Metropolitan Opera audition winners to compete in Denver

The road to New York’s Metropolitan Opera leads through Denver.

At least for the four winners of the Nevada District’s Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, who will compete Feb. 7 and 8 at Denver University’s Gates Concert Hall for the chance to sing at the Met’s Grand Finals Concert.

Two local mezzo-sopranos were among the winners of the first-ever Nevada District competition, held Jan. 10 at UNLV: Erin Gonzales and UNLV student Nicole Thomas. Rounding out the winning field: mezzo-soprano Shabnam Kalbasi of Los Angeles and tenor Joseph Lopez of Long Beach, Calif.

Soprano Mariah Wilcox of Las Vegas and Evan Kardon of San Francisco received encouragement awards at the Nevada District audition, which drew 30 singers from Canada, Colombia, Puerto Rico and New York, as well as California, Idaho — and, of course, Nevada.

Winners from the 13 regions that hold Metropolitan Opera auditions will sing at the National Semi-Finals in New York; about 10 of those singers will be chosen as National Finalists, who compete in a nationally broadcast Grand Finals concert.

Up to five winners will receive $15,000 each in the Metropolitan’s annual search for promising young opera singers.

The auditions began in the 1930s; past winners include such musical luminaries as Renee Fleming, Deborah Voigt and Thomas Hampson.