Not since Wagner’s singing contests in Tannhauser and Der Meistersinger has there been a more posh competition than Houston Grand Opera’s Concert of Arias, formally known as the Eleanor McCullum Competition for Young Singers. The Cullen Theater at the Wortham Theater Center was literally abuzz Friday night as everyone was dressed to the nines for the after-show dinner in the grand foyer.
In this live final round (also live-streamed), seven contestants vied for prize money and the opportunity to study at HGO’s prestigious Butler Studio. The process proceeding this final contest was grueling, but ultimately gratifying as we got to hear some of the most talented young singers from around the world. The future of opera is in very steady hands if these seven have a part in it anywhere.
In the summer of 2024, a host of HGO professionals scoured the USA and Europe to locate young singers while surveying countless apprentice programs, conservatories and competitions.
Studio director Colin Michael Brush, Music Director and maestro Patrick Summers, General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor, Director of Artistic Planning Richard Bado, Butler Musical Director Maureen Zoltek, and Director of Vocal Instruction Dr. Stephen King performed a yeoman’s task to see and hear so many applicants. After candidates submitted their bios, training information, and two video submissions of contrasting arias, the team had 1,000 applicants and 2,000 videos to review. From that, 250 were selected for the first round which entailed the team doing live auditions around the country when applicants couldn’t get to Houston because of studies, performances or work. This talent pool was further whittled to 20 semifinalists.
Since this was the first year in 36 previous outings that the HGO orchestra was engaged to accompany the competition, aria selections had to be finalized quickly. Each singer could submit four arias for consideration, so the task of preparing the scores and organizing the individual parts for 80 individual arias was mind-numbing, but HGO’s Music Planning team, led by Monica Thakkar, pulled it together with a concerted blaze of creative chutzpah.
After live auditions in Houston on January 10, seven singers were selected for this final round, the Concert of Arias – Lauren Carroll (soprano, USA), Daria Lupu (soprano, Romania), Alexis Seminario (soprano, USA), Meg Brilleslyper (mezzo, USA), Luke Norvell (tenor, USA), Luka Tsevelidze (tenor, Georgia), and Geonho Lee (baritone, South Korea).
Obviously, all are the cream of the crop, and each brought something special: diction, power, finesse, phrasing, agility, force, acting. As one of the judges said, We are not looking for the next Pavarotti, but that unique art that they already possess and is like none other.
Before they performed, a short film of them talking about themselves was shown. Geonho Lee’s was surprising in that he looked like a K-pop boy but when he sang his first aria, “Si può?” (“May I”) from the prologue of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, where the narrator invites the audience to the play they’re about to see, the voice that emerged blew us away. Deep, dark, commanding. He’s no K-pop guy. After the intermission, his final aria was the classic “Eri tu” (“It is you”) from Verdi’s A Masked Ball, a delight for baritones that lies between revenge and tenderness for his wife whom he thinks is the lover of the king. Lee sang this as gorgeously as I have ever heard, with beautiful shading and perfect diction. Ultimately he won First Place and the Audience Favorite award. (He also became $30,000 richer.)
Tsevelidze won Second Place with his velvety tenor that caressed the anguish of “Ah, la paterna mano” (Ah, the paternal hand”) from Verdi’s Macbeth, and then the lyrically stunning “Kuda, kuda, vi udalilis,” from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, as Lensky bids goodbye to life before the tragic duel. It was sumptuous, to say the least. What a sound he makes.
Third Place went to Carroll, whose impressive soprano danced through the enraged coloratura of Mozart’s “Come scoglio” (“Like a rock”) from Cosi fan tutte, and then shone even brighter in Violetta’s “Sempre libera” (“Always free”), as the courtesan lives for life and love, come what may. She tossed off treacherous roulades and trills and even ended on the high E, which after all the dangerous filigree is nearly impossible to execute flawlessly. She did and won $10,000 for her efforts.
Soprano Lupa was the deserved winner of the Ana María Martinez Encouragement Award, although I can’t see any encouragement she needs with her shining instrument in full opera diva mode with Marguerita’s “Jewel Song” from Gounod’s Faust, or the fiendishly difficult bargework in the cabeletta “Era desso il figlio mio” (“He was my son”) from Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia. Lupa’s acting chops were the best of them all.
Brilleslyper has a lovely deep soprano, but she didn’t quite connect with Handel’s vengeance aria “Arise, ye furies” from Julius Caesar. A top edge crept in which kept her at a distance. She conquered Charlotte’s “Letter aria” from Massenet’s Werther, though, filling it with poignant longing for the man she sent away.
Norvell chose an unlikely winner in Britten’s “Tarquinius does not wait” from The Rape of Lucretia. With its charging orchestration and florid lyrics, it is most dramatic but not very easy on the ears. He sang it with ease and power, though, an auspicious debut. His second choice was the lullaby-like lament of “E la solita storia del pastore” (“This is the old story about a shepherd”) from Cilea’s L’arlesiana. He caressed the song like a lover ruing his lost love. Very effective.
Seminario, in flowing sunburst yellow, gave a heartfelt rendition of “Ain’t it a pretty night” from Carlyle Floyd’s Susannah, where she rhapsodizes about life outside her backwater town, then cleared the Cullen’s rafters with Sieglinde’s radiantly sexed-up “Du bist der Lenz” (“You are the spring”), a love song to her brother from Wagner’s Die Walküre.
The judges were Dastoor; Summers; deputy general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Michael Heaston; and Martinez. With all the talent displayed magnificently on stage, they did a fine if unenviable task. The audience was happy with the choices, I think, especially for Lee, the clear winner of the evening. In my view, all were winners.
Under James Gaffigan’s clear, precise, and sweeping direction, the HGO orchestra sounded mighty pretty, too.
Look later, down the years, for these singers to appear at your local opera house. It wouldn’t surprise me if that happened sooner than you think.
