The Argento Fellowships - 2024 Recipients Announced!

The Argento Fellowships

The National Opera Association (NOA) is pleased to announce the 2024 recipients of the Carolyn Bailey Argento Fellowship for Vocal Performance and the Dominick Argento Fellowship for Opera Composition, as announced at the 2024 National Conference in Tempe, AZ.  Three awards were made in total, to two singers and one composer.

Carolyn Bailey Argento Fellowship for Vocal Performance recipients

Originally from Puerto Rico, mezzo-soprano Camille Robles is currently in her last year of study pursuing her Master of Music degree at Rice University in the studio of Professor Ana María Martínez. Ms. Robles completed her undergraduate studies at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music in San Juan, where she performed the roles of Madame Flora in Menotti's The Medium and of Beppe in Mascagni's L'amico Fritz. She was part of the Young Artist Vocal Academy at Houston Grand Opera in 2022. In 2019, she was a Puerto Rico District Winner in the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition and has won awards and grants at a regional level. This last summer she covered the role of Idamante in W.A. Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. She will be doing her role debut as Olga in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin this fall at Rice University.

Ms. Robles is awarded the Carolyn Bailey Argento Fellowship for Vocal Performance for the completion of her MM degree at Rice University.

In the spring of 2024, Justice Yates will perform the roles of Father Trulove in The Rake's Progress and Simone in Gianni Schicchi with Yale Opera. Justice currently studies with Gerald Martin Moore at the Yale University School of Music. After earning his undergraduate degree in Music Performance at Stetson University, Justice spent the summer of 2023 as a Young Artist at Houston Grand Opera's Young Artist Vocal Academy and SongFest in Nashville, Tennessee. While working on Janá?ek's Cunning Little Vixen as the Forester, Justice also performed selections from H. Leslie Adams's Nightsongs at New York's Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in the spring of 2023. Justice performed as Aeneas in Stetson Opera Theatre's production of Dido and Aeneas in the fall of 2022. Following his third year, Justice studied opera in Graz, Austria, and placed as a finalist in AIMS's Meistersinger competition.

Mr. Smith is awarded the Carolyn Bailey Argento Fellowship for Vocal Performance for a Master of Music degree at the Yale University School of Music.

Dominick Argento Fellowship for Opera Composition recipient

Stephanie Leotsakos is a Greek-Colombian-American composer, soprano, violinist, conductor, educator, inventor, and entrepreneur. Her music has been described as dramatic, emotionally vulnerable, and profoundly colorful--almost synaesthetic. An opera enthusiast, Stephanie has composed and premiered two original operas, Young Goodman Brown (2021) and OMG (2016). Richard Prowse, of Barnstaple’s 2023 Fringe TheatreFest, described YGB as having “an almost Britten-like declamatory style” that “would contrast with more thoughtful and lyrical moments.” The opera was applauded as “seriously good” and “not to be missed by all music lovers” (The Fringe Buzz). Stephanie’s portfolio includes both large ensemble and chamber works as well as electroacoustic works. Stephanie holds an M.A. from Rutgers University '21 and a B.A. from Princeton University '16 in composition/theory.

Ms. Leotsakos is awarded the Dominick Argento Fellowship for Opera Composition for a PhD degree in composition that she will begin in Fall 2024.

Prior Round Guidelines

Note: future rounds of the fellowships will open as the current fellowship awards are completed. Please revisit this page to check when these awards will next be made available.

2024 Awards 

The National Opera Association (NOA) is pleased to announce the Carolyn Bailey Argento Fellowship for Vocal Performance and the Dominick Argento Fellowship for Opera Composition, both of which are made possible through a generous endowment established by the prominent American composer Dominick Argento (1927-2019), and in honor of his wife, the soprano Carolyn Bailey Argento (1930-2006).

These award programs, one made to singers studying vocal performance, and the other to composers with an interest in opera, provide full graduate-level tuition and living expenses for the duration of an eligible graduate degree (up to two years for a master's-level degree, and up to three years for a doctoral-level degree), up to $50,000 per year, each.

Guidelines and Applications for 2024 Awards

Applications to the fellowship programs for vocal performance or composition must be received by October 15, 2023, and recipients will be selected on a competitive basis (see specific guidelines for each fellowship program for details).

Please see the complete guidelines for eligibility and application process for each fellowship program:

For Singers   Carolyn Bailey Argento Fellowship for Vocal Performance

For Composers   Dominick Argento Fellowship for Opera Composition

Awards will be made in January 2024.  Future successive competition rounds will be announced as funding becomes available, as recipients complete their degree programs.

The Dominick Argento and Carolyn Bailey Argento Fellowship Fund is administered by the National Opera Association through the Tulsa Community Foundation.  We are honored to serve as stewards of Dominick Argento's distinguished legacy, as we work to realize his vision for supporting future generations of singers and composers.

About Dominick Argento and Carolyn Bailey Argento

Dominick Argento (1927-2019) is considered to be one of America’s leading composers, known especially for his output of opera, choral, and art song.  His many awards and accolades received included: the Pulitzer Prize in Music, a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, appointment as Composer Laureate to the Minnesota Orchestra, election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the George Peabody Medal for his exceptional contribution to music in America.  A longtime teacher of theory and composition at the University of Minnesota from 1958 until his retirement as Professor Emeritus, he trained and mentored generations of composers who have themselves supported the advancement of American music. 

Carolyn Bailey Argento (1930-2006), in addition to frequently performing her husband's works, appeared in leading soprano roles with the Center Opera Company, the predecessor to the Minnesota Opera, and with various choirs and madrigal groups.  The couple were married for 51 years and divided their time between their residences in Minneapolis and Florence, Italy.  

Dominick Argento was always grateful for the foundational education he received in graduate school, which he felt paved the way for his lifetime of professional accomplishments as a composer and as a teacher.  His wife, Carolyn, and his parents, were steadfast in their support and encouragement of him through the years of graduate school, enabling him to focus on his musical development without having to worry about finances.  His desire in funding the Argento Fellowships was to provide similar support for future generations of developing artists to focus full-time on their musical development through a graduate degree.

2024 Guidelines and Applications

For Singers   Carolyn Bailey Argento Fellowship for Vocal Performance

For Composers   Dominick Argento Fellowship for Opera Composition

Read about the 2024 Fellowship recipients!

Read about the 2022 Fellowship recipients!