New York, NY (February 28, 2024) – Semifinalists from the U.S., Armenia, Australia, Canada, China, and Georgia to compete on March 11, 2024, at 10AM ET. Selected finalists to perform at the Grand Finals Concert on March 17, 2024, accompanied by the Met Orchestra, conducted by Evan Rogister and hosted by Laffont alumna Denyce Graves. Winners will receive individual cash prizes of $20,000, as well as mentorship and networking opportunities in the opera world.
The 19 semifinalists, who have moved past regional auditions across the United States, will compete in the semifinal round of the Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition on Monday, March 11, 2024, beginning at 10AM ET. The semifinal competition will be held on the Met stage before a panel of judges and will also be available for public viewing via livestream. The selected finalists will then move forward to the Grand Finals Concert on Sunday, March 17, at 3PM ET. Notably, 2024 marks the 70th anniversary of the Laffont Competition, formerly known as the National Council Auditions.
The semifinalists, ranging in age from 23 to 30, were selected from an applicant pool of more than 1,500 aspiring opera singers. The finalists who advance are provided with a week of training with Met musical and dramatic coaches.
During the Grand Finals Concert on March 17, finalists will each sing two arias on the Met stage, with Maestro Evan Rogister leading the Met Orchestra. Rogister will also conduct Terence Blanchard’s hit Fire Shut Up in My Bones later this season. The afternoon’s host will be Laffont alumna and star mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, a 2011 winner, joining as a guest artist. The winners of the competition will each receive a cash prize of $20,000 and career-making exposure. The remaining finalists will receive $10,000. Results will be posted on Facebook and Instagram.
This season, the semifinalist prize has increased from $2,500 to $5,000. Auditions are sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, including the Laffont Competition donors and hundreds of volunteers from across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. More than $300,000 in prize money has already been fundraised and awarded in the district and regional rounds.
The Laffont Competition is open to singers from the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as other international entrants training or residing in those countries. This season, the competition had more than 1,500 applicants, with more than 900 singers qualifying to participate in 11 regions and 36 districts. This season, in collaboration with the Denyce Graves Foundation, the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia District (DMV) was introduced. The district is also the first to be hosted at a historically black college or university, Morgan State University.
The Eric and Dominique Laffont Grand Finals Concert will be open to the public, and audio will be streamed live on the Met’s website. Tickets for the concert are on sale now and may be purchased at the Met box office, by phone at 212.362.6000, or online at metopera.org.
The 2024 Semifinalists
| Name | Voice Type | Age | Region | Hometown |
| Georgiana Adams | Soprano | 24 | Western | Chicago, IL |
| Nathan Bowles | Tenor | 27 | Gulf Coast | Minot, ND |
| Michael Butler | Tenor | 24 | Eastern | Bowie, MD |
| Katherine DeYoung | Mezzo-Soprano | 29 | Central | Traverse City, MI |
| Ruby Dibble | Mezzo-Soprano | 28 | Midwest | Kansas City, MO |
| Daniel Espinal | Tenor | 24 | New England | Sarasota, FL |
| Tessa Fackelmann | Mezzo-Soprano | 26 | Gulf Coast | Ottawa, Canada |
| Lydia Grindatto | Soprano | 28 | Midwest | Tijeras, NM |
| Navasard Hakobyan | Baritone | 25 | Eastern | Yerevan, Armenia |
| Bethany Jelinek | Soprano | 24 | Upper Midwest | Dallas, TX |
| Ani Kushyan | Mezzo-Soprano | 27 | Rocky Mountain | Tbilisi, Georgia |
| Qirong Liang | Mezzo-Soprano | 25 | Upper Midwest | Hangzhou, China |
| Tessa McQueen | Soprano | 26 | Rocky Mountain | Loveland, CO |
| Gemma Nha | Soprano | 23 | New England | Sydney, Australia |
| Meridian Prall | Mezzo-Soprano | 28 | Central | Fort Wayne, IN |
| Emily Richter | Soprano | 26 | Great Lakes | Arlington, VA |
| Demetrious Sampson | Tenor | 24 | Southeast | Atlanta, GA |
| Eric Taylor | Tenor | 29 | Gulf Coast | St. George, UT |
| Catherine Thornsley | Soprano | 30 | Northwest | Flagstaff, AZ |
About the Competition
The Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, formerly known since its founding in 1954 as the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, is now in its 70th season. The Met’s vocal competition is a career-making opportunity for aspiring opera singers, given the reach of the auditions, the number of applicants, and the program’s long tradition. The Competition has also been crucial in introducing many of today’s best- known opera stars, including Renée Fleming, Denyce Graves, Eric Owens, Stephanie Blythe, Hei-Kyung Hong, Sondra Radvanovsky, Lawrence Brownlee, Michael Fabiano, Latonia Moore, Lisette Oropesa, Jamie Barton, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ryan Speedo Green, and Nadine Sierra.
The competition gained international acclaim with the release of the 2008 feature- length documentary The Audition, directed by award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke, which chronicled the 2007 National Council Auditions season and Grand Finals Concert.
