Tuesday 10January 2017
NEW JETTE PARKER YOUNG ARTISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2017
The Royal Opera is delighted to announce the five singers who will join the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme in September 2017.
American soprano Jacquelyn Stucker Korean soprano Haegee Lee
Russian mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina Korean tenor Kono Kim
British baritone Dominic Sedgwick
The singers were selected from more than 365 applicants from 61countries. The audition process began in August 2016, with applications processed through the YAP Tracker website. Sixty-seven applicants were selected to sing in the first of three further rounds, with 27 progressing to the second round, which involved a one-to-one coaching session with David Gowland, Artistic Director of the Programme. A final shortlist of 12 singers auditioned first in a rehearsal room and then on the main stage in front of a panel comprising Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera, Oliver Mears, Director of Opera Elect, Peter Mario Katona, Director of Casting, David Gowland, Artistic Director of the Jette Parker Young Artists Program me, Siri Fischer Hansen, Administrator of the Programme, and international soprano Yvonne Kenny.
The five new Young Artists will join the five singers who continue on the Programme into their second year next Season: American soprano Francesca Chiejina, British mezzo–soprano Angela Simkin, New Zealand tenor Thomas Atkins, Hungarian baritone Gyula Nagy and South African bass Simon Shibambu. Bri tish conductors James Hendry and Matthew Scott Rogers and British repetiteur Nick Fletcher also continue on the Programme for their second year next Season.A new stage director to succeed Gerard Jones will be selected at interviews in March.
FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THEJEITE PARKER YOUNG ARTISTS PROGRAMME
The Jette Parker Young Artists Programme supports the artistic development of young professional singers, conductors, directors and reperiteurs. The Young Artists are an international group of outstanding professionals at the start of their careers who have undertaken formal training and have already worked with professional companies. They are not students, bu t contracted, salaried employees of the Royal Opera House, who work here full-time over two years.
There is no age limit for those on the Program me, but when choosi ng the Young Artists the audition panel takes into consideration the stage individuals have reached in their careers and where they will be in terms of career development and age after worki ng for two years on the Programme.
The Young Artists work on prod uctions for The Royal Opera, singing small roles and covering larger roles or joi ning the music or directi ng staff. They also receive coachi ng in all opera disciplines. They work with Royal Opera music staff, a wide range of freelance music and language coaches and visiting singers, directors and conductors. Every facility of the Company is made available to them so that their talents are nurtured through total immersion in the life of The Royal Opera and the Royal Opera House. For further information, visit www.roh.org .uk/about/jette parker–you ng–artists–programme
BIOGRAPHIES
Aigul Akhmetshina (Mezzo-soprano)
Russian mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina was born in Bashkortostan and graduated with honours from the vocal department of SBEI UAC College. She studies wi th Nelly Yusupova Gabdel haevna. She is a member of the
In ternational U nion of Musicians of the Interregional Shalyapin Centre ( Ufa branch). Competition successes include Third Prize in the D. Kabalevsky
International Competition in Samara, an award and Bronze Medal respectively in the 10th and 14th Youth Delphic Competition of Russia and First Prize in the B.T. Shtokolov International Vocal Competition in St Petersburg, the Fedor Shalyapin International Vocal Competiton in Ufa and the New Opera Competition in Moscow. She has also won the Talented Youth Support Award for contribution to the Development of Culture and Art in the Russian Federation. She has participated in the Estate Stellare festival of Russian music and dance in I taly and in masterclasses with Ildar Abdrazakov, Barbara Frittoli and Delfo Menicucci.
Korean tenor Kuno Kim began his musical education at the age of six, studying piano and violin. He graduated with a Master of Vocal Music degree from
Kyung-Hee Universi ty in Seoul and contin ued his studies at the Korean National Opera Academy and in Germany. Competition successes include First Prize in
the Montreal International Music Competition and in Operalia, Second Prize in the Seoul International Music Competition and prizes in the Marmande International Opera Singing Competition in France, the G.B. Rubini, Marcelo Giord ani and Zandonai International Singing Competitions in Italy and the International Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Poland. Opera appearances include Nadir ( Les Pecheurs de perles ) at the Korean National Opera and Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia ) at Landestheater Rudolfstad t. He has also sung at Carnegie Hall.
Haegee Lee (Soprano)
Korean soprano Haegee Lee studied at Seoul National University, grad uating with a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance, and at Le Conservatoire National de Region Pierre Barbizet in Marseilles, graduating with first class honours. She studies with Isabelle Vernet. Competition successes include First Prize in the Concours de Bach in Marseilles and Second Prize in the first Korean
Classical Singers Association International Vocal Competition in Seoul. In music theatre she has
sung Christine ( The Phantom of the Opera), and she has performed extensively in concert and recital in Europe, with highlights including a L’Europe de la Culture du Bel Canto a Giacomo
Puccini concert, a performance as one of two semi-finalists of the Concours Reine Elisabeth in Waterloo, a Hymnes a Maria concert in Marseilles, a recital with the Une heure ensemble in St Remy de Provence and the premiere of Chanson de Geisha at the conference Henri Tomasi, du
lyrisme mediterraneen a la conscience revoltee.
I‘ ·.·. –.
Dominic Sedgwick (Baritone)
British baritone Dominic Sedgwick studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Robert Dean. Previously he read Theology at Clare College, Cambridge. He is a Britten-Pears You ng Artist and a Drake Calleja Scholar, and has received support from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Help Musicians Sybil Tutton Awards, the Kathleen Trust and the Worshi pful
Companies of Grocers and Goldsmiths. Competition successes include winning the Three Choirs Felicity Lott competition and being a finalist for the Stuart Burrows International Voice Award. He has performed in a masterclass with Joyce DiDonato for her Barbican Spotlight series and also
appeared in public masterclasses with, among others, Simon Keenlyside, Ann Murray and Susan Bullock. Opera roles incl ude Robert (Iolanta) and Junius ( The Rape o_f Lucretia ) at the Guildhall School, the ti tle role of Owen Wingrave for British Youth Opera, Scherasmin ( Oberon) wi th the LSSO at the Barbican, Dr Falke (Die Fledermaus ) for Opera Danube, Papageno (Die Zaubeiflote ) as a Longborough Festival Opera Young Artist, a season with the Glyndebourne Chorus and performances at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and for Garsingron Opera. He has also performed extensively in recital in London and around the UK. Future engagements include creating Damyan in Julian Philips’s The Tale ofjanuarie for the Guildhall School and coveri ng Harleq uin
( Ariadne auJ Naxos ) as part of the Glyndebourne Festival, where he returns this summer to sing in the Chorus.
Jacquelyn Stucker (Soprano)
American soprano Jacquelyn Stucker studied at Furman University, Bard College and New England Conservatory. She studies with Lorraine Nu bar. Competition successes include winning the Anna Case MacKay Career Advancement Grant and Ruth Freehof Award from Santa Fe Opera, third place in the Dacia
Goodwin Franklin Award in the Lyndon Woodside New York Oratorio Society Competition, finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (New England Region ) and semi-finalist in the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, Her opera experience includ es Kare Pinkerton (Madama Butteif/y ) at Lyrique-en-Mer Festival, Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), Rosal inde ( Die Fledermaus ) and the ti tl e role of The Cunning Little Vixen at New
England Conservatory, the title role of Theodora for Music at Marsh Chapel, Boston U niversity, and Meridian in the world premiere of UnShakeable for Santa Fe Opera. She has performed extensively in concert, with orchestras including those of the Handel and Haydn Society and Back Bay Chorale. Future engagements include Oberto ( Alcina ) for Santa Fe Opera, Hayd n’s Die Schopfung with Boston’s Back Bay Chorale, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with Harvard University and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Beethoven’s concert aria Ah, pe1fido! wi th Grand Harmonie and Bach‘s Christmas Oratorio with the Handel and Haydn Society.
