Gari Foundation Feb 2024 Newsletter

In this February Newsletter, we have news about our foundation, a recap of last year’s competition, and a look toward the 2024 competition and gala. First – we’re excited to announce our anniversary.

The Giulio Gari Foundation was founded in 2003 to honor the memory of Giulio Gari and to establish a conduit for young aspiring opera singers to receive financial assistance and recognition as they build their careers. We will be dedicating this year’s competition to the memory of Giulio Gari, his career, and the principles with which he guided his life and art.

We celebrate Giulio Gari with this, our 18^th annual Vocal Competition and 21^st Anniversary.

Following our wonderful and very successful competition in May 2023, the Giulio Gari Foundation celebrated with a Winners Concert and Gala Dinner on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. The afternoon concert took place at the gorgeous and acoustically superb Church of the Blessed Sacrament on W 71^st St in New York City. With a large audience that included friends of the Foundation, opera lovers and students from the New York City Public Schools, this was one of the best events we have ever had. A total surprise occurred when a mobile television crew from New York City Channel 11, WPIX-TV showed up with veteran reporter Magee Hickey. She interviewed Gloria, a few of our winners and it was shown on television that night.

We are the only Opera Foundation that ever had a major TV station show up to run a story on an event like our Winners Concert! Thank you WPIX Channel 11 and Magee Hickey for recognizing the excellence of the Giulio Gari Foundation and supporting classical vocal art. After the Concert, everyone walked over to Arte Café on W. 73^rd St for a delicious celebratory dinner.

Key’mon Murrah, Countertenor, First Prize (Stephen DeMaio Award)
Le Bu, Bass-Baritone, Second Prize (Glen Robert Gary Award)
Vladyslav Buialskyi, Bass-Baritone, Third Prize (Licia Albanese Award)
Cierra Byrd, Mezzo-Soprano, Fourth Prize (John Marien Award)
Amanda Batista, Soprano, Fifth Prize (Scott Barnes Award)
Chanae Curtis, Soprano, Grant (Riccardo Moresco Award)
Sejin Park, Baritone, Grant (Riccardo Moresco Award)
Chelsea Lehnea, Soprano (Michele Classe Award)
Younggwang Park, Bass-Baritone (Michele Classe Award)

Avery Boettcher, Soprano
Kara Goodrich, Soprano
Kathryn Henry, Mezzo-Soprano
Rebecca Kidnie, Soprano
Song Hee Lee, Soprano
Xavier Prado, Tenor
Spencer Reichman, Baritone
Joseph Sacchi, Tenor
Chloe San Antonio, Mezzo-Soprano
Esther Tonea, Soprano
Wooyoung Yoon, Tenor
Alexandra Urquiola, Mezzo Soprano

GARI FOUNDATION 2024 COMPETITION

In continuing our tradition of a yearly competition for 2024, we have set the dates for May 6-10, 2024. As in previous years, the competition will be at the venerable Liederkranz Club, the oldest continuing organization in New York dedicated to classical singing. We thank Liederkranz and the Max Kade Foundation for their continuing support of our mission.

The Giulio Gari Foundation was created by Gloria Gari, her son Glen Gary, Licia Albanese and Stephen DeMaio who guided and ran it for its first eighteen years. During this time there have been many people who have contributed to the success of the Foundation, whether monetarily or with their love, time, and devotion.

Our next annual Winners Concert and Gala Dinner will be held on October 20, 2024.

This season was an active one for our 2023 prize winners. Bass-baritone Le Bu, Second Prize Winner 2023 appeared this season at the Met in Verdi’s Nabucco. He returns to Santa Fe this summer in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. With him, also returning to Santa Fe, is 2023 Encouragement Winner bass Younggwang Park. Joining them in Santa Fe for La Traviata is baritone Sejin Park, a 2023 Grant Winner. Before his appearances in Santa Fe, Seijin will be singing in Turandot and La Boheme in Florida and Hawaii. Soprano Amanda Batista, Fifth Prize 2023, continues to perform with the Lindemann in Concert and will be in the revival of Puccini’s La Rondine in the spring. 2023 Third Prize Winner bass-baritone Vladyslav Buialskyi returns from appearances as Leporello in Don Giovanni in Lille, France this past autumn to sing Count Walter in Verdi’s Luisa Miller at Sarasota Opera. Joining him is 2023 Finalist Anna Kelly as the Dutchess Federica. Chelsea Lehnea, 2023 Grant Winner sings Liu in Turandot in St. Petersburg, FL in March and returns there in June for Lucia di Lammermoor. Singing Edgardo to her Lucia is tenor Christopher Oglesby, Grant 2022.

Returning to the Metropolitan Opera for the spring season are Michael Fabiano (Second Prize 2006) as Don Jose in Bizet’s Carmen and J’nai Bridges (Fourth Prize 2015) in the Met premiere of John Adam’s Oratorio El Nino. J’nai will be singing Carmen in Hamburg and Berlioz’s Juliette with the Boston Symphony. Making his Metropolitan Opera debut with J’nai in El Nino is our 2023 First Prize Winner, Countertenor Key’mon Murrah. Earlier this season at the Met, 2018 Grant recipient Seokjong Baek made an auspicious Met debut as Ismaele in Nabucco, a role he repeats in Budapest at the Hungarian State Opera. He sings Calaf in Turandot at the San Carlo in Napoli and returns to the Met later this spring as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. He is on a trajectory for a major career.

2005 Second Prize Winner and Gari Foundation supporter, tenor Yonghoon Lee has a busy spring season in Europe singing Johnson in Fanciulla Del West at the Wiener Staatsoper, Calaf in Turandot at the Welsh National Opera, Luigi in Il Tabarro at the Staatsoper Munich and Andrea Chenier in Zurich. Joining Yonghoon in Cardiff (WNO) as Turandot is Ewa Plonka, (2014 Fifth Prize) a fast-rising dramatic soprano. In November, 2023, Byeongmin Gil (First Prize 2019) and Fanyong Du, (Second Prize 2018) were awarded First and Second Prizes respectively, at the 2023 XVIII Altamura Caruso International Vocal Competition held at the Villa Scacciatura. Siena, Italy, held Nov. 21-23, 2023. Big congratulations to both from the Giulio Gari Foundation.

Yonghoon Lee has been teaching part time at a University in South Korea, mentoring young Korean singers. One of those he has helped is ByeongMin Gil. He had been under the radar for a number of years because of Covid and then staying in South Korea to care for his ailing parents. While he was there he became a big star on television and was thriving performing K-Pop. Well, he turned up in New York and was this year’s First Prize Winner at the annual Opera Index Competition. ByeongMin, also like his mentor Younghoon Lee, was taken under the wing of Gloria Gari when they were both struggling to pursue their careers. Gloria and ByeongMin had a reunion at the Opera Index Winners Concert and Dinner, and it was beautiful to see the two of them together again.

MORE SINGER NEWS

Raquel Suarez Groen, 2015 Grant Winner, after four years starring on Broadway as Carlotta in Phantom of the Opera, has embarked on a new venture as a teacher and coach.
Dramatic soprano Angela Meade, Second Prize 2007, continues her journey as Turandot in Los Angeles, Chrysothemis in Elektra in Dallas and Bellini’s bel canto Beatrice di Tenda at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova.
Vanessa Vasquez, First Prize 2016 and Scottsdale, AZ native, returns home to sing Mozart’s Donna Anna at Arizona Opera in April.
Leonardo Capalbo, our first First Prize winner in 2003, is busy with Verdi Requiems in Edinburgh and Glasgow, La Rondine at the Wiener Staatsoper and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Real in Madrid.
Joshua Guerrero, (Grant recipient 2015) has in the past few seasons been establishing himself as one of the fastest rising young tenors. Upcoming appearances include Luigi in Il Trittico and Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut at the Vienna Staatsoper and Faust in Boito’s Mefistofele in Rome.
Coming off a triumph this past summer as Norma in Athens, Carmen in Austria (with Vanessa Vasquez as Micaela) and Elisabetta in Don Carlos in Monte Carlo earlier this season, soprano Joyce El-Khoury, (Fourth Prize 2009) sings Maria in Simon Boccanegra at the Finnish National Opera and Tosca in Tokyo. Joyce just sang Queen Christina in the world premiere of a new opera, La Reine-Garcon by Julien Bilodeau and Michel Marc Bouchard at L’Opera de Montreal. This is a retelling of the true story of 17^thcentury Swedish Queen Christina who led a life of intrigue and ambiguity and gave up her throne, living in exile in France and Italy. To this day she remains one of only three women buried in the Vatican.
Michelle Bradley (Fifth Prize, 2018) will be singing the title role of Aida at Lyric Opera of Chicago in March/April 2023. With her as the Priestess is Kathryn Henry, 2023 Finalist.
When the Metropolitan Opera Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts Die Walkure in Rotterdam, Dortmund and Paris this spring, sopranos Jessica Faselt, (Third Prize Winner 2019) & Brittany Olivia Logan, (Fifth Prize 2022), will be singing Helmwige and Gerhilde respectively. In June Brittany sings Mozart’s Donna Anna at the Cincinnati Summer Festival.
Marlin Nahhas, (Grant 2018) and Cesar Delgado, (Second Prize 2018) will be together in Florencia En El Amazonas in San Jose during April and May. This beautiful opera was a major success at the Met this season. Marlin sings Florencia and Cesar, Arcadio. Cesar just finished a run in Florencia in Nashville. He is now a featured artist at the Metropolitan Opera.
Sylvia D’Eramo, Grant 2019, Met Lindemann alumnus is currently on the roster in St. Gallen Switzerland where she will be singing Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani. Matthew Vickers (Grant, 2019) is Aegisthus in Elektra in Darmstadt and Derek Start, (Second Prize 2019) and Avery Boettcher, (2023 Finalist) will be singing in a revised staging of Die Fledermaus in Los Angeles in the spring.