met-finalists-efrain-solis-center


The Met finalists: Sydney Mancasola, 25, soprano (New England Region; Redding, CA); Musa Ngqungwana, 28, bass-baritone (Middle Atlantic Region; Port Elizabeth, South Africa); Brandon Cedel, 25, bass-baritone (Middle Atlantic Region; Hershey, PA); Tracy Cox, 27, soprano (Western Region; Dallas, TX); Matthew Anchel, 25, bass (Eastern Region; New York, NY); Efrain Solis, 23, baritone (Western Region; Santa Ana, CA) in center; Thomas Richards, 24, bass-baritone (Central Region; Burnsville, MN); Michael Brandenburg, 26, tenor (Central Region; Austin, IN); Richard Ollarsaba, 25, bass-baritone (Upper Midwest Region; Tempe, AZ); Rebecca Pedersen, 21, soprano (Rocky Mountain Region; Bountiful, UT).



Efrain Solis (’11) was chosen to sing in the Finals for the National Council Auditions at the Metropolitan Opera. Twenty singers performed in the semifinals on March 3, and Efrain was among the ten singers chosen to sing in the Finals on the Met stage with orchestra on March 10.

Efrain sang two selections in the finals:
Hai già vinta la causa
from Mozart’s
Le nozze di Figaro

(The Marriage of Figaro)
and
Tirannia gli diede il regno
from Handel’s
Rodelinda.
The concert was broadcast nationwide on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Network.

The competition celebrated its 60th anniversary this year and has long been a stepping stone for the careers of many major opera singers. At this year’s finals, Marco Armiliato conducted each singer in two arias of their choice and soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, also a former Chapman student, hosted and performed. The finalists, all between the ages of 20 and 30 years old, had the opportunity to perform on the historic opera house stage before an audience that included opera company executives, artist managers, music critics, and other opinion-makers of the music world. Efrain received a cash prize of $5,000 for advancing to the Finals, but was not chosen for one of the five winning spots.  Visit the
Met Opera
for more information on the competition.