Annapolis Opera's Nineteenth Vocal Competition

Annapolis Opera's Nineteenth Vocal Competition

Finalists and Awards


	Jenni Bank - Mezzo-soprano Vocal Selections: "Smanie implacabili" from Così fan tutte by Mozart. Prize: Study Award - The Links of Annapolis Award and Sprehe Memorial Award ($750.00). The Links of Annapolis is a worldwide community service organization for women of color. It promotes four programs: Services to Youth, International Trends, National Trends, and the Arts. The Sprehe Memorial Award honors Joanne B. Sprehe, a longtime friend of Vocal Competition Committee member Ruth Milazzo Knox, who instituted the award. Mezzo-soprano Jenni Bank was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and grew up in Binghamton, New York. She is a Graduate Performance Diploma in Opera student in the studio of Dr. Stanley Cornett at Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University where she also received her Bachelor's degree. Ms Bank holds the Florence Bentley Hughes Endowed Merit Scholarship at Peabody, is the most recent winner of the prestigious Sylvia Green Voice Competition and the student division of the Baltimore Music Club Competition. At Peabody, Ms. Bank has performed the roles of Marcellina (Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro), Quickly (Verdi's Falstaff), Petra (Sondheim's A Little Night Music), and Hanna (World Premiere of The Alien Corn), Frugola (Il Tabarro), Suor Dolcina (Suor Angelica), The Witch (Peabody Opera Outreach production of Hansel and Gretel), Emilia (scene from Rossini's Otello), and Third Lady (The Magic Flute, Hood College of Maryland). With the Young Victorian Theatre Company of Baltimore Ms. Bank performed Katisha (The Mikado) and Ruth (Pirates of Penzance). With the Summer Savoyards of Binghamton she sang the Fairy Queen (Iolanthe) and Little Buttercup (H.M.S. Pinafore). With the Annapolis Chorale, she was mezzo soloist in Verdi’s Requiem, Queen Jezebel (Mendelssohn's Elijah), and the alto solo (Bruckner's Te Deum). Engagements in 2007 include, the role of Giulietta (Tales of Hoffmann, Peabody Opera Theatre) and the role of Miss Todd (Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief, Harbor Opera Company) and she will cover the role of Ruth (Pirates of Penzance, New Jersey Opera Theater).
Heyk Chae - Tenor Vocal Selections: "La fleur que tu m’avais jetée" from Carmen by Bizet. Prize: Study Award - The Todd Duncan and Col. Harry Lindauer Memorial Award ($600.00). Rose Thorman gives this award in remembrance of her vocal teacher, Todd Duncan, whose performance as the original Porgy in George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess broke new ground. Mr. Duncan also is remembered for his Broadway performance in Lost in the Stars for which he won numerous awards. Thea Lindauer gives the Col. Harry Lindauer Memorial Award in honor of her late husband, Col. Harry Lindauer, whose service to his country, his community, his family, and Annapolis Opera was always above and beyond the call of duty. Tenor Heyk Chae, originally from South Korea, is an Opera Graduate Performance Diploma student at Peabody Conservatory in Stanley Cornett’s studio. He holds a B.M. from Yonsei University in South Korea, a Performance Diploma from Indiana University, and he will complete the GPD in 2007. He has held merit scholarships at Indiana University and Peabody. Mr. Chae has won first prize in the Asian Association Competition and the Paul Robeson Competition, as well as placing fourth in the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition in 2006. Roles include Tamino (Magic Flute, Yonsei University; Rudolfo (La Bohème, Indiana University and Peabody Opera Theater); Mr. Erlansson (A Little Night Music); and Hoffmann (Les contes d’Hoffmann). He is an avid performer in the community with the Baltimore Opera Chorus, Annapolis Opera, and Baltimore Concert Artists.
	Colleen Daly - Soprano Vocal Selections: "Depuis le jour" from Louise by Charpentier, "O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn!" from Die Zauberflöte by Mozart. Prize: Grand Prize - The Grace Gelinas Clark Memorial Award ($1,800.00). Grace Clark moved with her husband and family to Annapolis, Maryland in 1940, when her husband began his 38-year career as a professor and coach at the U.S. Naval Academy. Mrs. Clark founded the Annapolis Civic Ballet Company and the Grace Clark School of the Dance. She taught thousands of students in the Annapolis area the Cecchetti Methord of Ballet. During her 40-year career as a ballet teacher and choreographer, Mrs. Clark brought great beauty and joy to the many audiences who attended the performances. Mrs. Clark studied with famed Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis as well as the Royal Academy of Ballet in London, England. Her daughter, Grace Victoria Clark Waidner, and her son, William Ellery Clark give this award. Prize: The Director/Conductor Award ($500.00). The donors of this award are Braxton Peters, Annapolis Opera's Stage Director and Ronald Gretz, Annapolis Opera's Conductor and Musical Director. Both have served as judges for our Vocal Competition. Messrs. Peters and Gretz offer the award as an incentive to the Grand Prize winner to pursue an operatic career. Prize: Audience Choice Award - The DiLeonardo-Musterman Award ($300.00). This award is given by Anna Marie Musterman, former president of the Annapolis Opera, and her husband Powell J. Musterman, Jr. to honor the memory of Anna Marie's father, Antonio DiLeonardo. As she says, "He is always sitting beside me, singing opera just for me." Soprano Colleen Daly holds a B.M. Degree in Vocal Performance (DePaul University) and an M.M. in Opera Performance (University of Maryland, College Park). She has been a young artist at the Oberlin in Italy Scenes Program, and a New Horizon Fellow (Aspen Music Festival and School). Ms. Daly is currently on the roster at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. Maryland Opera Theater roles include Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Musetta (La Bohème), Miss Jessel (The Turn of the Screw) and Berta (Il barbiere di Siviglia). Other roles include Micaëla (La tragédie de Carmen, Olney Theatre Center for the Arts), Die Königen der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte, Annapolis Opera), Madame Herz (Der Schauspieldirektor, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center), Cunegonde (Candide, Merle Reskin Theatre, Chicago), Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring, Gotham Chamber Opera), Sole (Giasone, Aspen Opera Theatre Center), and Ännchen (Der Freischütz, Academy of Vocal Arts). Concerts and recitals include the Mozart, Fauré, and Rutter Requiem Masses, Händel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, and operatic excerpts with the Washington Concert Opera, Annapolis Opera, Ovation Artists, the Washington Arts Club, the InSeries, and Opera Lafayette. Awards include the Richard Tucker Foundation, the Palm Beach Opera Guild, the Bel Canto Foundation, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She has studied under Maestro Harry Bickett, François Loup, Catherine Malfitano, Susanne Mentzer, Ashley Putnam, and Maestro Julius Rudel. Upcoming performances include the title role in the AVA mainstage production of Massenet’s Manon and Die Königen der Nacht with New Jersey Opera, where she will also cover the role of Juliette for their production of Gounod’s Romèo et Juliette.
	Carla Dirlikov - Mezzo-soprano Vocal Selections: "Sein wir wieder gut" from Ariadne auf Naxos by R. Strauss, "Una voce poco fa" from Il Barbiere di Siviglia byRossini. Prize: Study Award - The Severn Town Club and Clara Berenson Award ($800.00). The Severn Town Club is a chapter in the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, which operates in forty countries and includes 300,000 members. The club’s objectives are to promote the common interest, to develop its members and promote the welfare of the community. The Severn Town Club gives back to the community through funds raised at the Holly Ball. This award is also given in remembrance of Clara Berenson who studied voice, loved opera and was a loyal patron of Lyric Opera of Chicago. Her daughter and son-in-law, Adrienne Berenson Goldberg and Clarence Goldberg donate it. Mezzo-soprano Carla Dirlikov received her B.M. from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Shirley Verrett. She also received a Prix Superieur from the Conservatoire National de Paris and recently obtained her M.M. in Opera Performance from McGill University. She is a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico, where she frequently travels to perform. In 2005, she was invited by the United States Embassy to perform a series of solo vocal recitals throughout the country. She later returned to Vera Cruz for the Festival de Música Sacra Pascua Florida to perform the mezzo solos in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and two Lamentaciones of Ignacio Jerusalem. She recently toured there again giving recitals at the National Anthropology Museum, the Augustin Lara Festival in Vera Cruz, and the Festival International Centro Historico Campeche. She then performed a series of Bach cantatas with the Festival de Musique Sacree de l'Outaouais. During the summer of 2006, Ms. Dirlikov performed a recital program of all American repertoire at several venues in Mexico City, including the Centro Nacional de las Artes. Ms. Dirlikov's stage credits include Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Flora (La Traviata), Julie Riel (the Canadian Opera Louis Riel), Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Ms. Todd (The Old Maid and the Thief), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Mère Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites), Idamante (Idomeneo), Penelope (Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria), the title role (Carmen), the Dog/Woodpecker (The Cunning Little Vixen), and Vera Boronel (The Consul). She has sung at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Opera Roanoke, Pellegrini Opera, Toronto Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Montreal's Place des Arts, and the Canadian National Arts Centre. Ms. Dirlikov has been a featured performer in several events in the Annapolis Opera 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. Upcoming engagements include Dorabella in Così fan tutte in Canada, and an invitation to attend the Caramoor Festival as a Bel Canto Soloist.
Kenneth Kellogg - Bass Vocal Selections: "Gremin’s Aria" from Eugene Onegin byTchaikovsky. Prize: Second Prize - The William Boldyga and Betty S. Myers Incentive Award ($1,600.00). This award is given by Bill Boldyga and Betty Meters to encourage the development of operatic talent and the vocal arts in Annapolis. As a child, Bass Kenneth Kellogg sang in the Washington D.C. Boy’s Choir. He then attended Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts. He holds a B.M. from Ohio University, where he was introduced to opera. He holds an M.M. and a Specialist Degree from the University of Michigan. Mr. Kellogg is a Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts, in Philadelphia, studying with voice teacher Bill Schuman. At Ohio University he performed Sarastro (Magic Flute), Mr. Olsen (Weill’s Street Scene) and the Superintendent (Britten’s Albert Herring). As a Young Artist with the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, studying with baritone Daniel Washington, he sang Mr. Kofner (Menotti’s The Consul), The Commendatore (Mozart’s Don Giovanni); Seneca (Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea); and Orgon Pernelle (Mechem’s Tartuffe). With the Comic Opera Guild he reprised the role of Sarastro. He participated in Motor City Lyric Opera on Wheels outreach program performing the children’s opera The Goose Girl by Pasatieri. In Bel Canto Northwest’s summer program, he sang Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) and Bluebeard (Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle). Two favorite productions were Nancy Van de Vate’s Where the Cross is Made (National Opera Association Convention, 2006; Conservatory Project, Kennedy Center), and creating the role of the Old Man in James P. Johnson’s De Organizer (staged premiere, University of Michigan, 2006). In 2006 he was a summer Resident Artist at the Pine Mountain Music Festival. Upcoming performances include Basilio (Rossini’s Il barbiere di Sivilgia), Zaretsky and Prince Gremin (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin), Killian and Ein Hermit (Weber’s Der Freischütz), Count des Grieux (Massenet’s Manon), and as bass soloist in Rossini’s Stabat Mater. In summer 2007, Mr. Kellogg is participating in the San Francisco Merola Opera Program, where he is creating the role of Tobias in world premiere production of Thomas Pasatieri’s Hotel Casablanca.
Daniel Olson - Baritone Vocal Selections: "Avant de quitter ces lieux" from Faust by Gounod. Prize: Study Award - The Hughes Award ($1,000.00). George and Madeline Hughes give this award in honor of their young grandchildren Charles West Carty, George Hughes Carty, Tyler Duncan Hughes, Roberts Parrish Wilmer, and Adeline Ann Hall, to encourage their love of opera and the world of music. A native of St. Louis, baritone Daniel Olson holds a M.M. from Indiana University and a B.A. from Luther College. He participated in Virginia Opera’s Spectrum Young Artist Program and Central City Opera’s Apprentice Program. He has studied voice with Dominic Cossa, François Loup, James McDonald, and Giorgio Torzi. He has participated in master classes with Denyce Graves, Sherrill Milnes, Samuel Ramey, and Thomas Stewart. Mr. Olson is also a recipient of the Shoshana Foundation Richard F. Gold Career Grant, and an alumnus of the Britten-Pears School of Aldeburgh, England. Previous credits include: Valentin (Gounod’s Faust), and Vicomte Cascada (The Merry Widow), for Virginia Opera; Handsome (Pucinni’s La fanciulla del West) and Sciarrone (Tosca) for Baltimore Opera; Morales, (Carmen), Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Tom/John (The Face on the Barroom Floor) for Central City Opera); Bob (The Old Maid and the Thief) and Gianni Schicchi (Gianni Schicchi) for The Heartland Opera Theater. He currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife, stage director Cathryn Olson.
	Michelle Rice - Mezzo-soprano Vocal Selections: "Give him this orchid" from The Rape of Lucretia by Britten, "Mi tradi quell'alma ingrata" from Don Giovanni by Mozart. Prize: Study Award - The Lindley Incentive Award ($1,400.00). This award is given by Mark and Nancy Lindley in honor of their son, Dr. Karl Solibakke, whose dedication to the discipline and art of opera was seminal in his development as a scholar with a deep understanding of the intersection of the literary and musical arts. The donors wish to to encourage the recipient of the Lindley Incentive Award to grow both musically and personally. Mezzo-soprano Michelle Rice holds a B.M. from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she was a member of the Opera Studio. Her recent performance as Mrs. Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at the Kennedy Center conducted by Maestro Lorin Maazel was described as “nuanced and sensitive” (Washington Post), and “dramatically charged and vocally superlative.” (dcist.com) Other roles include: Gertrude (Romèo et Juliette, Cleveland Opera); Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte, Annapolis Opera); Mrs. Grose (The Turn of the Screw); and Irene (Tamburlaine, Opera Vivente); Carmen (Le tragédie de Carmen, Olney Theatre for the Arts; the Mother (Hänsel und Gretel) and the Gypsy Woman (Rachmaninoff’s Aleko) for Bel Cantanti; and Suzuki in Annapolis Opera’s production of Madama Butterfly. As Suzuki, Ms. Rice was praised as “rising to dramatic power…with considerable interpretive fire.” (Baltimore Sun) Ms. Rice premiered the title role in Clara, based on the life of Clara Schumann and commissioned for the Maryland Opera Studio. Of that performance the Washington Post declared, “Rice was…reflective and confident in both her singing and acting…excelled at dramatic subtleties and pierced scenes with her presence and clarity of voice….” Ms. Rice was the mezzo soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with established artists James Morris and Sharon Sweet. For Washington Concert Opera she sang a recital of rare Gounod music and the role of Albina (La donna del lago). With the University of Maryland Symphony she sang Mozart’s Krönungs-Messe and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. In Seattle she was a soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (University of Washington Symphony), Vivaldi’s Gloria (Seattle Early Music Guild), and the Seattle Symphony Summer Sings program. Ms. Rice’s earlier training included performances of Serse and Arsamene (Serse), Mère Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites), Mrs. Grose (The Turn of the Screw), Madame de la Haltière (Cendrillon), and Mrs. Olsen (Street Scene). 2007 engagements include the mezzo-soprano solo in Verdi’s Requiem at Shepherd University, and the roles of Flora in La Traviata, Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw, and Mrs. Segstrom in A Little Night Music, all with Opera Cleveland.
Corinne Winters - Soprano Vocal Selections: "Je suis encor tout étourdie" from Manon by Massenet, "Donde lieta" from La Bohème by Puccini. Prize: Study Award - The Dr. Paul and Mrs. Herta Lagally and Caryl Pines Curry Award ($1200.00). The Lagally family established a prize in 1987 to promote the vocal arts in Annapolis in memory of Dr. Paul Lagally, Ph.D. He was a much recognized research scientist with the Naval Ship Research and Development Center in Annapolis. The Lagally prize initiated what is now the Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition. The present prize is awarded from the Herta Lagally endowment administered by their son Ralph Lagally. Herta Lagally, Paul Lagally’s wife, was actively involved with the Annapolis Opera from its beginning and served in many capacities from costume mistress to president of the Board of Trustees. Caryl Curry is a longtime patron of Annapolis Opera and a former member of the Vocal Competition Committee. Soprano Corinne Winters is pursuing a Masters in Vocal Performance at the Peabody Institute in Steven Rainbolt’s studio. Awards include: Kennett Symphony of Chester County Voice Competition, first place, 2006; Meistersinger Competition Semi-finalist (Graz, Austria); Peabody Conservatory Graduate Voice Merit Scholarship, 2005; Friedmann-Gordon Competition Winner, 2004; and various scholarships and awards at Towson University. Roles performed include Antonia (Les contes d’Hoffmann, Peabody Opera, 2007); Countess cover (Le nozze di Figaro, Peabody Opera, 2006) Pamina (The Magic Flute, Peabody Opera, 2005), Laetitia (The Old Maid and the Thief, Towson University, 2004), Ms. Segstrom (A Little Night Music, Towson University, 2004), Little Red Riding Hood (Little Red Riding Hood, Opera at Strathmore Hall, 2003). Concert and oratorio performances include: a solo orchestral holiday recital (Kennott Symphony of Chester County); The Hundredth Anniversary Cabaret (Graz, Austria); Robert Stolz Anniversary Operaettaabend (Scholssberg Amphitheatre, Graz); Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s Gloria (Chesapeake Chorale); and Beethoven’s Mass in C (Towson University Chorale).