Photo by Betsy Kershner
San Francisco Conservatory graduate and incoming Merola Program participant Julie Adams and 2012 Merola alumn Ao Li are among the nine finalists of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. They were chosen from hundreds of candidates and dozens of regional winners.
The finals on Sunday, beginning at noon PDT, will be broadcast nationwide on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Network, with no known local outlets (neither KQED nor KDFC has plans to broadcast it). Besides the career-boosting fame, the five singers named grand winners will receive $15,000 each, the remaining national finalists receive $5,000.
Annually, some 100 former National Council auditioners appear in Metropolitan Opera productions. Among them: Frederica von Stade (1969), Thomas Hampson (1981), Patricia Racette, Susan Graham, and Renée Fleming (all in 1988), Stephanie Blythe (1994), Eric Owens (1996).
These are the finalists:
Julie Adams, soprano; Western Region
Patrick Guetti, bass; Middle Atlantic Region
Nicole Haslett, soprano; Northwest Region
Ao Li, bass-baritone; Rocky Mountain Region
Yi Li, tenor; Middle Atlantic Region
Christopher Lowrey, countertenor; New England Region
Rafael Moras, tenor: Gulf Coast Region
Rexford Tester, tenor; Middle Atlantic Region
Amanda Woodbury, soprano; Western Region
Photo by Kristen Loken
Adams, a native of Burbank, CA, has earned her master’s degree at the S.F. Conservatory, where her stage credits included Blanche in Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Mimi in La bohème, and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte.
Ao Li, from Dezhou, China, sang numerous roles with San Francisco Opera during and after his Merola year, including The Secret Garden, The Elixir of Love, and The Capulets and Montagues. Last year, he was first prize winner at Operalia.
Both singers have been coached by César Ulloa, whose students include prize-winners in major voice competitions around the world. He commented on the National Council results:
I will be there in New York for the finals to support both Julie and Ao. I've been Julie's teacher for the past six years, and of Ao Li since he entered the Merola program; I continue to work with the two of them among my students, and will coach both in New York before the finals.It's all very exciting, I am very proud of both of them. They are both extremely talented and hard workers. I am blessed!