Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air
The Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air were an annual singing competition hosted by the Metropolitan Opera in New York City for more than two decades starting in 1935 .
target
The aim of the competition was to find, promote and engage young, promising opera singers. The winners received a cash prize, the opportunity to sing selected opera roles with the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera on the radio, and a contract offer was made to them.
history
The Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air were launched in 1935 by the newly appointed Director General of the Metropolitan Opera, Edward Johnson , and were initially broadcast live on NBC Radio . In view of the large number of participants in the competition, 15 programs were broadcast over several weeks in the first year. The first two winners of the competition were the tenor Arthur Carron and the contralto Anna Kaskas . A short time later, both became permanent members of the Metropolitan Opera ensemble. In addition, singers such as Risë Stevens , Eleanor Steber and Robert Merrill managed to draw attention to the New York Opera House.
With the exception of 1945/1946 and 1946/1947, the competitions took place annually and were broadcast by the American Broadcasting Company from 1947/1948 . Rudolf Bing , General Director of the Metropolitan Opera since 1950, ended the practice of automatically offering all winners of the competition a contract at the opera house.
Concerned that due to the high cost to outside participants, the competition was merely a tool to promote singers in and around New York City, the Metropolitan Opera founded the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1954 . With the new competition, which provided for regional preliminary decisions in the US states , it was possible to find talented young opera singers from all over the United States and to bind them to the opera house. From that point on, the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air were sometimes referred to as the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions of the Air . Since the American Broadcasting Company stopped broadcasting the competition from the end of the 1957/1958 opera season, it was held for the last time in 1958.
Well-known winners
Web links
- A Brief History of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions at www.moncauditionsma.org
- Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air at www.loc.gov
- Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air at www.worldcat.org
- Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air at www.worldcat.org
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e A Brief History of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In: www.moncauditionsma.org. Retrieved May 6, 2018 .
- ^ About the National Council. (No longer available online.) In: www.metopera.org. Archived from the original on February 14, 2018 ; accessed on May 6, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Singers Win Chance At Opera In Contest; Connecticut Girl and English Man Chosen for Metropolitan in Radio Auditions. In: The New York Times. March 30, 1936, accessed May 6, 2018 .
- ^ Singers Win Chance At Opera In Contest; Connecticut Girl and Englishman Chosen for Metropolitan in Radio Auditions. . In: The New York Times . March 30, 1936.
