Richard Tucker Music Foundation Announces 2024 Award Winner And Grant Recipients

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation has announced the 2024 recipients of its prestigious Richard Tucker Award, Richard Tucker Career Grant, and Sara Tucker Study Grant. 

Clay Hilley has been named the winner of the 2024 Richard Tucker Award. The award comes with a $50,000 cash prize as well as the ongoing support of the Tucker family and foundation. It is hoped that the award acts as a well-timed catalyst to elevate the selected artist's career to even greater heights. The Richard Tucker Award is selected by conferral, rather than audition.

“The Richard Tucker Music Foundation is proud to announce that tenor Clay Hilley is the recipient of the 2024 Richard Tucker Award,” remarks Barry Tucker, President. “The purpose of this award is to recognize an artist poised on the verge of a major international opera career, and Clay Hilley fits that description perfectly. Clay has developed into that rarest of singers, a true Heldentenor, specializing in the almost unsingable roles of Wagner and Richard Strauss. His breakthrough moment was stepping into the opening of a new production of Götterdämmerung at the Bayreuth Festival in 2022, and his performances of the leading Wagner and Strauss roles at Bayreuth, the Deutsche Opera Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, and with the Berlin Philharmonic have announced him as a leading Heldentenor of his generation. We are proud to support and honor this impressive singer who we believe will continue the legacy of the Richard Tucker Award.”

Clay Hilley shares, “I am stunned and thrilled to learn that I've been selected to receive the most coveted of all singer prizes, the Richard Tucker Award. Being counted among the elite singers who've claimed this award over time is an ecstatic thing. I humbly thank the Board of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation for finding me worthy. I also cannot fail to thank the One from whom all talent flows. Soli Deo gloria.”

Winning critical acclaim for “vocal heft, clarion sound and stamina” (New York Times) and for performances described as “close to perfection – powerful, subtle, intelligent, every word crystal clear” (Financial Times), American Heldentenor Clay Hilley continues to garner success in an ever-growing list of opera's most monumental heroic roles. After stepping into the premiere of Bayreuth's new Götterdämmerung at one day's notice in 2022, Hilley returned to the Bayreuth Festival last summer as Tristan, one of several Wagnerian roles now featuring prominently in his operatic diary. The 2023-24 season included his debut as the title role of Tannhäuser at the Edinburgh International Festival in a concert performance with Sir Donald Runnicles and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin later with fully-staged performances in Berlin led by Pietari Inkinen; a house debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in the title role of Parsifal, conducted by Adam Fischer; and features a return to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Siegfried in a revival of Stefan Herheim's production of Der Ring des Nibelungen. Additionally, the tenor joined the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Karina Canellakis for a concert performance of Siegfried at Amsterdam's venerable Concertgebouw. Beyond Wagner, Clay Hilley also appeared this season as Beethoven's Florestan (Fidelio) for the Canadian Opera Company, with conductor Johannes Debus, Strauss's Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Hong Kong Arts Festival with the orchestra of the Bayerische Staatsoper under Patrick Lange, and made his Staatsoper Hamburg debut as Laca in Janáček's Jenůfa, in performances conducted by Tomáš Netopil.

Past winners of the Richard Tucker Award include Angel Blue, Jamie Barton, Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Isabel Leonard, Lisette Oropesa, Matthew Polenzani, Nadine Sierra, and Deborah Voigt.

Anthony Léon, tenor, Luke Sutliff, baritone, and Elena Villalón, soprano, have been selected recipients of the 2024 Richard Tucker Career Grant. Recipients receive unrestricted grants of $10,000 each. Luke Sutliff and Elena Villalón previously received the 2022 Sara Tucker Study Grant.

Past Career Grant recipients include Leah Hawkins, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Sean Michael Plumb, Benjamin Bliss, J'Nai Bridges, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ryan Speedo Green, Samantha Hankey, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Quinn Kelsey, Will Liverman, Erin Morley, Susanna Phillips, and Rachel Willis-Sørensen.

Trevor Haumschilt-Rocha, baritone, Kathleen O'Mara, soprano, and Emily Sierra, mezzo-soprano, have been selected recipients of the 2024 Sara Tucker Study Grant. Recipients receive unrestricted grants of $5,000 each. Study Grant recipients typically are in the transition from student to professional singer, and should have recently completed a graduate degree program or work in a young artist or Apprentice program at a regional company.

Past Study Grant Recipients include Katerina Burton, Blake Denson, Stefan Egerstrom, Jonah Hoskins, Brittany Logan, Luke Sutliff, Elena Villalón, John Holiday, Laquita Mitchell, Amanda Majeski, Miles Mykkanen, and Andrew Stenson.

Singers (U.S.-born or naturalized citizens by age 18) were invited to audition for Career and Study Grants via nomination; there is no application process. Study and Career Grant nominees auditioned at the 92nd Street Y's Kaufmann Hall on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 and Wednesday, May 8, 2024, respectively. The auditions, which take place annually in New York City, were free and open to the public.

2024 audition panelists included representatives of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Detroit Opera, and the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich.

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About the Richard Tucker Music Foundation

After Richard Tucker's untimely death in 1975, his duo partner and friend Robert Merrill worked with the Tucker family to organize a gathering of opera legends, including Martina Arroyo and Roberta Peters, to take place on what would have been the duo's next date at Carnegie Hall. The Richard Tucker Music Foundation was formed later that year, and the concert became an annual tradition, raising funds to support young American opera singers and keep the beloved tenor's memory alive. For more than four decades, the foundation's annual concert has brought together some of opera's most illustrious stars, including Leonard Bernstein, Montserrat Caballé, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, and Joan Sutherland.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to perpetuating the artistic legacy of the great Brooklyn-born tenor by nurturing the careers of talented young American opera singers. Through awards, grants for study, performance opportunities, and other activities, the foundation provides professional development for singers at various stages of their careers. It also offers free performances in the New York metropolitan area and supports music education enrichment programs. Each year, the foundation confers its most prestigious prize, the Richard Tucker Award (often referred to as the “Heisman Trophy of Opera”), on an artist poised at the edge of a major international career.

About Clay Hilley

Winning critical acclaim for “vocal heft, clarion sound and stamina” (New York Times) and for performances described as “close to perfection – powerful, subtle, intelligent, every word crystal clear” (Financial Times), American Heldentenor Clay Hilley continues to garner success in an ever-growing list of opera's most monumental heroic roles.

After stepping into the premiere of Bayreuth's new Götterdämmerung at one day's notice in 2022, Hilley returned to the Bayreuth Festival last summer as Tristan, one of several Wagnerian roles now featuring prominently in his operatic diary. The 2023-24 season included his debut as the title role of Tannhäuser at the Edinburgh International Festival in a concert performance with Sir Donald Runnicles and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin later with fully-staged performances in Berlin led by Pietari Inkinen; a house debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in the title role of Parsifal, conducted by Adam Fischer; and features a return to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Siegfried in a revival of Stefan Herheim's production of Der Ring des Nibelungen. Additionally, the tenor joined the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Karina Canellakis for a concert performance of Siegfried at Amsterdam's venerable Concertgebouw.

Beyond Wagner, Clay Hilley also appeared this season as Beethoven's Florestan (Fidelio) for the Canadian Opera Company, with conductor Johannes Debus, Strauss's Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Hong Kong Arts Festival with the orchestra of the Bayerische Staatsoper under Patrick Lange, and made his Staatsoper Hamburg debut as Laca in Janáček's Jenůfa, in performances conducted by Tomáš Netopil.

Vocally and dramatically assured in even the most challenging repertoire, recent high-profile role debuts include Der Kaiser in Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten with the Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill Petrenko, both in concert at the Berlin Philharmonie and in a new staging by Lydia Steier at the Baden-Baden Festival, and the Drum Major in Deborah Warner's new production of Berg's Wozzeck for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, conducted by Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano – also the tenor's company debut.

An artist accomplished on the world's leading concert stages, recent highlights include Mahler's Eighth Symphony with Marin Alsop and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, and Das Lied von der Erde with the Houston Symphony and Juraj Valčuha, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Stéphane Denève, and with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Sir Antonio Pappano – where he subsequently returned for Kodaly's Psalmus Hungaricus.

Concert performances of opera are also a fixture: Clay Hilley has been heard in recent seasons as Florestan (Fidelio) for both Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Robert Spano and the Edinburgh International Festival with Sir Donald Runnicles and The Philharmonia; in Act Two of Tristan und Isolde with Edward Gardner and the Orchestra of the Norwegian National Opera; in Act Three of Siegfried with Erik Nielsen and the Bilbao Symphony; and as Radamès in Act Three of Aida with Nicola Luisotti and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

The tenor's burgeoning video catalog includes Der Ring des Nibelungen from Deutsche Oper Berlin (Naxos) - about which Opera News wrote, “Vocally, he's the finest Siegfried on DVD, with ringing top notes, perfect diction and impressive tonal flexibility” - and Götterdämmerung filmed at the Bayreuth Festival (Deutsche Grammophon). www.clayhilleytenor.com

About Anthony Léon

A member of the Los Angeles Opera's Young Artist Program, tenor Anthony Léon has performed a number of roles with LA Opera including Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodrigo in Otello, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Upcoming engagements include Nadir in Les pêchures de perles in Cologne and Telemaco in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria at the Aix-en-Provence festival. He was a 1st Prize and Zarzuela Prize winner at the 2023 Operalia Competition, a member of the Salzburg and Aix Festivals Young Artists programs, and an Apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera. He is a graduate of New England Conservatory and La Sierra University. www.anthonyleontenor.com

About Luke Sutliff

Baritone Luke Sutliff this season makes a series of professional debuts: Silvio in Pagliacci with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Figaro in ll barbiere di Siviglia with Seattle Opera and Opera North Carolina, and Demitrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream with Atlanta Opera. This summer, he will return to Santa Fe Opera as Belcore in L'elisir d'amore and make his debut in Japan in Mahler's 8th Symphony with the NHK Symphony. Future roles include debuts in Chicago, Toronto, Glyndebourne, and a return to Houston. He is a graduate of The Julliard School, Rice University, and was an Apprentice at the Santa Fe Festival. www.lukesutliffbaritone.com

About Elena Villalón

Soprano Elena Villalon was a 2022 recipient of a Sara Tucker Study Grant. She will be making her Metropolitan Opera debut this Spring as Amor in Orfeo ed Euridice, returning to the Met next season in Ainadamar. This summer, she returns to Santa Fe Opera as Shiela in the world premiere of Gregory Spears's The Righteous. As a member of the ensemble of Opera Frankfurt, she led a new production of Le nozze di Figaro as Susanna, as well as singing Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Frasquita in Carmen. This upcoming season in Frankfurt she will make role debuts as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier and as Handel's Rodelinda. Elena is a recent alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera studio program and OTSL's Gerdine Young Artists Program, and a graduate of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. www.elenavillalon.com

About Trevor Haumschilt-Rocha

Mexican-American baritone Trevor Haumschilt-Rocha made his professional debut in 2023 with Opera Saratoga as Malatesta in Don Pasquale. A master's candidate at The Julliard School graduating in 2024, he will be appearing this summer at the Aspen Festival as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro and Peter in Hänsel und Gretel, and in the Fall will be singing with the Vienna Volksoper in roles including Morales in Carmen and the First Priest in Die Zauberflöte. A native of San Diego and graduate of San Diego State, he has won awards from the Gerda Lissner Foundation, Opera Index, and the Houston Grand Opera's McCollum Competition. www.trevorhaumschiltrocha.com

About Kathleen O'Mara

Soprano Kathleen O'Mara is currently a young artist with the LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. She made her LA opera debut as Berta in ll barbiere di Siviglia and recently sang the Erst Zofe in Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg with the company. This summer she will sing at the Opera Theater of St. Louis as the Duchess Christine in Glass's Galileo Galilei and cover Mimí in La bohème, and will make her Metropolitan Opera debut as Berta in 2025. A graduate of The Julliard School and Westminster Choir College, she was a member of Palm Beach Opera's Apprentice Program and OTSL's Gerdine Young Artist Program. She is a native of Fort Washington, PA. www.laopera.org/about-us/artists-2/cast-members/kathleen-omara

About Emily Sierra

Emily Sierra is a Cuban-American mezzo-soprano currently singing in the Ensemble of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. Her roles there have included Idamante in Idomeneo, Tisbe in La cenerentola, La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi, Fyoder in Boris Godunov, and the Third Maid in Elektra. She made her American professional debut with the Dallas Opera as Stefano in Romeo et Juliet in 2024. She is an alumna of The Julliard School and the Royal College of Music, was a finalist in the 2022 Operalia Competition, and a Grand Finals winner of the Metropolitan Opera's Laffont National Council Auditions. emilysierramezzo.com