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The Opera Guild assists local voice students, both undergraduate and graduate, with scholarships, grants, competitive prizes, and opportunities to perform for the community.

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See and Hear the Arias from 2019’s Quest for the Best!

April 13, 2019 by Frank Finkenberg

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

2019 Graduate Singers

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

RankAmountDonorWinner
First (tie)$1250OGSA in honor of Patrick and Patricia SchifanoChunghee Lee
First (tie)$1250OGSA in memory of Stokes TolbertDiana Peralta
Third$750Mary Casady in memory of Richard L CasadyYuchen Luo

All Graduate Videos

Undergraduate Singers and Top Awards

2019 Undergraduates

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

RankAmountDonorWinner
First$800AnonymousEmma Petersen
Second$600Carolyn & Russ RussoEzra Zurita
Third$500Patrick and Patricia SchifanoKelsie Grimsley

All Undergraduate Videos

Filed Under: Listen, News, Quest for the Best, Watch

See and Hear the Arias from 2018’s Quest for the Best!

July 3, 2018 by Frank Finkenberg

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
2018 graduates

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

Undergraduate Singers
2018 undergraduates

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

Filed Under: Listen, News, Quest for the Best, Watch

2018 Quest for the Best Undergraduate Student Arias

July 1, 2018 by Frank Finkenberg

The Fred Fox School of Music technical staff captured all the arias on video. The top undergraduate student prize winners are:
RankAmountDonorWinner
First$1000Tolbert Family, in honor of Stokes TolbertEmily Garcia
Second$750Susan & Frank Finkenberg and Patricia & Patrick SchifanoFrannie Barrows
Third$600Carolyn & Russell RussoEmma Petersen

To download any aria in a choice of video resolutions,click on its title. This takes you to the Vimeo website; then simply click on the Download button. Depending on the resolution chosen, these files may be 50MB or larger. Audio files are also available upon request to the webmaster.) Go to Graduate Arias

Third Place ribbon

1. Emma Petersen, soprano: Quel guardo il cavaliere

2. Annalisse Sauceda Garcia, soprano: Deh vieni, non tardar

3. Stephanie Swift, soprano: Mi chiamano Mimì

4. Powel Brumm, baritone: Modern Major General

5. Sara Lashbrook, soprano: Lascia ch’io pianga

Second Place ribbon

6. Frannie Barrows, soprano: Der Hölle Rache

7. Athena Beebe, mezzo-soprano: Smanie implacabili

8. Bridget Marlowe, soprano: Vedrai, carino

9. Brianna Barnhart, soprano: Glitter and Be Gay

First Place ribbon

10. Emily Garcia, soprano: Mi chiamano Mimì

Go to Graduate Arias

Filed Under: Keep Off Homepage, Listen, News, Quest for the Best, Watch

Quest Winners to Sing at Free Member Party

April 26, 2018 by Frank Finkenberg

This year’s free member party will feature the first prize winners of last month’s Quest for the Best. Baritone Octavio Moreno (graduate division) and soprano Emily Garcia (undergraduate) will be accompanied by pianist Kyungsun Choi. Refreshments will be served, courtesy of our Board and Hospitality Committee.

Here are the particulars:
Date: Sunday, May 6, 2018
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Place: The home of Philippe Bodin, 5631 N. Campbell Avenue, 520-603-2869

 

Meet the Performers

Soprano Emily Garcia is a 21- year-old junior at the University of Arizona studying vocal performance with Prof. Andrew Stuckey. She hopes to one day make a career singing on stages throughout the world. Emily placed as the second alternate in the 2018 President’s Competition which allowed her the honor of a solo performance with the Arizona Symphony in the Presidents Concert this past February. Last year she won first place at NATS, and this year she won both the Amelia Reiman Competition and Quest for the Best. She has also placed first in the Schmidt Youth Vocal Competition, placed in the top 3 of at the Classical Singer Vocal Competition and placed as a finalist in the Hal Leonard Vocal Competition. Emily has also appeared in several operas with the U of A Opera including, Dialogues of the Carmelites, L’enfant et les sortileges, and The Elixir of Love. She has also performed many other times throughout the Tucson community with groups such as Sons of Orpheus as their soprano soloist.

Baritone Octavio Moreno participated in the Artist Program at the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia. He is currently working on his doctorate of music at the University of Arizona. His repertoire includes Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Zurga in The Pearl Fishers, Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte, Lopez Ibanez in Arizona Lady, Laurentino in Cruzar la cara de la luna, Germont in La Traviata, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, the title role in Rigoletto, Belcore in The Elixir of Love, and more. He has performed with Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), and Arizona Opera, among others. Future engagements include Laurentino in Cruzar la cara de la luna with both Houston Grand Opera and Ecuador Opera.

Pianist Kyungsun Choi, a native of Seoul, South Korea, graduated from Yonsei University in Seoul, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance. He attended the University of Northern Iowa on a full tuition scholarship, receiving a Masters of Music degree under Professor Sean Botkin and serving as a graduate teaching assistant. He received a doctoral degree (D.M.A) in Piano Performance at the University of Arizona, studying under Dr. Paula Fan and again serving as a graduate teaching assistant. Dr. Choi has enjoyed a varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, accompanist and teacher, and has given many solo and chamber recitals locally and internationally. He has appeared twice as a soloist with Tucson Repertory Orchestra, playing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”. He has served as a rehearsal pianist/coach for many operas, including works of Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Bizet, Mascagni, Offenbach, Sondheim, Mechem, Menotti, Argento, Britten and Bernstein.

Filed Under: News, Quest for the Best

Stokes Tolbert Honored
at 2018 Quest for the Best

March 8, 2018 by Frank Finkenberg

Stokes M. Tolbert

We are pleased to announce that the Opera Guild’s honoree at this year’s Quest for the Best is our board member and finance committee chair, Stokes M. Tolbert. His wit and wisdom have long graced not only OGSA functions, but those of all the cultural institutions on whose boards he has served. His active life at age 94 and his continuing dedication to the Tucson community are inspirational models to all.
 
Stokes enjoyed a long career as an international development economist, including several years with the U.S. Agency for International Development and almost 30 years with the World Bank. He and his family lived for ten years in Asia—in India (where two of his children were born), Thailand and Indonesia. 
 
Upon retiring from the World Bank in 1988, Stokes followed his daughter Leslie and her husband, Paul St. John, to Tucson, where they joined the UA faculty, and where he enjoys the company of not only grandchildren but two great-grandchildren. Stokes also served in leadership roles at the Nature Conservancy of Arizona, the Tucson Committee on Foreign Relations, the United Nations Association of Southern Arizona, and the Yale Club of Southern Arizona. He somehow found time to serve on the advisory boards of the Tucson Museum of Art, the UA School of Music and the UA Press. He has been a board member of the Opera Guild of Southern Arizona since 2006.
 
Please join us on March 24 at 1:00 p.m. in Holsclaw Hall as we present the top graduate student prize in his honor.

Filed Under: News, Quest for the Best

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  • Home
  • Tucson Opera Calendar (large)
  • FREE Opera Previews
  • Quest for the Best
  • Listen to our Singers
  • Videos about OGSA
  • Read Past Newsletters
  • Photo Gallery
  • About Us
    • Our Supporters
    • Board of Directors 2020-2021
    • Bylaws
    • President’s Message
  • For Students: Grants and Scholarships
    • About Grants and Scholarships
    • Grant Application
  • Opera Analyses
  • Contact Us