The American Prize is pleased to announce the WINNERS of the Chicago Oratorio Award, 2014.
Four $500 prizes, one
each for soprano, mezzo-soprano (alto), tenor, baritone (bass), have been
awarded as performance fees to soloists selected to appear under the
baton of Maestro David Katz in concert with the
Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, performing the solo portions of Beethoven's
Choral Fantasy and the Quartet from Verdi's
Rigoletto on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 at St James Episcopal Cathedral, Chicago.
This additional
opportunity, offered as part of 2014
The American Prize in Vocal Performance Friedrich and Virginia Schorr Memorial Awards national
competition, is judged entirely independently from the rest of the contests.
Tickets for the performance may be purchased by clicking here.
The 2014 winners are:
JULIANNE GEARHART, soprano
Soprano
Julianne Gearhart is quickly becoming known on both sides of the
Atlantic for her remarkable theatrical presence as well as the
crystalline quality of her singing. She started her career as a devoted
singer of Strauss, singing Zerbinetta for numerous companies including
The Grand Theatre de Geneve and the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, and
Der Rosenkavalier’s Sophie for the Seattle Opera and in her German debut
for Theater Lübeck.
Gearhart's relationship with Seattle has
been close and longstanding. A graduate of their Young Artist Program,
she made her mainstage debut in Seattle as Helen Niles in the premiere
of the revised Mourning Becomes Electra. Other roles followed, including
Woglinde and the Waldvogel in their Ring Cycle as well as a
relationship with the Seattle Symphony, where she most recently sang
Poulenc’s Gloria, and for whom she has also sung Bach's notoriously
difficult Cantata #51, Jauchzett Gott in allen Landen. She reprised the
Bach for the White Mountain Bach Festival last season.
Gearhart
made her Italian debut at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Sardinia, as
Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. She also sang Blonde for the
Vlaamse Opera’s 2010 production. She has performed with the Edinburgh
Festival, Opera North, Seattle Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Grand
Rapids, Seattle Symphony, The Canadian Chamber Orchestra of New York,
Port Angeles Symphony, Salem Philharmonic Orchestra, Palm Beach
Symphony, the Alba Music Festival in Alba, Italy, Grieg Choral Festival
in Bergen, Norway, Chamber Music Amarillo, New Israeli Opera, and the
Grand Theatre Geneve. She made her Carnegie Hall debut singing under the
baton of Maestro Rutter in Handel’s Messiah and Rutter’s Magnificat.
COURTNEY MILLER, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-Soprano
Courtney Miller is the 2013 winner of the National Federation of Music
Clubs’ Young Artist Competition in Women’s Voice and and First Place
winner of the American Prize in Art Song. Ms. Miller returns to
Virginia Opera as an Emerging Artist for the 2014-15 season singing
Cousin Hebe in HMS Pinafore, Page in Salome, and Flora in La Traviata.
During Virginia Opera’s 2013-14 season, Ms. Miller sang Meg Page in
Falstaff, Second Lady in The Magic Flute, Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos
while covering the Composer, and Mercédès in Carmen. Recent highlights
include Sister Helen in Dead Man Walking, the title role in L’enfant et
les sortilèges, and Concepción in L’heure Espagnole. Ms. Miller has
worked with the Glimmerglass Festival, Chautauqua Opera, Boston Lyric
Opera, Ohio Light Opera, and Seagle Music Colony. A Wisconsin native,
Ms. Miller holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the Boston
Conservatory. www.courtneyallycemiller.com
DANIEL KAMALIC, lyric tenor
Lyric
tenor Daniel Kamalić has been praised for the “exciting, tremendous
force and burnished tonal quality” of his voice. He has performed
regularly with Connecticut Lyric Opera and Opera Boston, as well as with
the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Juventas New Music Ensemble, and
the International Rachmaninoff Festival. He was recently selected by
Joan Dornemann and Paul Nadler of the Metropolitan Opera to receive a
full scholarship to attend the prestigious International Vocal Arts
Institute. In addition to the repertoire standards, he champions new and
rarely performed works. Mr. Kamalić has created roles in operas by
composers Eric Sawyer, Charles David Younger, Thomas Oboe Lee, and Sarah
Meneely-Kyder. The Croatian-American tenor has also reveled in the
opportunity to explore and present the music of Croatia. He made his
European debut in 2012 with Kvartet Veljak in Valun, Croatia and returns
in 2014 to sing at the Rijeka Festival of Chamber Music in Rijeka,
Croatia.
PETER LIGHTFOOT, dramatic baritone
Dramatic
baritone Peter Lightfoot performed Falstaff in Verdi’s Falstaff in
Cagli and Mercatello, Italy. His performance of Marbuel at the Wexford
Festival in The Devil and Kate is on DVD. Lightfoot was Bass soloist
in Mozart's Requiem with Sir John Rutter at Carnegie Hall. His operatic
roles include Verdi's Macbeth; Tonio in Il Pagliacci; Scarpia in Tosca
and Rigoletto in Verdi's Rigoletto. His orchestral credits include the
Stockholm Philharmonic, the Amsterdam Radio Symphony, the San Francisco
Symphony, Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, and
Dallas Symphony. Mr. Lightfoot was born in New York and holds degrees
from the Juilliard School and Tufts University. He is winner of a
National Opera Institute Grant, a Sullivan Foundation Grant and a Harp
Grant. He is associate professor of voice Michigan State University's
College of Music. Lightfoot's "An American Tapestry" with pianist Dr.
Deborah Moriarity, can now be heard on Blue Griffin Records.
