Merola Opera Program Announces Selected 2023 Artists

One of the most prestigious opera training programs in the world, San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program has announced the 29 artists selected to participate in its 2023 program.

This year's cohort of participants, chosen from more than 1,300 international applicants, hail from the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Cuba, France, South Korea, Wales, Costa Rica, and China, as well as across the United States and Canada.

"We are excited to welcome these 29 talented artists to San Francisco to experience a transformative summer of artistic and personal development," said Carrie-Ann Matheson, San Francisco Opera Center Artistic Director and Markus Beam (Merola '02), San Francisco Opera Center General Manager. "Our young artists will not only receive musical, dramatic, and linguistic training from our world class faculty, but will also be given access to real world, holistic training which will support their success and development as artists both on and off the stage."

Public performances by these artists in the 2023 Merola Summer Festival will be announced in the coming weeks. Tickets will be available to Merola members March 23, 2023 at 10am PST and to the public April 6, 2023 10am PST, online at www.merola.org or by calling the San Francisco Opera Box Office at (415) 864-3330.

The 2023 Merola Opera Program artists include:

Sopranos

Georgiana Adams, Wheaton, Illinois

Juliette Chauvet, Avignon, France

Caroline Corrales, St. Louis, Missouri

Shan Hai, Beijing, China

So ry Kim, Daejeon, South Korea

Olivia Prendergast, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mezzo-sopranos
Lucy Joy Altus, New York, New York

Joanne Evans, London, United Kingdom

Simona Genga, Toronto, Ontario

Natalie Lewis, Severna Park, Maryland

Contraltos

Cecelia Steffen McKinley, Sterling, Virginia

Tenors

Daniel Luis Espinal, Sarasota, Florida

Zackry Chance Jonas-O'Toole, Dallas, Texas

Thomas William Kinch, Cardiff, Wales

Sahel Salam, Houston, Texas

Demetrious Dramon Sampson, Albany, Georgia

Baritones

Eleomar Cuello, Havana, Cuba

Kevin Na Godínez, San José, Costa Rica

Samuel Kidd, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Samson William McCrady, Tucson, Arizona

Cameron Rolling, Waycross, Georgia

Bass-baritones

James McCarthy, Pleasantville, New York

Finn Daniel Sagal, La Cañada, California

Pianists/Coaches

Nicole Marie Cloutier, White Lake, Michigan

Julian Grabarek, Acton, Massachusetts

Hyemin Jeong, Seoul, South Korea

Pei-Hsuan Tiana Lin, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Deborah Robertson, Springfield, Missouri

Stage Director

Tania Arazi Coambs, Champaign, Illinois

The Merola Opera Program is widely regarded as the foremost opera training program for aspiring singers, pianists, and stage directors. Merola nurtures the opera stars of tomorrow through master classes and private coaching with opera's most accomplished singers, conductors, and directors. Participants also receive training in operatic repertoire, languages, diction, acting, stage movement, and professional development. Offered free of charge to all participants, the Merola Opera Program is unique in the industry in many ways. It is the only young artist program to provide financial support to developing artists for five years following their participation, offering aid for essential career development expenses including coaching, language classes, and audition travel. Since Matheson and Beam formed the new Merola artistic team in 2020, the program has redoubled its efforts to provide exciting new curricula and added focus on preparing the burgeoning artists for extramusical aspects of a performance career. Learn more at www.merola.org.

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