Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Auditions The National Council Auditions is a program designed to discover promising young opera singers and assist in the development of their careers. The auditions are held annually in fifteen Regions of the United States and Canada. There are approximately fifty districts within these Regions, each providing an opportunity for talented singers to enter the auditions at the local level.  The auditions are administered by National Council members and volunteers in each area.  Many of the world’s foremost singers have received awards from the National Council and annually, approximately 100 former auditioners appear in Metropolitan Opera productions. The 56th Annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the Upper Midwest will take place on January 17, 2009 at Ted Mann Concert Hall on the University of Minnesota's West Bank Campus, 2128 Fourth St. South, Minneapolis, MN  55455. Thirteen singers were competing for prizes of up to $5,000 each and a free roundtrip to New York City for the Semi-Finals on February 17, and possibly the Grand Finals with the MET Opera Orchestra on February 24. National Council Grand Finals winners receive prizes totaling $15,000 each. Winners are posted as follows: Minnesota Dist. November 8, 2008 at Ordway Center for the Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota Janalyn Bump, soprano from Wisconsin, to advance to the Upper Midwest Region Auditions in January. Janalyn won $2,000.  Two Encouragement Awards in the amount of $650 were given to Eric Neuville, tenor also from Wisconsin, and Nicole Percifield, mezzo soprano from Canada. Wisconsin Dist. October 18, 2008 at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield, Wisconsin The Wisconsin District had five winners this year, each receiving $2,200 and a chance to compete at the Upper Midwest Region Auditions in January: Meghan Dewald Steven Ebel Jesse Enderle James Kryshak Jamie Van Eyck North Dakota Dist. November 22, 2008 at Hughes Fine Arts building, University of North Dakota campus, Grand Forks, North Dakota Iowa Dist. December 6, 2008 at the Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall in Ames, Iowa Nebraska Dist. November 22, 2008 at O'Donnell Auditorium, Wesleyan University, Lincoln, Nebraska   Minnesota District Master Class with Danielle Orlando, Principle Opera Coach at the Curtis Institute of Music November 9, 2008 at 1 PM, at the University of Minnesota School of Music The Master Class is free and open to a public audience.

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