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 Godinez, San Jose, 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 Canada, 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.