Houston Grand Opera Announces 2024 Concert Of Arias Winners

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is proud to announce the winners for this year's Concert of Arias, the 36th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, held this evening at the Wortham Theater Center and livestreamed for audiences at home. The 2024 Concert of Arias winners include:  

• 1st Place prize of $10,000 was awarded to Elizabeth Hanje

• 2nd Place prize of $5,000 went to Ziniu Zhao, Bass-Baritone

• 3rd Place prize of $3,000 was won by Alissa Goretsky, Soprano

• The Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award of $2,000 went to Sam Dhobhany, Bass-Baritone

• The Audience Choice Award of $1,000 went to Jazmine Saunders, Soprano

• The Online Viewers' Choice Award of $500 went to Jouelle Roberson, Soprano

The winners of this year's competition were chosen by a panel of distinguished judges: HGO Principal Guest Conductor and Music Director of San Francisco Opera Eun Sun Kim; HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor; and HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. HGO Artistic Advisor Ana María Martínez selected the winner of her Encouragement Award, an award she created nine years ago to celebrate artists developing their craft.

The event was available for home viewing via the company's YouTube and Facebook pages. The evening's livestream host was a Butler Studio alumnus and company favorite, the bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, who is performing with HGO this season as Amfortas in Parsifal and Leporello in Don Giovanni.

McKinny entertained online viewers and kept audiences apprised of all the action happening behind-the-scenes. Each year HGO holds the highly anticipated Eleanor McCollum Competition as part of its mission to identify and support emerging artists in opera.

During this process the company seeks to identify candidates for its prestigious training program for young artists, the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio. Singers from across the world travel to Houston to compete as semi-finalists, with the artists named as finalists taking the stage for the Concert of Arias, the competition's live final round.

“What a joyful evening we just shared.  These inspiring young competitors put on an unforgettable show, and did themselves very proud.” says Dastoor. “There is no better distillation of HGO's mission than the Concert of Arias. This fantastic group of emerging artists fill us with tremendous hope for the future of our peerless art form.

“My first Concert of Arias since taking over leadership of the Butler Studio was exhilarating,” says Colin Michael Brush, who joined HGO as the new director of the program in fall 2023. “Having led the audition process and spent a week getting to know our gifted semi-finalists and finalists, I wanted them to show us what makes them such unique artists—and they did that and more. I felt their music in my heart. It is my honor to help guide these young singers as they pursue careers in opera.”

After careful consideration of over 900 candidates, HGO narrowed the applicants to 20 semifinalists before selecting the eight talented finalists for the final round of the competition. All the selected semifinalists had the opportunity to learn more about HGO and work with company music staff leading up to the Concert of Arias. 

The full list of finalists included sopranos Alissa Goretsky, Elizabeth “Hanje”, Jouelle Roberson, and Jazmine Saunders; tenor Rafael Rojas; bass-baritones Sam Dhobhany and Ziniu Zhao; and bass Edwin Jhamaal Davis.

This year's Concert of Arias was graciously chaired by the Hon. Theresa and Dr. Peter Chang. The event raised over $680,000 to benefit the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers and the Houston Grand Opera Studio. 

At last year's Concert of Arias, Khori Dastoor announced that the company had received the largest gift in its history from longtime supporters Sarah and Ernest Butler, who have created a new fund within the HGO Endowment valued at $22 million. Dastoor also shared that the company's Studio program had been renamed to honor their commitment to the operatic art form. Since its inception in 1977, the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio has grown into one of the most respected young artist programs in the world.

Each of the artists in the Butler Studio has access to a learning environment that emphasizes practical experience within the professional opera world. This includes regular coaching sessions with industry professionals, roles in HGO mainstage productions, recital performances, and a variety of other concert engagements.

photo courtesy of HGO HOUSTON

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