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

All Graduate Videos

Undergraduates — $400 Awards

All Undergraduate Videos

Congratulations to all the singers who helped make this year’s Quest for the Best an outstanding success. Thanks to the generosity of donors and attendees we awarded over $8,000 in prizes, with all  singers receiving prize money. The top award winners are noted below; click on their names to go directly to videos of their arias. Or view (and download) all the  graduate and undergraduate arias.

Graduate Singers and Top Awards

Left to right: Shainy Manuel, Crystal Kachevas, Erika Burkhart, Frannie Barrows, Chunghee Lee, Diana Peralta, Yuchen Luo, Kristen Lucas. (photo: Howard Weiss)

All Graduate Videos

Undergraduate Singers and Top Awards

Left to right: Simon Faddoul, Lylah Field, David Ingram, Bridget Marlowe, Jinzhou Jia, Kelsie Grimsley, Ezra Zurita, Emma Petersen. (Photo: Howard Weiss)

All Undergraduate Videos

Congratulations to all the singers who helped make this year’s Quest for the Best an outstanding success. Thanks to the generosity of donors and attendees we awarded $10,600 in prizes, with all  singers receiving prize money. See who won the top awards, and view (or download) all the graduate and undergraduate arias.

Graduate Student Singers

Left to right: Kristen Lucas, Brian McNiff, Jamey Wright, Mark Hockenberry, Chunghee Lee, Kaitlin Bertenshaw, Shainy Manuel, Octavio Moreno.

Undergraduate Singers

Left to right: Emma Petersen, Annalisse Sauceda Garcia, Stephanie Swift, Powel Brumm, Sara Lashbrook, Frannie Barrows, Athena Beebe, Bridget Marlowe, Brianna Barnhart, Emily Garcia.