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"American Idols" of opera, SFO's Heidi Melton and Leah Crocetto, win big bucks $75,000
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Heidi Melton does it again, the soprano and third year Adler Fellow wins big bucks
ADLER FELLOWS LEAH CROCETTO AND HEIDI MELTON TAKE TOP HONORS AT 2009 JOSÉ ITURBI INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPETITION
Remember when Maestro Donald Runnicles conducted the Verdi Requiem as his auf Wiedersehen to San Francisco? Headlining soprano Patricia Racette had to bow out the day before due to illness, opening the stage door for Adler Fellow Heidi Melton to step up? Heidi was fresh off of a win in New York of $10,000 and she's won the big bucks again in Los Angeles, this time $25,000.
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The Verdi Requiem must be a good sign of talent as the winner of $50,000 Leah Crocetto has also performed it and will again in November 2009 in Los Angeles.
Reminder: The Schwabacher program at Herbst Theater is Friday evening and the free version at Yerba Buena Park follows on Sunday afternoon, July 12.
SAN FRANCISCO , June 24, 2009—Current San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows Leah Crocetto and Heidi Melton (Heidi pictured far left at Verdi Requiem) took top honors at the third annual José Iturbi International Music Competition last weekend in Los Angeles . Crocetto, a first-year Adler Fellow and 2008 Merola Opera Program alumna, won the $50,000 first prize in the vocal division as well as the $3,000 Spanish Prize and the $3,000 People’s Choice Award. Melton, a third-year Adler Fellow and 2006 Merola Opera Program alumna, won the $25,000 second prize in the vocal division.
The José Iturbi Foundation hosts the José Iturbi International Music Competition for singers and pianists every summer at University of California at Los Angeles . The week-long competition features several rounds of auditions before a live audience and panel of judges, which has been likened to a classical version of “American Idol.” Awarding over $250,000 in cash prizes, the José Iturbi Competition boasts the largest cash bounty of any classical singing and piano competition in the world. Open to singers and pianists between the ages of 17 and 32, the competition brings international attention to some of the greatest emerging classical musicians.
Named for composer, conductor and pianist José Iturbi, who made a name for himself in the 1940s and ‘50s performing in seven MGM musical films, the José Iturbi Foundation was created as a nonprofit organization in 1985 and is dedicated to fulfilling his mission of “globally expanding passion for classical music through dynamic competition and compelling live performance.” In 2007, the competition’s inaugural year, the winner of the first prize vocal division award was former San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow and Merola Opera Program participant Karen Slack.
Soprano Leah Crocetto has recently worked with Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony on Verdi’s Requiem; she performs the piece in November 2009 with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Crocetto is a former member of the Sarasota Opera Apprentice Artists Program, where she received the Sarasota Opera Guild Excellence in Performance Award. She is a 2008 Shoshana Foundation Award winner, second place winner in the Florida Suncoast Opera Guild Competition, and a former winner of the Bel Canto Foundation Competition and the Italian American Foundation Award. The soprano was also an Anna Maria di Panni Bel Canto finalist, a Metropolitan Opera National Council District winner and Regional Finals Second Place winner. She recently was awarded a $10,000 Shenson Performing Arts Fellowship from the San Francisco Foundation. Crocetto makes her San Francisco Opera debut as Sister Dolcina in Puccini’s Suor Angelica in September 2009.
Soprano Heidi Melton made her San Francisco Opera debut as Marianne in Der Rosenkavalier in 2007. Later that year she appeared as Diane in Iphigénie en Tauride and created the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in Appomattox . Most recently she stepped in for Patricia Racette as soprano soloist in Verdi’s Requiem conducted by San Francisco Opera Music Director Donald Runnicles. Melton recently debuted with Opera Company of Philadelphia as Gertrude in Hänsel und Gretel and sang Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera at Opera National Bordeaux. She was a first prize winner of the $10,000 2009 George London Award, the 2008 Sara Tucker Study Grant, the third place prize winner in the Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition, a national semi-finalist at the 2006 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and winner of the 2006 Mario Lanza Competition. Upcoming engagements include the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos with Opera National Bordeaux, Chrysothemis in Elektra with Milwaukee Symphony, the Second Maid in Elektra with the Metropolitan Opera and Ada in Die Feen with Frankfurt Opera.
About San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program
San Francisco Opera Center was created in 1982 by then-General Director Terence A. McEwen to oversee the operation and administration of the education and training programs initiated by Kurt Herbert Adler in 1954. Providing a coordinated sequence of performance and study opportunities for young artists, San Francisco Opera Center represents a new era in which young artists of major operatic potential can develop through intensive training and performance, under the aegis of a major international opera company. Now under the guidance of its fourth Director, Sheri Greenawald , and San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley , the Opera Center has trained and introduced many young stars from around the world to the international opera stage through its resident artist programs.
One of the oldest and most acclaimed training programs of its kind, the Merola Opera Program is an independent nonprofit organization (Patrick Wilken, President) which operates in collaboration with San Francisco Opera Center ( Sheri Greenawald , Director) and San Francisco Opera ( David Gockley , General Director). Merola Opera Program has nurtured the careers of more than 1,000 up-and-coming singers, accompanists and stage directors since its establishment in 1957. Each year, more than 750 international artists vie for approximately 30 coveted spots in the summer program.
Admission is based solely on talent rather than financial ability. There is no charge to the participants. Merola has served as a proving ground for acclaimed artists including: Sylvia McNair, Anna Netrebko, pictured below with the writer at her recent CD signing when she closed La Traviata at SFO . . .
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. . . Patricia Racette, Ruth Ann Swenson . . . pictured below in The Marriage of Figaro at SFO . . .
Carol Vaness, Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Dolora Zajick, Brian Asawa, Gary Lakes , Kurt Streit, Jess Thomas, Rolando Villazón, Thomas Hampson and Patrick Summers.
Initially founded as the San Francisco Opera/Affiliate Artists program, the Adler Fellowship Program is one of the nation’s most prestigious training programs for advanced singers. Each year, Adler Fellows are sponsored by individual donors to help cover the cost of their fellowship. Sponsorships range from $5,000-$100,000, and sponsors affiliated with the Adler Program have the opportunity to attend private studio classes with the Fellows and develop nurturing relationships with them. Alumni from the Adler Fellowship Program include sopranos Laura Claycomb, Nicolle Foland, Nancy Gustafson, Mary Mills, Patricia Racette, Ruth Ann Swenson and Deborah Voigt; mezzo-sopranos Zheng Cao and Dolora Zajick; countertenor Brian Asawa; baritones Mark Delavan pictured below as Wotan in the Ring Cycle at SFO . . .
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and David Okerlund; and bass-baritones Monte Pederson and John Relyea.
For more information on the San Francisco Opera Center and the Adler Fellowship and Merola Opera Program, visit www.sfopera.com and www.merola.org
Photos of Heidi Melton: Kristen Loken Anstey
For more info: www.SFOpera.com
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