Finalists Set For Lotte Lenya Competition; Kaye, Berman, Chapin to Judge
By: Gabrielle Sierra Mar. 15, 2011
Twelve exceptionally talented young singer-actors from the United States, United Kingdom and China have been selected to compete for top prizes of $15,000, $10,000 and $7,500 in the finals of the 2011 Lotte Lenya Competition, to be held on April 16, 2011, at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Judges for this year's finals will be Tony Award-winning singer-actress Judy Kaye, Broadway and Encores! music director Rob Berman, and Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization president and Chairman of the Board of the American Theater Wing, Theodore S. Chapin.
Held annually by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, the Lotte Lenya Competition is an international theater singing contest that recognizes talented young singer-actors, aged 19-30, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of repertoire, and emphasizes the acting of songs within a dramatic context.For the 2011 competition, contestants were required to prepare four selections: an aria from the opera or operetta repertoire; two songs from the American musical theater repertoire (one pre-1968 and one from 1968 or later); and a theatrical selection by Kurt Weill, Lotte Lenya's husband and one of the most versatile and influential theater composers of the 20th century (The Threepenny Opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Lady in the Dark, Street Scene). Finalists were selected from a group of thirty semi-finalists who auditioned on March 11-12 in New York City for adjudicator/coaches David Loud, Carolyn Marlow and Vicki Shaghoian.Matt Leisy, tenor (New York, NY)
Jing Lin, soprano (Putian, China)
Caitlin Mathes, mezzo-soprano (Dayville, CT)
Chris Pinnella, bari-tenor (Brielle, NJ)
Daniel Schwait, baritone (Baltimore, MD)
Emma Sewell, soprano (London, England)
Jacob Lewis Smith, bass/baritone (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Peabody Southwell, mezzo-soprano (Los Angeles, CA)
Trevor Strader, tenor (Queensbury, NY)
John Viscardi, tenor (Philadelphia, PA)
Jorell Williams, baritone (Brentwood, NY)For the finals, the twelve finalists will perform their entire programs for the judges on April 16 from 11 am to 3 pm at the Eastman School of Music. At 8 pm, the competition will culminate with an evening concert featuring all of the finalists, followed by the announcement of the winners. Both the daytime finals and evening concert are free and open to the public, and will take place in Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street, Rochester, New York.
ABOUT THE Kurt Weill FOUNDATIONThe Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc. (http://www.kwf.org) is dedicated to promoting understanding of the life and works of composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950) and preserving the legacies of Weill and his wife, actress-singer Lotte Lenya (1898-1981). The Foundation administers the Weill-Lenya Research Center, a Grant Program, the Kurt Weill Book Prize and the Lotte Lenya Competition, and publishes the Kurt Weill Edition and the Kurt Weill Newsletter.
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