The Houston Grand Opera has announced that three new singers and one new pianist will be a part of the 2019-20 HGO Studio.

These first-year students are bass-baritone Nicholas Newton, bass William Guanbo Su, and soprano Elena Villalón. Pianist and coach Alex Munger rounds out the new artists.

Su is the second-place prizewinner at the Concert of Arias 2019 and is currently pursuing his master’s degree at the Juilliard School.

Villalón was the Audience Choice Award winner at Concet of Arias 2019 and recently finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Finally, Newton was the third prize at the Concert of Arias 2019 and has appeared in a number of operas at Rice University and the Aspen Music Festival.

The company also revealed a number of returning arists, including mezzo-soprano Lindsay Kate Brown, soprano Dorothy Gal, baritone Geoffrey Hahn, contralto Leia Lensing, pianist/coach Kyle Naig, bass Daniel Noyola, and tenor Richard Trey Smagur.