Nine Singers Advance To The Final Round Of The 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions

Following yesterday's semi-final competition, nine young singers have advanced to the final round of the Metropolitan Opera's 2020 National Council Auditions. In the public concert, finalists perform on the Met stage Sunday, March 1 at 3 p.m., for an audience of judges, agents, industry leaders, and the general public (in the auditorium and live on the radio). The finalists, chosen by a panel of opera administrators from the Met and other companies, each perform two arias with the Met Orchestra conducted by Bertrand de Billy. Prize money will increase for the first time in 20 years, with the winners receiving individual cash prizes of $20,000 (previously $15,000), and the prestigious and potentially career-launching title of National Council Auditions Winner. The remaining finalists receive $10,000 (previously $7,500).

The concert will be hosted by soprano Lisette Oropesa, a 2005 National Council Auditions winner, and will also feature a performance by tenor Javier Camarena, while the judges deliberate.

The concert will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SiriusXM Channel 75, and streamed live on the Met's web site, metopera.org.

The 2020 finalists, the regions they represent in the competition, and their hometowns are:

· Gabrielle Beteag, 25, mezzo-soprano (Southeast Region: Lilburn, GA)

· Lindsay Kate Brown, 28, mezzo-soprano (Upper Midwest Region: Waterloo, NY)

· Blake Denson, 24, baritone (Midwest Region: Paducah, KY)

· Jonah Hoskins, 23, tenor (Rocky Mountain Region: Saratoga Springs, UT)

· Chasiti Lashay, 27, soprano (Western Region: Houston, TX)

· Jana McIntyre, 28, soprano (Midwest Region: Santa Barbara, CA)

· Alexandria Shiner, 29, soprano (Middle Atlantic Region: Waterford, MI)

· Denis Vélez, 27, soprano (Gulf Coast Region: Mexico City, Mexico)

· Xiaomeng Zhang, 29, baritone (New England Region: Wenzhou, China)

Tickets for the Grand Finals Concert may be purchased at the Met Box Office, by phone at (212) 362-6000, or online at metopera.org.

This year's semifinalists were chosen from more than 1,000 singers who participated in auditions held in 40 districts throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, and who then competed in the 12 regional finals. These auditions are sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera National Council and administered by National Council members and hundreds of volunteers from across the country.

The Met National Council Auditions have been crucial in introducing many of today's best-known stars, such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Deborah Voigt, Thomas Hampson, Stephanie Blythe, Sondra Radvanovsky, Lawrence Brownlee, Eric Owens, Angela Meade, Susanna Phillips, Michael Fabiano, Latonia Moore, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Nadine Sierra, Jamie Barton, and Ryan Speedo Green. The competition gained international attention with the release of the 2008 feature-length documentary The Audition, directed by award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke, which chronicled the 2007 National Council Auditions season and Grand Finals Concert.