During this unusual time, the Opera Guild Board of Directors has worked hard, in close cooperation with the Fred Fox School of Music faculty and staff, to continue to aid local students of opera and bring the joys of opera to the community. Although it was not possible to hold our annual festive Quest for the Best! this year, thanks to the generosity of our members and other donors we were still able to award over $8,000 to a great crop of current students. They recorded their arias in a COVID-safe environment at school or in their homes.
As an online audience-judged competition would have faced insurmountable technical and artistic hurdles, prizes for the Showcase are equal in each division—$700 for graduate students and $400 for undergraduates. But just as in Quest, a limited number of singers were nominated, and their choice of aria approved, by their primary voice teacher.
Please visit our website to view (and download) all the graduate and undergraduate arias. The successful nominees are listed below in alphabetical order, with direct links to their arias.
Graduate Students — $700 Awards
| Yue Huang |
| Yiyan Ji |
| MyeongJu Kang |
| Suyoung Lee |
| Yongjae Lee |
| Bethany Pehrson |
| Diana Peralta |
| Rebeckah Resare |
Undergraduates — $400 Awards
| Rachel Alvord |
| Nannette Avendano Rodriguez |
| Arianna Campbell |
| Topher Esguerra |
| Lylah Field |
| Nadari Hockenhull |
| Abigail Juganaru |
| Timothy Simon |