Opera hopefuls
By Tracy Spicer 10/26/2006
Sure, the birthplace of opera is Italy, but there have been some world-renowned voices to come out of the United States, all thanks to the Metropolitan Opera National Council’s Western Regional Auditions. Leona Mitchell, Carol Vaness and Brian Asawa all got their start with this intense competition.
The next batch of emerging young talents from California to Arizona will gather this weekend to participate in the 50th annual Western Regional Competition.
The closed-door preliminary audition will take place Friday. However, the public will have a chance to see the finalists audition beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Bovard Auditorium at USC.
The auditions are held to discover new talent, as well as to search for possible participants in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera Association. More than 2,500 hopefuls compete each year in 60 districts within 16 regions throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada.
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