers who followed Marian Anderson in the world of opera and classical music paving the way for future African-American opera and concert singers. Bumbry's voice was rich and dynamic, possessing a wide range, and was capable of producing a very distinctive plangent tone.
WJennifer Johnson Cano is an American operatic mezzo-soprano. Before her college education, she attended St. Pius X High School, graduating in the Class of 2002. While in high school, she was a member of the choir, singing at Mass and state competitions. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Webster University and a Master of Music degree from Rice University where she was a pupil of Kathleen Kaun. In 2008 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and in 2009 she won the Young Concert Artists competition and was the recipient of a Sullivan Foundation grant. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.
WMichelle DeYoung is an American classical vocalist who has an active international career performing in operas and concerts. Raised in Colorado and California, DeYoung is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artists Development Program. She won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1992 and has been a regular performer at the Met ever since. In 1995, she was the recipient of the Marian Anderson Award. In 2009, she completed her Bachelor's Degree in Music from California State University, Northridge. Prior to graduation, Michelle sang in the adult choir every Sunday at Our Lady of Lourdes in Northridge, CA, under the direction of Sterling Branton. In May 2010, the University honored her with a Doctorate in Fine Arts for her contributions to the music industry. Past recipients include Michael Eisner, and Carol Vaness.
WKiera Duffy is an American opera singer born in Philadelphia. A soprano, Duffy is also an accomplished pianist. She has earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Westminster Choir College.
WMichael Fabiano is an American operatic tenor. Born in Montclair, New Jersey, he has performed in leading opera houses throughout the world, including the San Francisco Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Canadian Opera Company, Teatro Real, and The Royal Opera among many others. Fabiano is the 2014 Richard Tucker Award winner and the 2014 Beverly Sills Artist Award winner, making him the first singer to win both awards in the same year.
WBryan Hymel is an American operatic tenor who was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana and graduated from Jesuit High School and Loyola University New Orleans.
WKelly Kaduce is an American soprano. She was born in Winnebago, Minnesota, United States of America. A graduate of St. Olaf College and Boston University, Kaduce won the 1999 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
WVictoria Livengood is an American mezzo-soprano and voice teacher. She is most renown for her extensive and prestigious international operatic career spanning over 35 years and counting. Her past and current career sees her regularly in the top opera houses around the world. She has sung over 100 different operatic roles throughout her career and over 120 separate performances at the Metropolitan Opera. In her early years, she was most known for her portrayal of the title role of Carmen which she has performed over 250 times worldwide. In addition to her continued performance career, she also teaches voice privately in Concord, North Carolina.
WElliot Madore is a Canadian lyric baritone with an international operatic career.
WAngela Meade is an American operatic soprano.
WRobert Mosley was an American operatic bass-baritone. Part of the first generation of African-American opera singers to achieve wide success, he performed in numerous opera productions, recitals, and in concerts from the 1950s through the 1990s. In 1957 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He drew particular acclaim for his portrayal of Porgy in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, a role which he portrayed in the landmark 1976 Houston Grand Opera production, on Broadway, and at the Metropolitan Opera among other opera companies both in the United States and in Europe.
WRobert Nagy was an American operatic tenor who had a lengthy and fruitful association with the Metropolitan Opera that lasted for three decades. His association with the Met began when he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1956. He mostly portrayed comprimario roles at the Met where his most memorable early role was the Messenger in Aida, a role he sang 172 times for the company. He notably sang in the world premieres of two operas by Samuel Barber at the Met: Vanessa (1958) and Antony and Cleopatra (1966). He also sang in the company premieres of Die Frau ohne Schatten (1966), Billy Budd (1978) and L'enfant et les sortilèges (1981). Although Nagy specialized in supporting roles, he also portrayed several leading parts at the Met, among them Florestan in Fidelio, Herodes in Salome, the Kaiser in "Die Frau ohne Schatten" and the Drum Major in "Wozzeck." He remained on the Met roster through the end of the 1987–88 season, performing 1,187 performances with the Met during his thirty years with the company.
WSimon John O'Neill is a New Zealand-born operatic tenor. In 1998, his image appeared on the New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp.
WLisette Oropesa is a Cuban-American operatic soprano. She has a wide repertoire that includes works from Gluck, Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Wagner, Verdi, Bizet, Massenet and Puccini. With her lyric coloratura soprano voice, she has performed roles in her native Spanish and English, as well as German, French and Italian. She is particularly noted in the roles of Susanna, Gilda, Konstanze, Lucia and Manon.
WMary Beth Peil is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of an Obie Award and has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award, a Drama Desk Award, a Helen Hayes Award, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, and two Tony Awards.
WAshley Putnam is an American soprano from New York City. Her professional singing career began in 1976 and has spanned over 30 years.
WSondra Dee Radvanovsky is an American-Canadian soprano. Specializing in 19th-century Italian opera, Radvanovsky has been called one of the leading Verdi sopranos of her generation. Her signature roles include Elvira in Ernani, Leonora in Il trovatore, Elena in I vespri siciliani, Élisabeth in Don Carlos, and the title role in Norma.
WGeorge Irving Shirley is an American operatic tenor, and was the first African-American tenor to perform a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
WNadine Sierra is an American soprano. She is most well known for her interpretation of Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, and Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Currently performing in leading roles in the top opera houses around the world, she received the 1st Prize and People's Choice Award 2013 at the Neue Stimmen competition, is the 2017 Richard Tucker Music Foundation Award Winner, and was awarded the Beverly Sills Artists Award in 2018. Her debut album on the Universal Music Group label, There's a Place for Us, was released on August 24, 2018.
WPhilippe Sly is a Canadian bass-baritone and opera, oratorio and recital singer.
WHuguette Tourangeau, was a French-Canadian operatic mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories.
WJames Valenti is an American operatic tenor with an active international career specializing in leading roles in the Italian and French repertoire. Born and raised in New Jersey, in the United States, he attended St. Helena School and North Hunterdon High School before becoming a graduate of West Virginia University and the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Valenti made his professional debut in 2003 as Rodolfo in La bohème at the Rome Opera, and was the 2010 winner of the Richard Tucker Award.
WTichina Vaughn is an American operatic dramatic mezzo-soprano active internationally in opera, concert halls and recitals. Starting at the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera, her American career expanded into Europe, as member of the permanent ensembles of the Semperoper in Dresden and the Stuttgart Opera, where she was awarded the title of Kammersängerin in 2006. She has been a regular at the Arena di Verona and other major theaters worldwide, singing a wide repertoire span, with a "voluminous and dark mezzo" voice the dramatic Verdi roles such as Amneris in Aida, Eboli in Don Carlo, Azucena in Il trovatore and Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Wagner's Ortrud Lohengrin, Venus Tannhäuser, Fricka Die Walküre, Waltraute in Götterdämmerung and Strauss, Herodias in Salome and Klytemnestra in Elektra. According to Opernglas, Vaughn has a natural "great intensity" on stage, with an ample "voice, which flows richly, even in the low registers." The Neue Zürcher Zeitung describes her voice as an "enchanting satisfyingly rich mezzosoprano". Bernard Holland of The New York Times called hers "A voice of quality", which had "the presence and personality that might well fit the Met... a mezzo-soprano whose strong upper register gave hints of a dramatic soprano to come".
WShirley Verrett was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who successfully transitioned into soprano roles, i.e. soprano sfogato. Verrett enjoyed great fame from the late 1960s through the 1990s, particularly well known for singing the works of Verdi and Donizetti.
WVerónica Villarroel González is a Chilean soprano. In 1989 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She studied singing with Ellen Faull at the Juilliard School.
WWilliam Sterling Walker was a baritone with the Metropolitan Opera (1962–1980) whose singing career included performances at the White House, at Carnegie Hall and other concert venues across North America and Europe, and some 60 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. From 1991-2002, he produced opera as General Director of Fort Worth Opera in Fort Worth, Texas.
WRachel Willis-Sørensen is an American operatic soprano.