2020-2021 Production Competition Winners

The winners of the 2020-2021 Opera Production Competition have been announced. Due to the vast range of resources available to producing organizations, the entrants are first divided into Undergraduate and Graduate levels (based on predominant age group or training level of the cast) and then each level divided into three divisions according to production size and budget. A total of 12 awards have been given by the judges.

Gallery: 2020-21 Opera Production Winners

Special Awards for Innovation During the Time of COVID

In light of the lengths we all went to to make opera happen, the committee would like to give special recognition for innovation in adapting to this “new normal”. This year we are presenting special awards for innovation, one each for Undergraduate and Graduate level productions:

Undergraduate Level

Selections from "The Little Prince, A Magical Opera”
Walnut Hill School for the Arts
Teresa Winner Blume, Direction and Adaptation
Elaine Smith-Purcell, Music Director, Vocal Coach
Lynn Kao, Sound Mastering and MIDI Orchestra
Maggie Marotta, Lead Animator and Editor

Graduate Level

Masquerade 2021 - Five Short Operas
Frost Opera Theater, University of Miami
Alan Johnson, Music Director and Conductor
Jeffrey Buchman, Stage Director
Camilla Haith, Costume Designer
Jeff Semerling, Mask Artist

DIVISION I

First Place – TIE

Moores School of Music - University of Houston

A Hand of Bridge by Samuel Barber, libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti

Trouble in Tahiti by Leonard Bernstein

Nicole Kenley-Miller, Director/Designer/Video Editor Katherine Ciscon, Musical Director/Pianist

Western Michigan University

On Call: COVID-19 by David Shenton, libretto by Christine Steyer

Carl J. Ratner, Director

David Shenton, Music Director, Pianist, Violinist, Sound Engineer Christine Steyer, Production Coordinator, Visual Designer

Mark Wade, Video Engineer

Second Place

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

ATLAS by Meredith Monk, Libretto by Meredith Monk and Nijah Poteat

Marc Callahan, Director and Dramaturge Yumi Kita, Music Director and Pianist Nijah Poteat, Texts and Narrator

Third Place

Viterbo University

Trouble in Tahiti by Leonard Bernstein

Brent Wilson, Director and Producer

David Richardson, Music Director and Vocal Coach

DIVISION II

First Place

Luther College

Dido & Aeneas by Henry Purcell, Libretto by Nahum Tate

Nicholas Shaneyfelt, Music Director Carla Thelen Hanson, Co-Stage Director Andrew Whitfield, Co-Stage Director Mick Layden, Livestream Videographer

Second Place

Walnut Hill School for the Arts

Selections from "The Little Prince, A Magical Opera" by Rachel Portman, Libretto by Nicholas Wright

Teresa Winner Blume, Direction and Adaptation Elaine Smith-Purcell, Music Director, Vocal Coach Lynn Kao, Sound Mastering and MIDI Orchestra Maggie Marotta, Lead Animator and Editor

DIVISION III

Winner

Opera McGill (McGill University)

The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten, Libretto by Myfanwy Piper

Patrick Hansen, Stage Director Stephen Hargreaves, Conductor Ginette Grenier, Costume Designer George Massenburg, Video Direction

DIVISION IV

Winner

Purchase Opera/Conservatory of Music SUNY

Dialogues of the Carmelites by Francis Poulenc

Jacque Trussel, Director Hugh Murphy, Conductor

Daniel Kitzman, Director of Photography Margaret Vignola, Assistant

DIVISION V

Winner

California State University Northridge

L'enfant et les sortilèges by Maurice Ravel, Libretto by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette

Mercedes Juan Musotto, Music Director and Executive Producer Hugo Vera, Director

Alex Vincent, Director of Photography, Visual effects and Editor

DIVISION VI

Winner

University of Wisconsin-Madison

What's Past is Prologue: The Unfinished American Conversation a pastiche with music by Steven Mark Kohn, Ned Rorem, Tom Cipullo, and Jennifer Higdon, on texts by Langston Hughes, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and Walt Whitman

David Ronis, Director

Thomas Kasdorf, Music Director Dave Alcorn, Videographer

DIVISION VII

Winner

California State University Northridge

Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini, Libretto by Giovacchino Forzano

Mercedes Juan Musotto, Music Director and Executive Producer Maurice Godin, Director

Mark Farquhar, Art Department Faculty Supervisor and Executive Producer

Michael Bonitatis, Art Department Faculty Supervisor

DIVISION VIII

Winner

Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University Opera and Ballet Theater

The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten, Libretto by Myfanwy Piper

Michael Shell, Director Mark Smith, Scenic Designer

Ken Phillips, Lighting Designer

Dana Tzvetkov, Costume Designer/ Co-ordinator