Eight artists have been selected from an international pool of talent to advance to the live final round of the company’s 36th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers
Emerging artists to compete for honors and cash prizes at Wortham Theater Center, with competition also livestreamed for audiences at home
HOUSTON—January 30, 2024—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is proud to announce the eight finalists for this year’s Concert of Arias, the 36th Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, to be presented live from the Wortham Theater Center on February 2, 2024, at 7 p.m. CT.
HGO holds the international competition each year to identify the most promising emerging artists in opera, each a potential candidate for the company’s prestigious training program for young artists, the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio. The eight finalists will spend the week leading up to the Concert of Arias learning more about HGO and working with its music staff. At the event, each will perform two arias, competing for prizes including the $10,000 purse for first place.
The 2024 Concert of Arias finalists include:
· Alissa Goretsky, soprano
· Elizabeth “Hanje”, soprano
· Jouelle Roberson, soprano
· Jazmine Saunders, soprano
· Rafael Rojas, tenor
· Sam Dhobhany, bass-baritone
· Ziniu Zhao, bass-baritone
· Edwin Jhamaal Davis, bass
This year’s esteemed judges for the competition include guest judge, HGO Principal Guest Conductor, and Music Director of San Francisco Opera Eun Sun Kim; HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor, and HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers.
“There is nothing more important to us at HGO than our annual search for the world’s finest emerging artists. They will define the future of the art form,” says Dastoor. “I am grateful that our company has the resources to invest in seeking out and fostering these incredible talents, while expanding the reach of the Butler Studio across the globe. And I cannot wait to spend an inspiring evening immersed in gorgeous arias from the repertoire, sung by these thrilling new voices in opera.”
HGO will present the competition to a live audience in the Wortham’s Cullen Theater, and the event will be streamed online through HGO’s Facebook and YouTube platforms. The evening’s livestream host is a Butler Studio alumnus and company favorite, the bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, performing with HGO this season as Amfortas in Parsifal and Leporello in Don Giovanni. McKinny will entertain online viewers and keep audiences apprised of all the action happening behind-the-scenes. HGO Artistic Advisor and soprano Ana María Martínez will select the Encouragement Award, which she created nine years ago to celebrate artists developing their craft.
The in-person audience will get a chance to vote for the Audience Choice Award, with livestream viewers voting for their favorite singer in the Online Viewers’ Choice Award. The evening ends with the announcement of the six coveted prizes: First, Second, and Third place, the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award, the Audience Choice Award, and the Online Viewers’ Choice Award.
This year’s competition represents the first Concert of Arias under the leadership of the new Director of the Butler Studio program, Colin Michael Brush, who joined HGO this fall.
“Embarking on this international search for the best of the best, on behalf of HGO, has been exhilarating,” says Brush. “The gifts that these eight finalists possess, the years they have already spent honing their talents, the potential they have for careers on the stages of the great opera houses of the world—it inspires not only awe, but also a sense of great responsibility. We are here to help them reach their fullest potential. Working with these finalists leading up to the Concert of Arias has been a dream.”
This year’s Concert of Arias is chaired by Hon. Theresa and Dr. Peter Chang. Proceeds from the evening, which includes a post-concert dinner for company supporters, benefit the Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers and the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio.
This year’s semifinalists included sopranos Alissa Goretsky, Elizabeth “Hanje”, Jouelle Roberson, Jazmine Saunders, and Gabrielle Turgeon; mezzo-sopranos Lucy Joy Altus, Anna Kelly, Michelle Mariposa, and Lindsay Martin; tenors Garrett Evers, Rafael Rojas, and Shawn Roth; baritones Trevor Haumschilt-Rocha and David Wolfe; bass-baritones Vinícius Costa, Sam Dhobhany, Ben Strong, Jared Werlein, and Ziniu Zhao; and bass Edwin Jhamaal Davis.
At last year’s Concert of Arias, Dastoor announced that the company had received the largest gift in its history from longtime supporters Sarah and Ernest Butler, who have created a new fund within the HGO Endowment valued at $22 million. Dastoor also shared that the company’s Studio program had been renamed to honor their commitment to the operatic art form.
Since its inception in 1977, the Butler Studio has grown into one of the most respected young artist programs in the world. Each of the artists in the Butler Studio has access to a learning environment that emphasizes practical experience within the professional opera world. This includes regular coaching sessions with industry professionals, roles in HGO mainstage productions, recital performances, and a variety of other concert engagements.
2024 Concert of Arias Finalist Biographies:
ALISSA GORETSKY Soprano Alissa Goretsky made her operatic debut as Gismonda in Ottone at Caroline Hume Hall under the baton of Corey Jameson in 2019. Her recent roles include Foreign Woman in The Consul, Mimì in La bohème, Contessa Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, and Emilia in Flavio, as well as covering the role of Sister Alice and Sister Catherine at San Francisco Opera in Dialogues of the Carmelites. Goretsky is the 2022 first-place winner of the Palm Spring Opera Guild Competition, the 2023 winner of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition, and a 2022 Finalist of the Orpheus Competition. In March 2024 she will perform the role of Ma Zegner in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up at Caroline Hume Hall. Goretsky holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance and a Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
ELIZABETH “HANJE” Soprano
Elizabeth “Hanje” is an alumna of HGO’s Young Artist Vocal Academy and the Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice Program. She is a senior at Oberlin Conservatory, where her roles have included Ernestina in L’occasione fa il ladro, Comedian in Matthew Recio’s Puppy Episode, and Lyra in Melissa Dunphy’s Alice Tierney, as well as performing in the chorus of Acis and Galatea. “Hanje” has sung in masterclasses with director Michael Capasso, soprano Christine Goerke, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, and soprano Harolyn Blackwell. She is a winner of the 2023 Duncan Williams Voice Competition and the 2022 George Shirley Vocal Competition. In 2021, she received the Richard Miller Award for Fine Singing and a YoungArts Award.
JOUELLE ROBERSON Soprano Jouelle Roberson served in Opera Lucca’s 2022 summer program, where she performed the title role in Suor Angelica. As a 2021 young artist with the Saratoga Opera, she performed the role of Grisostomo from Don Quichotte: At Comacho’s Wedding, returning to the company to perform as Maria in the mainstage production of Man of La Mancha. She was a studio artist with Atlanta Opera in 2019-20, performing the role of Strawberry Woman in Porgy and Bess. With the Bethesda Summer Music Festival, she performed the role of Marenka in The Bartered Bride. Roberson was invited to the prestigious 2023 Castleton Festival, and to join the 2024 roster of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis’s Gerdine Young Artist Program. She was a finalist in the Vincerò First Italian Worldwide Opera Competition in 2022, where she won both the Renata Tebaldi Award and the Public Award. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance at Morgan State University and continued her training at the Manhattan School of Music.
JAZMINE SAUNDERS Soprano Jazmine Saunders is an alumna of HGO’s 2021 Young Artists’ Vocal Academy. She is currently a second-year master’s student at The Juilliard School, where she is the recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. This season at Juilliard, Saunders performs as Elaine O’Neill in John Musto’s Later the Same Evening and covers Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito. Last summer, she joined the Wolf Trap Opera Studio, where she covered Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. As an Emerging Artist at Seagle Festival 2022, Saunders performed as Miss Lightfoot in Fellow Travelers and Suor Osmina in Suor Angelica. She is a New York District Winner of the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and an Encouragement Award recipient of the Eastern Region. She received her bachelor’s degree in voice performance from the Eastman School of Music in 2022.
RAFAEL ROJAS Tenor Rafael Rojas began his career as a singer at the age of 16, singing mainly popular and musical repertoire. At the age of 25 he entered the world of opera and has participated in national and international competitions. In 2022 he won the award for Best Male Voice in Zarzuela in the Carlo Morelli Singing Competition. In 2022 and 2023, he was the winner of the Mexico District of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. He currently serves as a principal tenor with the Mexico Opera Studio in Monterrey, Mexico, where he has performed the roles of Don José in Carmen, Gaston in the Mexican opera Anita, and Boy in Carlos Mabarak’s Mass of Six. He is currently studying with Carlos Conde, Alfredo Portilla, and Andrés Sarre.
SAM DHOBHANY Bass-Baritone
Sam Dhobhany is a senior vocal performance major at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where this winter he sings the role of Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro. This spring, he will sing the role of Angelotti in Tosca with Dayton Opera. In summer 2023, Dhobhany was an apprentice artist with Santa Fe Opera, where he covered and sang the role of Un Médecin in Pelléas et Mélisande and covered 2nd Spirit/5th Pastore in L’Orfeo. In the summer of 2021, he joined Wolf Trap Opera’s Studio Artist Program, where he covered the role of Doctor Grenvil in La traviata. Dhobhany’s roles next season include Marchese D’Obigny in La traviata and covering Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love and The Notary in Der Rosenkavalier. Dhobhany was a 2023 winner of the Michigan District in The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Next summer, he returns to Santa Fe Opera as an apprentice artist.
ZINIU ZHAO Bass-Baritone
Ziniu Zhao is a member of the Opera Talent Training Program of the China National Arts Foundation. He won the first prize in the Colorado International Music Competition in the United States, the Rossini Singing Award for Best Singing in the Fiorenza Cedolins Opera Competition in Italy, and the Maria Callas Award in the Vincerò International Opera Competition, also in Italy. He has appeared in operas such as Don Pasquale (title role), La bohème (Colline), and Così fan tutte (Don Alfonso). Last year he gave a solo concert in China’s Shandong Province. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where he received the Outstanding Student Scholarship for four consecutive years.
EDWIN JHAMAAL DAVIS Bass This season Edwin Jhamaal Davis returns to Carnegie Hall as soloist in Mozart’s Requiem. He also makes house debuts in X: The Life & Times of Malcolm X with The Metropolitan Opera as Garvey Preacher and Seattle Opera as Bass 2; and debuts the role of Colline in La bohème with First Coast Opera, Amelia Island Opera, and Intermountain Opera Bozeman. In summer 2023, Davis joined San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, where he performed Sarastro in The Magic Flute, as well as in excerpts from Macbeth as Banquo. In the 2022-23 season, he performed the role of Bass 2 in X: The Life & Times of Malcolm X for Opera Omaha, covered Masetto and Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni for Atlanta Opera, joined Opera Grand Rapids as the King in Aida, performed as the bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah for Danbury Symphony, and made his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist in Verdi’s Requiem. Davis is a National First Place Winner of the Marian Anderson Vocal Arts Scholarship and a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Eastern Region. He holds a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
To learn more about the evening, visit HGO.org/COA.