Twenty-eight performers selected to compete for a chance to win top prizes of $20,000, $15,000, and $10,000; total prizes to exceed $75,000; a star-studded panel of musical theater, opera, and Kurt Weill experts to adjudicate the semi-finals and finals.
Kim H. Kowalke, President and CEO of the Kurt Weill Foundation, is pleased to announce the semi-finalists for the 2020 Lotte Lenya Competition.
Michael Aiello (USA, 32)
Gan-ya Ben-gur Akselrod (Israel, 32)
David Anderson (USA, 24)
Zarah Brock (USA, 26)
Anighya Crocker (USA, 20)
Michael Day (USA, 28)
Darren Drone (USA, 30)
Kaden Forsberg (Canada, 28)
Crystal Glenn (USA, 27)
Dylan Glenn (USA, 26)
Rivers Hawkins (USA, 30)
Jonathan Heller (USA, 25)
Michael Hewitt (USA, 29)
Jonah Hoskins (USA, 23)
Elena Howard-Scott (Canada, 23)
Stephanie Jabre (USA, 30)
Gemma Nha (Australia, 19)
Marie Oppert (France, 22)
Teresa Perrotta (USA, 24)
Christine Price (USA, 28)
Lauren Senden (USA, 19)
Emma Sorenson (USA, 28)
Meg Supina (USA, 30)
Tabea Tatan (Germany, 32)
Sophie Thompson (USA, 24)
Jeremy Weiss (USA, 27)
Ronald Wilbur (USA, 29)
Andy Zimmermann (USA, 30)
In addition to the semi-finalists, seven applicants received Emerging Talent Awards with a cash prize of $500 each: Melanie Dubil (USA, 22), Emily Holguin (USA, 22), Kassondra Kardos (Canada, 22), Nicole Maridan (USA, 21), Sophia Spivey (USA, 22), Kodiak Thompson (USA, 20), and Katie Yeomans (USA, 19). The recipient of the Grace Keagy Award for Outstanding Vocal Promise in the amount of $500 is Sydney Clarke (Canada, 26).
The 2020 competition received a record number of applications–a thirty-one percent increase from last year–with submissions from twenty-four countries and thirty-three U.S. states. Each applicant submitted a video performance of four contrasting song selections ranging from musical theater, opera, and Kurt Weill repertoire.
The semi-finals take place on 11 and 12 March in New York City, where contestants will be coached and adjudicated by Broadway and opera star Lisa Vroman and three-time Tony nominee Rebecca Luker. The semi-finalists will compete for a spot in the 2020 finals, which takes place on 2 May in Rochester, New York at Kilbourn Hall in front of a live audience. Leading artists from theater, opera, television, and film make up the star-studded panel of finals judges, including Tony Award-winning actress, singer, and director Victoria Clark, renowned Broadway music director and conductor Andy Einhorn, and Obie Award-winning actress and singer Mary Beth Peil, who launched her career as the winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The finals daytime round and evening concert in Rochester are both free and open to the public, along with all-day live streaming on the Lenya Competition website.
In addition to the top prizes of $20,000, $15,000, and $10,000, discretionary awards ranging from $3,500 to $5,000 recognize outstanding finals performances of individual numbers or particular aspects of performances. All semi-finalists who do not advance to the finals will receive an award of $500. Total prizes will exceed $75,000.
