A Look At The 2017 Richard Tucker Foundation Grant Winners

By David Salazar

Nadine Sierra is all the rage today after the announcement of her victory as the 2017 Richard Tucker Award Winner.

That said, she isn’t the only one to make headlines on the day as the Richard Tucker Foundation also awarded a number of other artists with Study and Career Grants. For those keeping track, the winners of these awards often go on to win the big prize, including Sierra who took home the 2010 Sara Tucker Study Grant and a 2013 Richard Tucker Career Grant before claiming the 2017 prize.

This is to say that any one of the following winners might receive the big award in years to come. Here is a rundown of the other victors of the day.

Sara Tucker Study Grants

This award is given to seven young singers who are showing great promise at the start of their respective careers. Each recipient earns $5,000 apiece. The winners this year are countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenor Alexander McKissick, bass-baritone Christian Pursell, bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum, mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven, tenor Jack Swanson, and soprano Vanessa Vasquez. You may recognize a few of these artists among the finalists of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Richard Tucker Career Grant Winners

The recipients of this award are given $10,000 in recognition of their professional success with major opera companies. This year’s winners are as follows.

Nicholas Brownlee

The bass-baritone is a 2016 Sara Tucker Study Grant winner who is coming off his final season as a Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist at Los Angeles Opera. He also made his Met debut in “Salome” this season.

John Chest

Chest is coming off solid runs at Philadelphia, Staatsoper Dresden, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He is slated to take on roles at the Glyndebourne Festival, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro Municipal de Santiago, and the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

Anthony Clark Evans

Evans won the 2014 Sara Tucker Study Grant and is coming off major debuts in 2016-17 at the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera.

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