At the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions finals, in New York on Sunday, three of the six winners came from the San Francisco Opera Merola Program: tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven (2016), countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen (2016), and mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey (2017).
The other three winners are sopranos Vanessa Vasquez, from Scottsdale, Arizona, and Kirsten MacKinnon, from Vancouver, Canada, and tenor Richard Smagur, from Clarkesville, Georgia. The six winners are not ranked.
Winners were selected from among nine finalists, including current Merolina soprano Natalie Image and bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum (Merola 2016-2017), in addition to soprano Gabriella Reyes de Ramirez, from Meriden, Connecticut.
This was the 64th annual Met Auditions, a program responsible for the introduction of such stars of the opera as Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Eric Owens, Sondra Radvanovsky, Deborah Voigt, and Frederica von Stade. Over 100 singers who participated in the National Council process early in their careers are on the Met's roster in the current season.
Schoonhoven posted the day before the finals in Lincoln Center:
This time last year I was stunned I had been accepted into the Merola Program, and had recently competed and did not advance at a regional for the Met Auditions. Now, a year later, I am an Adler Fellow and a grand finalist in the Auditions! I have no idea how this happened, but life sure does move quickly.
This week has been a stunning reminder of why I love what I do. The spontaneity, paired with the precision, and all of it would be impossible without my loving family and incredible mentors. I don’t know what happens tomorrow, I just am so humbled to be here making music with my incredible peers, Maestro Luisotti, and to be shepherded by all the incredible coaches and admin at the Metropolitan Opera. I think I’m living my best life, right now.
And then he won ...
During the auditions, news came from Cohen about his joining the Houston Grand Opera Studio for the 2017-18 season, where he has been cast in productions of Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Richard Strauss’ Elektra. Returning to San Francisco, the countertenor will sing in the American Bach Soloists’ 20th anniversary performances of Handel’s Messiah, in December.
