AuditionAir Announces 2026-27 Program Participants
By David SalazarAuditionAir has announced its selected class of opera singers for the 2026-27 program year.
The selected baritones are Joel Balzun, a composer and Eastman School of Music graduate with prizes from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition; Brandon Bell, an Opera Philadelphia Emerging Artist for 2025-26; Jason Edelstein, a 2026 Gerdine Young Artist with The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Jake Stamatis, a Sarasota Opera studio artist returning for role debuts in “Così fan tutte” and “The Merry Widow;” and Ryan Wolfe, a Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program alumnus at Los Angeles Opera.
The lone countertenor selected, Chuanyuan Liu, premieres the role of Raven in “White Raven, Black Dove” with White Snake Projects this season.
The mezzo sopranos are Veena Akama-Makia, a member of the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Ballet and Opera; Danielle Casós, who joins Florentine Opera as a Studio Artist this fall; Allison Fahey, who is joining Festival Napa Valley for the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s “The Judgment of Paris;” Grace Ryan, winner of the 2026 International Luciano Pavarotti Competition, now a Resident Artist with Detroit Opera; and Daiyao Zhong, a columnist for Classical Singer magazine.
The sopranos are Angela Bonello, beginning doctoral study at the University of Colorado Boulder; Chasey Briggs, with performance credits in Chile, Austria, and France; Julia Ernst, a Yale student set to debut Fiordiligi in “Così fan tutte”; Alaysha Fox, a Domingo-Colburn-Stein program graduate; Kaya Giroux, joining Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist; Sara Kennedy, creator of the title role in Joseph Summer’s “The Tempest;” Brenna Markey, who made an unexpected debut as Cio-Cio San in “Madama Butterfly” at the Princeton Festival; Page Elizabeth Michels, a Juilliard Artist Diploma graduate and 2026 Gerda Lissner Foundation grant recipient; Elizabeth Novella, recently signed with Piper Artists Management; Joanna Parisi, who has moved from Italian repertoire into Wagner and Strauss roles; Emma Petersen, winner of the Seattle Opera Singer’s Development Competition; Jacqueline Piccolino, a former San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow; Jennifer Robinson, a fully self-funded emerging artist; Sarah Rosales, a Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music student; and Rachel Schlesinger, a San Francisco Conservatory graduate student.
The tenors are Alec Carlson, an American heldentenor set to make his Metropolitan Opera house debut; Edward Ferran, a Glimmerglass Festival Resident Artist; Yuntong Han, a member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at Los Angeles Opera; and Randy Ho, a former Laufer Young Artist with Palm Beach Opera.
AuditionAir is a nonprofit that aims to support emerging performing artists with equitable access to professional auditions by funding air travel across the U.S.
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