2024 International Vocal Competition Prize Winners

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

Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen COUNTERTENOR

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

Yeongtaek Yang BARITONE

SECOND PRIZE: $5,000

Maire Therese Carmack MEZZO-SOPRANO

THIRD PRIZE: $3,000

Karoline Podolak SOPRANO

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

Shelén Hughes SOPRANO

SECOND PRIZE: $5,000

Rosario Armas MEZZO-SOPRANO

 

JUDGES PANEL

Ken Benson

Michael Benchetrit

Maestro Mark Shapiro

Dona D. Vaughn

Midge Woolsey

COLLABORATIVE PIANIST

Arlene Shrut