If you missed 2019’s Quest, get some of the visual flavor with these photos by Howard Weiss. For the full experience, watch videos of all the graduate and undergraduate arias.
See and Hear the Arias from 2019’s Quest for the Best!
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)
Rank | Amount | Donor | Winner |
---|---|---|---|
First (tie) | $1250 | OGSA in honor of Patrick and Patricia Schifano | Chunghee Lee |
First (tie) | $1250 | OGSA in memory of Stokes Tolbert | Diana Peralta |
Third | $750 | Mary Casady in memory of Richard L Casady | Yuchen Luo |
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)
Rank | Amount | Donor | Winner |
---|---|---|---|
First | $800 | Anonymous | Emma Petersen |
Second | $600 | Carolyn & Russ Russo | Ezra Zurita |
Third | $500 | Patrick and Patricia Schifano | Kelsie Grimsley |
2019 Quest for the Best Graduate Student Arias
The Fred Fox School of Music technical staff captured all the arias on video. The top undergraduate student prize winners are:
Rank | Amount | Donor | Winner |
---|---|---|---|
First (tie) | $1250 | OGSA in honor of Patrick and Patricia Schifano | Chunghee Lee |
First (tie) | $1250 | OGSA in memory of Stokes Tolbert | Diana Peralta |
Third | $750 | Mary Casady in memory of Richard L Casady | Yuchen Luo |
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.
Uncompressed audio files are also available upon request to the webmaster.



2019 Quest for the Best Undergraduate Student Arias
The Fred Fox School of Music technical staff captured all the arias on video. The top undergraduate student prize winners are:
Rank | Amount | Donor | Winner |
---|---|---|---|
First | $800 | Anonymous | Emma Petersen |
Second | $600 | Carolyn & Russ Russo | Ezra Zurita |
Third | $500 | Patrick and Patricia Schifano | Kelsie Grimsley |
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.
Uncompressed audio files are also available upon request to the webmaster.



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