CENTENNIAL, Colo. - August 5, 2009 - Colorado Public Radio will air the annual Metropolitan Opera National Council (MONC) Grand Finals Concert, Sunday, August 9, at 8 p.m.
This two-hour broadcast event features a new generation of young voices as the eight 2008-09 MONC Audition finalists perform on stage with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Conductor Patrick Summers.
Former MONC Audition Winner and Baritone Thomas Hampson hosts the concert, which took place in February. Mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick makes a special appearance, performing “La luce langue” from Verdi’s Macbeth.
The broadcast closes with Margaret Juntwait announcing the four winners: Paul Appleby of South Bend, Indiana; Anthony Roth Costanzo of Durham, North Carolina; Sung Eun Lee of Seoul, South Korea; and Nadine Sierra of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Each was awarded a cash prize of $15,000.
Considered the most prestigious opera competition in North America, the 2008-09 MONC Auditions gathered nearly 1,800 singers in 15 regions throughout the United States and Canada.
The competition has discovered hundreds of young opera singers over the past 50 years, including Renée Fleming, Hei-Kyung Hong, Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Stephanie Blythe, Nathan Gunn, Ben Heppner, and Samuel Ramey. In a typical season, over 100 alumni of the MONC Auditions are on the Met roster.
A tradition in classical music radio, Colorado Public Radio broadcasts the Met Opera live, each Saturday, December through May on: 88.1 FM in Denver, 91.9 FM in Pueblo, 94.7 FM in Colorado Springs, 89.9 FM in Vail, 90.5 FM in Glenwood Springs, 103.3 FM along the Western Slope, and online at cpr.org.
Details about the upcoming 2009-2010 Met Opera broadcast season are available at www.operainfo.org.
Colorado Public Radio News is heard on: 90.1 FM in Denver, 1490 AM in Boulder, 1230 AM in Pueblo, 89.5 FM in Grand Junction, 88.3 FM in Montrose, 88.3 FM in Craig, and online at cpr.org.
Thanks for posting this notice! While none of the 2009 winners came from our district, in 2007 Alek Shrader was one of the finalists and an eventual winner. His participation was captured in the feature-length film "The Audition" that was one of the Met Opera HD broadcasts earlier this year.
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