Each year young singers from across Canada – preselected in auditions – are invited to compete in the Centre Stage finals for a spot in the COC Ensemble the following season. Mezzo soprano Emily D’Angelo, this years’ recipient of the WMCT’s $10,000 Centennial Scholarship, won both First Prize ($5,000) and the Audience Choice award ($1500) in the competition held at the Four Seasons Centre Tuesday, Nov. 3. Despite having to appear on crutches – she has a broken bone in her foot – Emily dazzled us all with her performance.
The second and third prizes went to BC mezzo Lauren Eberwein and Quebec baritone Bruno Ray.
WMCT scholarship winners usually perform at our Annual General Meeting, but Emily was unable to do so this year as she was in New York to perform in the Gerda Lissner Lied/Art Song competition, where she won an “Encouragement” grant, and also to appear in the Mary Trueman Art Song Competition, where she was selected as a finalist – and will return to New York for the final in mid-March. While in New York, she also auditioned, and was accepted, for the Gerdine Young Artists Program offered by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, which provides an opportunity for young singers to sing in the chorus, occasionally understudy and also enjoy extensive coaching and master classes. In addition to all this, Emily has also been awarded the Jim and Charlotte Norcop Prize for singers at the Faculty of Music, and will give a recital in Walter Hall on March 31, 2016, from 12 to 1 pm. A rising star indeed!
More information in the U of T Bulletin
~ Susan Johnston, WMCT Archivist
