(Photo: Zach Mendez)

The Music Academy’s Marilyn Horne Song Competition has announced that baritone Navasard Hakobyan and pianist Brian Cho are its 2023 winners.

The two will receive $5,000 in cash and will also work on a commissioned work by composer Joel Thompson. They will then present the premieres of these works in recital during the 2024 summer festival.

Hakobyan is an Armenian baritone who is part of the Butler Studio at Houston Grand Opera. He has received numerous awards, including the Sullivan Award, first prize in the Eleanor McCollum Competition, and the top prize at the Premiere Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition. He also recently participated as a finalist at the Queen Sonia Singing Competition.

Cho is a Toronto native who has worked as a collaborative pianist and as an intern repetiteur with the Canadian Opera Company.