The Metropolitan National Council Grand Finals Concert will take place on March 30, but there are already some regional winners who will participate in the semifinals — among them is soprano Julie Adams, from the S.F. Conservatory of Music, winner in the Los Angeles District.
She has something in common with Nadine Sierra (First Place in both the Monserrat Caballe International Competition and the Neue Stimmen International Competition), Daniela Mack (finalist in this year's Cardiff Singer of the World Competition), Ao Li (First Place at Operalia this years), and a dozen more rising stars.
They and many, many more singers have been coached by Cesar Ulloa, who says of Adams:
I am so happy for her, she has worked very hard these past five years with me, and now she is starting to take flight. I am looking forward to hearing her in New York on the Met stage, like I did with [another Ulloa student] Efrain Solis last year.
The unstoppable Ulloa has teaching affiliations with the S.F. Conservatory of Music; San Francisco Opera Center's Adler and Merola Programs; the S.I.V.A.M. Young Artist Program of Mexico City; Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program; International Vocal Arts Institute in Israel, Montreal, Puerto Rico, China, and Italy; Dolora Zajick Institute for Dramatic Voices; L'Atelier Lyrique de L'Opera de Montreal; and Palm Beach Opera Young Artist Program.