The Class of 2024: Prize Winners Already on Major Stages
Top Prize winner Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, a Grand Prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition and a GRAMMY winner, has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper and Opernhaus Zürich, and in the title role of Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne. First Prize winner Yeongtaek Yang made his Metropolitan Opera debut as a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Second Prize winner Maire Therese Carmack, a graduate of the same program, has sung at the Semperoper Dresden and Pittsburgh Opera, and was also among our 2019 and 2023 winners. Third Prize winner Karoline Podolak has sung with the Canadian Opera Company and Bulgarian National Opera. Judges’ Special Prize winners Matthew Cairns and Tatev Baroyan have both appeared at the Metropolitan Opera. Cairns has also sung at the Opéra national de Paris and Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Baroyan at the Salzburger Landestheater. Operetta & Zarzuela First Prize winner Shelén Hughes made her Oper Frankfurt debut and has appeared as soprano soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra. Susanne Burgess has sung in more than twenty performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Gabrielle Beteag was an Adler Fellow at San Francisco Opera, and Jana McIntyre has sung at San Francisco Opera and Santa Fe Opera. Gemma Nha, Second Prize winner of our 2023 Lieder/Song Vocal Competition, and Alice Chung, a 2018 Lieder/Song winner, were also among our winners in earlier years.
Names to know: Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen · Yeongtaek Yang · Maire Therese Carmack · Karoline Podolak · Matthew Cairns · Tatev Baroyan · Shelén Hughes · Susanne Burgess · Gabrielle Beteag · Jana McIntyre
Congratulations to our 2024 OPERA DIVISION and OPERETTA & ZARZUELA DIVISION winners!
OPERA DIVISION
TOP PRIZE (Liederkranz Foundation): $15,000

FIRST PRIZE (Stephen De Maio Memorial Award): $10,000

SECOND PRIZE: $5,000

THIRD PRIZE: $3,000

JUDGES’ SPECIAL PRIZE: $2,500
GRANT: $2,000
- Gabrielle Beteag – MEZZO-SOPRANO
- Alice Chung – MEZZO-SOPRANO
- Jana McIntyre – SOPRANO
- Gemma Nha – SOPRANO
- Jazmine Olwalia – MEZZO-SOPRANO
- Joseph Sacchi – TENOR
- Yichen Xue – BARITONE
ENCOURAGEMENT: $1,000
- Susanne Burgess – SOPRANO
- Joanne Evans – MEZZO-SOPRANO
- Evan Gray – BASS-BARITONE
- Melissa Joseph – SOPRANO
- Donghoon Kang – BASS-BARITONE
- Emilie Kealani – SOPRANO
- Julia Stuart – SOPRANO
OPERETTA & ZARZUELA DIVISION
FIRST PRIZE (Scott Barnes Memorial Award): $7,000

SECOND PRIZE: $5,000

JUDGES PANEL
Ken Benson
Michael Benchetrit
Maestro Mark Shapiro
Dona D. Vaughn
Midge Woolsey
COLLABORATIVE PIANIST
Arlene Shrut