The Pittsburgh Opera has announced its 2018-19 Resident Artists.

This year, the program received more than 500 applicants and chose seven singers. The year’s residents will be mezzo-soprano Antonia Botti-Lodovico, tenor Terrence Chin-Loy, soprano Ashley Fabian, soprano Caitlin Gotimer, stage director Matthew Haney, baritone Ben Taylor, and bass-baritone Tyler Zimmerman.

The program, which has been hailed as one of the country’s leading training programs for young singers, provides professional development during a two-year session. In addition to performing principal roles in two fully-staged productions, artists will cover principal roles and perform comprimario roles in Pittsburgh Opera’s mainstage productions each season.

Among the many artists that have been featured in the program are Audrey Luna, Marianne Cornetti, Rolando Villazón, and Maria Zifchak.

In a press release, Pittsburgh Opera General Director Christopher Hahn said, “We have another extremely talented class of Resident Artists for our 80^th season. All of us at Pittsburgh Opera are excited to introduce them to the community at our Rising Stars concert on September 16^th at our Headquarters in the Strip District.”