Soprano Rebecca Pedersen recently advanced to the final round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She will compete for one of approximately five Grand Winner awards on Sunday, March 10 in New York, accompanied by the Met orchestra. The concert will be broadcast nationwide on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Network.
Pedersen had previously advanced through the local, Western regional and semi-final rounds. In the semi-finals, she beat out ten others, all older than her, and is also the youngest, by four years, in the finals.
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is held annually and aims “to discover promising young opera singers and assist in the development of their careers.” The 10 finalists selected this year were chosen from a starting pool of approximately 1800 singers from across the nation.
According to the Metropolitan National Council, “Many of the world’s foremost singers – among them Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Ben Heppner, Jessye Norman, Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade, Deborah Voigt and Dolora Zajick – have received awards from the National Council. Annually, approximately 100 former auditioners appear in Metropolitan Opera productions.”
Pedersen is currently a sophomore at BYU and studies vocal performance with Darrell Babidge. A recording of one of her performances can be found by clicking here.